Yurachek on Muss: 'We very much want him to be an Arkansas Razorback'
It has been a hectic past few months for Arkansas basketball fans.
With a 15-16 overall record in 2023-24, the Razorbacks suffered their first losing season since 2009-2010 when they went 14-18 under John Pelphrey.
Before the season was over, and ongoing since its conclusion, there have been rumors of head basketball coach Eric Musselman being connected at other job openings.
Those rumors were seemingly squashed Thursday, at least initially, when athletics director Hunter Yurachek tweeted out a video of himself and Musselman on the "Muss Bus" ready to "buckle up" for the future.
At face value, this video seemed to indicate that Musselman was poised to return, whether that be in the form of a contract extension or just continuing on with business as usual, but soon after that video was posted, there were seeds of doubt sewn across Hog Nation.
One thing that Arkansas fans have revered about Musselman and his staff over the course of his entire tenure has been his ability to utilize social media to his advantage. Things have been coordinated in the past, including in 2021, which was when the video Yurachek tweeted was originally filmed. After that announcement in 2021, Musselman immediately quote-tweeted it, as well as the remainder of the coaching staff. This time, that hasn't been the case.
So, what does that mean? No one knows. For as social media savvy and conscious as the current staff is, one would think things would be more coordinated, or coordinated at all for this sort of announcement, yet there has yet to be a word from Arkansas coaches.
The significance for all this comes after months of Musselman being connected to multiple job openings, almost all of which have been filled at this point, but for the entire process there has been silence from Fayetteville.
Yurachek seemingly ended that silence with the video, and more recently with an appearances on the 1 Star Recruits Podcast.
"That was a video that was recorded a few years ago," Yurachek said on the 1Star Recruits Podcast. "I had our communications staff edit that down - as you guys alluded to, Coach Musselman, much to his success, has been rumored for multiple jobs that have been open here in this offseason, and he's still the basketball coach, as we sit here today and record this podcast, at the University of Arkansas.
"He has been well taken care of in his past contracts, where he has a couple of extensions in the past few years and six figure increases. There's not a new contract in place for him this year. That video was just to dispel some of the rumors that, 'Hey, he's still our basketball coach.'"
The most recent rumors and speculation surround the USC job, which officially opened Monday with head coach Andy Enfield taking the SMU job. That move has been rumored for days, with national media connecting Musselman to the USC job.
Musselman has also been connected to other jobs this offseason - Louisville (eventually hiring Pat Kelsey) and Washington (eventually hiring Danny Sprinkle), were also schools that Musselman’s name was listed for. The veracity of those rumors is unknown, but the fact remains that Arkansas - and Musselman - have been silent about his future in Fayetteville. That is, until Yurachek posted the video Thursday.
"Now, this may change tomorrow - you'll have to ask Coach Musselman that - but we very much want him to be an Arkansas Razorback," Yurachek said. "We feel like where his contract currently sits, he's compensated in the top 12-to-15 coaches in the country. He's earned that compensation and done a great job.
"That video was nothing more than an athletic director trying to have a little bit of fun with some fanbases and naysayers that say, 'Hey, Coach Musselman is leaving.' He may be leaving, but right now he's still here, he's still our basketball coach, and he's still driving the bus."
The Arkansas coaching staff, including Musselman, has yet to acknowledge the video. However, the Razorbacks landed a transfer portal commitment yesterday from UMass transfer forward Josh Cohen. The coaching staff interacted with posts relating to Cohen and his commitment, but there has still been radio silence regarding the video posted by Yurachek.
A large section of the fanbase is convinced there is something to the lack of interaction, while another large section thinks the other section of fans is buying into a conspiracy. Conspiracy or not, something is out of the ordinary in Fayetteville, and we don't know what exactly that is right this second.