Eric Musselman has a full staff now with his latest addition, former NBA journeyman Earl Boykins, named Director of Student-Athlete Development on Monday morning.
Musselman and Hunter Yurachek are sparing no expense with the new staff and they've hired men at positions that didn't even exist under Mike Anderson.
On top of the director of student-athlete development, Musselman also has two staff members focused on recruiting, a video coordinator, a special assistant to the head coach and a director of operations. The Hogs also have eight graduate assistants and student-assistant Khalil Garland.
More from the University of Arkansas:
Boykins played for Musselman with the Golden State Warriors during the 2002-03 season and while Musselman was an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic.
Since his retirement from the NBA, Boykins was the head coach at Douglas County (Colo.) High School as well as running the Boykins Basketball Academy in Denver. In addition, he founded non-profit “Boykins Kids” and has been a lecturer on leadership.
Boykins, the second-shortest player in the NBA history after Muggsy Bogues at 5-5, dished out 2,092 assists and scored 5,791 points over his career. In fact, he is the shortest player in NBA history to score at least 30 points in a game when he poured in 32 in a 117-109 Denver Nuggets’ win over Detroit on Nov. 11, 2004.
An undrafted free agent out of college, Boykins played for New Jersey Nets (1999), Cleveland Cavaliers (1999 and 2000) Orlando Magic (1999), Los Angeles Clippers (2000-02), Golden State Warriors (2002-03), Denver Nuggets (2003-06, 2007), Toronto Raptors (2006-07), Milwaukee Bucks (2007; 2010-11), Charlotte Bobcats (2007-08), Washington Wizards (2009-10) and Houston Rockets (2012).
In the middle of his NBA career, Boykins played one season (2008-09) in Italy and was the highest-paid player in the Italian League. Boykins lived up to the hype as he led Virtus Bologna to the 2009 EuroChallenge Cup Championship.
Boykins graduated from Eastern Michigan in 1998 with a degree in communications. His number was retired by EMU in 2011 after
As a senior with the Eagles, Boykins was named All-American honorable mention and he was recipient of the 1998 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which is awarded to the nation’s best collegiate player under six feet tall. The previous season, Boykins led Team USA to the 1997 World University Games gold medal and was subsequently tabbed the USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year.
Boykins helped the Eagles win two MAC Tournament championships and they made four straight MAC Tournament championship game appearances. In both 1996 and 1998, EMU advanced to the NCAA Tournament. In 1996, the Eagles pulled off a monumental upset, defeating Duke (75-60), behind 23 points, five assists and four steals from Boykins.
He also earned All-MAC first team honors in 1997 and 1998, and, during his senior campaign, he was the second-leading scorer in the entire country at 26.8 points per game.
SUBSCRIBE to HawgBeat and get access to exclusive prospect interviews, the best recruiting network in the industry, inside scoops on recruiting and team news, videos, podcasts and much more.
Join the discussion on THE TROUGH, the Arkansas Rivals premium message board for thousands of Hog fans.
