Alright, so I’ve been digging into this whole Arkansas basketball coaching thing, and let me tell you, it’s been quite a ride. I started by just wanting to know who the current coach was, but that simple question turned into a whole afternoon of research.
First off, I hit up the usual spots—you know, the official sites and sports news pages. Turns out, the current head coach is John Calipari. He was named the head coach at Arkansas on April 10, 2024. Before him was Eric Musselman. Apparently, he’s got over 30 years of experience in this game. He was named as head coach back on April 7, 2019. Wild, right?
But then I thought, “What about the coaches before Musselman?” So, I went deeper. I found out about this guy Nolan Richardson, who’s a pretty big deal in Arkansas basketball history. People are saying he’s one of the most famous coaches they’ve had there, and he coached from 1941. It seems he has the record for most seasons coached and games won. I mean, 144 victories during his 19 years? That’s insane.
And there are other assistant coaches like Scotty Thurman who is an American former professional basketball player. Oh, and get this – one of the assistant coaches, Kenny Payne, is making $900,000 a year! That’s way more than any assistant coach before him. They said his salary is believed to be more than double the previous highest salary paid to an Arkansas basketball assistant.
Then, I stumbled upon some interesting tidbits about interim head coaches under Musselman. David Patrick was 1-0 in 2020-21, and Keith Smart was 1-0 in 2021-22.
So, here’s what I managed to piece together in a simple list:
- John Calipari (Current Head Coach, since April 10, 2024)
- Eric Musselman (Head Coach, April 7, 2019 – 2024)
- Nolan Richardson (Legendary Coach, 1941- , most wins)
- David Patrick (Interim Head Coach, 1-0 in 2020-21)
- Keith Smart (Interim Head Coach, 1-0 in 2021-22)
- Scotty Thurman (Assistant Coach)
- Kenny Payne (Assistant Coach, making bank!)
It was a fun little research project, even though it took up more time than I expected. But hey, that’s how it goes sometimes, right? You start with a simple question and end up down a rabbit hole of information. Hope this helps someone out there who’s curious about the Razorbacks’ coaching history!
