Following another second-round exit from the postseason, Mike Anderson has been relieved of his duties as Arkansas’ head coach, athletics director Hunter Yurachek announced via a press release Tuesday afternoon.
“After a review of the program, including an analysis of the past eight years and a look forward, I have made a decision that a change in leadership will best position our men’s basketball program for future success,” Yurachek said in a statement. “In the past eight seasons, we have won a number of games and have made appearances in both the NIT and the NCAA Tournaments. However, in my evaluation, we have not sustained a consistent level of success against the most competitive teams in the nation to enable us to compete for SEC and NCAA Championships on an annual basis. That will continue to be the benchmark for our success throughout our athletic program.
“During his tenure with our program, Mike Anderson has represented the University of Arkansas in a first-class manner and with the highest level of integrity on and off the floor. We are grateful for Coach Anderson’s many contributions to our program and most of all for his investment in the lives of the many student-athletes he has coached. He has been a positive influence on their lives, encouraged them and supported them on, both their individual and collective, academic and athletic journeys. We wish Mike, his wife Marcheita and the entire Anderson family the very best.”
In his eight seasons, the Razorbacks won 62.4 percent of their games with a 169-102 overall record. That includes a 78-64 (.549) mark in SEC play.
Although he never had a losing record and won at least 20 games four times, Anderson failed to replicate the postseason success of his mentor, Nolan Richardson, or even the success he had at his previous stops.
Arkansas reached the postseason five times, but Anderson never took it past the second round. In the NCAA Tournament, the Razorbacks twice lost to North Carolina in the Round of 32 (2015 and 2017) and fell to Butler in the first round last season. Both of their trips to the NIT - 2014 and 2019 - ended in the second round with losses to Cal and Indiana, respectively.
By not making the big dance this year, the Razorbacks’ Sweet 16 drought extends to 23 seasons. The last time they made it that far was 1996.
That was a streak many fans hoped would end when Arkansas hired Anderson as the 12th men’s basketball head coach in its history on March 23, 2011.
In addition to being an assistant on Richardson’s staff that made it to three Final Fours and won the 1994 national championship, he had taken UAB to the Sweet 16 and Missouri to the Elite Eight, winning 67.1 percent of his games and a Big 12 Tournament championship along the way.
Anderson inherited a team coming off an 18-13 season, but was just a year removed from back-to-back 14-win seasons. Arkansas had made just three NCAA Tournaments over the previous 10 years, a span that included Richardson’s final season, five years under Stan Health and four years under John Pelphrey.
After going 18-14 and 19-13 in his first two seasons with the Razorbacks, Anderson appeared to be on the brink of making the NCAA Tournament in Year 3. Arkansas had won six straight games - including a game at Rupp Arena to sweep the season series with Kentucky - and many experts had it in the field with 21 wins, but it was blown out at Alabama to end the regular season and then went one-and-done at the SEC Tournament with a loss to South Carolina.
That led to an NIT bid and forced fans to wait another year to make it back to March Madness.
Led by SEC Player of the Year and Little Rock native Bobby Portis, the Razorbacks were runner-up for the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. After a close win over Wofford, they lost to North Carolina 87-78 in the second round.
Following the season, Portis unsurprisingly declared for the NBA Draft. However, Arkansas took an unexpected hit when Michael Qualls also left school to begin his professional career, three players were arrested on forgery charges during the offseason and Nick Babb decided to transfer.
Those arrests led to the dismissal of Jacorey Williams - who went on to become the Conference USA Player of the Year at Middle Tennessee - and a lengthy suspension of Anton Beard. As for Babb, he went on to have a successful career at Iowa State.
The result was an up-and-down year that featured losses to Akron and Mercer and ended with a 16-16 overall record.
Knowing he needed to turn the program around quickly, Anderson signed three of the top junior-college prospects in the country in Jaylen Barford, Daryl Macon and Arlando Cook. Although Cook did not have much success, Barford and Macon teamed up with Dusty Hannahs and Moses Kingsley to form the team that came closest to ended the Sweet 16 drought.
After knocking off Seton Hall, the Razorbacks had a five-point lead on No. 1 seed North Carolina with three minutes left. Aided by a couple of bad calls, though, the Tar Heels ended the game on a 12-0 run and eventually won the national championship.
Barford, Macon and freshman Daniel Gafford led Arkansas back to the NCAA Tournament the following season, but an early 21-2 deficit was too much to overcome in a first-round matchup with Butler.
Despite being considered a potential lottery pick, Gafford decided to return to school for his sophomore season. However, he was surrounded by virtually a brand new team.
That inexperience led to another up-and-down year that included a dramatic win over Indiana early in the season, as well as disappointing losses to Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech.
Arkansas seemed to get things going with four straight SEC wins that were broken up by a close loss at No. 14 Texas Tech, but it blew a 13-point lead at South Carolina and couldn’t convert in the closing seconds at Missouri to start a six-game losing streak.
The Razorbacks nearly ended the skid with a massive upset win at Kentucky, but let a 15-point lead slip away. Usually dominant at home, they lost six games at Bud Walton Arena after losing no more than four in the previous eight seasons.
Although Arkansas bounced back with three straight wins to avoid the first losing season in Anderson’s 16-year career, it lost to Florida 66-50 in the SEC Tournament on Thursday. That officially popped its NCAA Tournament bubble and sent the Razorbacks to the NIT, where - without Gafford - they beat Providence before losing to Indiana.
On top of needing to turn the program around on the court, Anderson was also tasked with fixing the APR mess left behind by Pelphrey. Arkansas actually lost a scholarship in his first season because of a four-year cumulative score of 892, which was well below the 925 benchmark.
The last six multiyear scores have been above that benchmark, highlighted by a record score of 985 in the latest APR data released by the NCAA. That ensures the next head coach won’t encounter the same problems as Anderson early in his tenure.
Where fans likely hope to see the next coach improve, though, is on the recruiting trail. Three five-star recruits came out of Arkansas over the last eight seasons and only one - Portis - signed with the Razorbacks, while Malik Monk and Archie Goodwin ended up at Kentucky.
He also missed on two of the four four-star in-state recruits, with KeVaughn Allen going to Florida and Issac McBride heading to Kansas. (Gafford and Isaiah Joe were the two who stayed home.)
It’s also worth mentioning that several of his out-of-state signees never panned out. The 2015 class is the perfect example, as top-60 recruits Jimmy Whitt and Ted Kapita transferred after one year and failed to make it to campus, respectively. Lorenzo Jenkins also left after one season.
For Yurachek, this will be his first major hiring decision as Arkansas’ athletics director. He was brought in shortly after Chad Morris was tabbed the next football coach and has so far hired only a women’s tennis coach - Courtney Steinbock from Houston, his former employer.
According to the press release, a national search for a replacement will "begin immediately." In the meantime, associate head coach Melvin Watkins will serve as the interim coach.
“With our great history and tradition, a loyal fan base and a fully supported program within the SEC, I am confident that we will identify a leader that will elevate our men’s basketball program to a nationally competitive level on an annual basis,” Yurachek said. “In an effort to most effectively identify and secure our next head coach, I do not plan on providing further comment related to our search until its completion. I appreciate the understanding and support of all Razorback fans as we move forward in this process.”
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