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Eric Musselman’s creative use of social media has endeared himself to most Arkansas fans, but it’s gotten under the skin of at least one SEC assistant coach.

In a little more than a year on the job, the Razorbacks’ head coach has posed for pictures with recruits that recreate famous NBA scenes, dressed in a full uniform to support the baseball team and - most recently - starred in a series of funny videos on Twitter.

While many were laughing about Musselman’s imaginary practice video that was shared by multiple national outlets, including SportsCenter’s account, last month, Tennessee assistant coach Kim English used Twitter to seemingly take a shot at his antics.

Although he never mentioned Arkansas’ coach by name, English’s tweet telling young coaches not to “fall prey to the gross social media gimmicks” from a “select few” head coaches was sent just three hours after Musselman’s original post.

Musselman wasn’t fazed. He proceeded to hold an imaginary press conference and coach an imaginary game. When asked about it during an Instagram Live Q&A with his wife earlier this month, the coach teased a fourth video and added, “We don’t want to upset any of the other SEC assistant coaches or anything.”

That prompted English to retweet his own tweet about “gimmicks” and “foolery,” but it didn’t stop Musselman from sharing the video of him heckling himself during an imaginary game at Bud Walton Arena.

While the Tennessee assistant seems to be taking these things very seriously, Musselman knows he’s being goofy and kind of putting himself in a vulnerable spot as a 55-year-old acting silly on social media.

“We’re just trying to lighten the mood a little bit,” Musselman explained last month. “We know the seriousness of what’s going on in the world, but having said that, we’re all searching for things to entertain us. We understand that right now people are on social media looking for things.”

“Without any live sporting events, we just want to stay connected to our fanbase as best we can. That’s the biggest thing, is staying connected to fans and staying connected to recruits.”

Over the last week, Musselman did a series of short videos in which he pretended a large shoe was his phone - an ode to Allen Iverson answering Shaquille O’Neal’s sneaker phone at the 2005 NBA All-Star Game - and took fake calls from all six signees when their paperwork was signed.

After KK Robinson officially signed Monday afternoon to complete the class, the Razorbacks released a video of a drive-by celebration - similar to the ones that have gone viral during the coronavirus quarantine - down Leroy Pond Drive between Bud Walton and the practice facility.

When asked about those videos in a teleconference Monday afternoon, a reporter specifically brought up English and Musselman replied, “I don’t really know who he is.”

That comment made its way to Knoxville, Tenn., and English tweeted - without a message - a wrestling GIF in which the bigger Elias extends his arm to hold the smaller Drake Maverick away from him, seemingly referencing Musselman’s height.

It’s unclear exactly why a Tennessee assistant coach is so wrapped up in how an Arkansas coach handles social media.

The most likely explanation is that it stems from his disdain toward the Razorbacks for hiring away his coach, Mike Anderson, before his senior year at Missouri. About a year later, English wrote on Twitter, “Can’t stand that dude! He’ll never win again.” The message has since been deleted, but at the time, it sparked a spat with Anderson’s son.

Whatever the reason, Musselman doesn’t seem to care about criticism from English or anyone else because he recognizes that most of the fanbase enjoys what he does on social media.

“If you can hit on a 98 percent positive and a two percent not, I'll take those odds in anything in life,” Musselman said. “I’m not really worried about the two percent.”

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