FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas’ new basketball coach is an old Razorback.
Mike Anderson, a University of Arkansas assistant coach for 17 years (1985-2002), resigned as the University of Missouri’s coach Wednesday and accepted an offer from UA Athletic Director Jeff Long to coach the Razorbacks.
UA announced Anderson’s hiring in a news release at 7:23 p.m. Wednesday. A news conference with Anderson is expected later this week.
Anderson, 51, said in anews release that it was “a tremendous honor” to be UA’s coach and he thanked Chancellor G. David Gearhart and Long for the opportunity.
“I am extremely excited to once again be a part of this special University and Razorback Athletics,” Anderson said. “With the continued passionate support of all Razorback fans, I am confident that we will have the opportunity to succeed on and off the court and continue to build on the University of Arkansas’ championship tradition.”
According to sources, Anderson signed a contract Wednesday afternoon with UA in Tulsa, where he had attended a friend’s funeral, before returning to Columbia, Mo., to meet with the University of Missouri’s players and inform them he was leaving for Arkansas.
UA and Anderson agreed to a seven-year contract that will pay him $2.2 million annually, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations. UA did not include contract terms in its news release.
The University of Missouri, where Anderson had a 111-57 record the past five seasons with three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, had offered him a new deal which would have extended his contract from five to seven years and raised his salary from $1.5 million to $2 million.
UA must pay Missouri a $550,000 buyout, according to terms of Anderson’s contract with Missouri. His buyout at UA will be $1 million, KFSMTV in Fort Smith reported.
Anderson replaces John Pelphrey, who was fired by Long on March 13 after his fourth season as UA’s coach. Pelphrey coached the Razorbacks to a 69-59 record, including 25-42 against Southeastern Conference teams in regular season and tournament play.
The Razorbacks missed postseason play during Pelphrey’s final three seasons after they went to the NCAA Tournament in 2008.
Anderson was a UA assistant for Nolan Richardson when the Razorbacks were a combined 389-169 and went to 13 NCAA Tournaments in a 17-year span, including three Final Fours and the 1994 national championship.
After Richardson was fired March 1, 2002, Anderson served as interim coach for two games: a victory over Vanderbilt University in the regular-season finale at Walton Arena and a loss to the University of Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Atlanta.
In Anderson’s nine seasons as a head coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri, his teams were a combined 200-98 with six NCAA Tournament appearances. In his third year at the University of Missouri, he led the Tigers to a 31-7 record and an NCAA Elite Eight appearance.
Anderson’s hiring excited UA forward Marshawn Powell, who indicated in a post on his Twitter account that he will return for his junior season.
“Well Im back ... Who dont wanna play for Mike Anderson?” Powell tweeted.
Interest in UA basketball gradually waned under Pelphrey, with paid attendance at Walton Arena (capacity 19,200) decreasing each of the past four seasons from 17,148 to 16,043 to 13,182 to 12,022.
Average announced attendance this season was 8,591 for 18 home games, including an all-time low for Walton Arena’s 18 seasons of 5,121 at a February game against Florida A&M University. Some luxury suites went unsold.
UA officials are counting on Anderson’s hiring to galvanize the fan base, increase ticket sales and sell out the suites.
“We are extremely excited to welcome home Mike Anderson to the University of Arkansas as our new head men’s basketball coach,” Long said in a news release. “Mike is one of the outstanding head coaches in college basketball. His teams play an exciting brand of basketball that has already proven successful at both UAB and Missouri.
“The decision to hire Mike Anderson as head coach is based on my firm belief that he is the right person to lead the Razorback program today and in the years to come.”
Anderson technically will be UA’s 13th head coach in basketball - if one doesn’t count Anderson’s two-game stint or Dana Altman’s one-day tenure.
After Richardson’s 2002 firing, Anderson interviewed for the head coaching job, which eventually went to Stan Heath, who in his only previous season as a head coach led Kent State to a 30-6 record and Elite Eight appearance.
Heath was fired after five seasons and replaced by Altman, who after one day decided he didn’t want to coach the Razorbacks and returned to his job at Creighton University. UA then hired Pelphrey from the University of South Alabama.
UA officials hope Anderson will reinstate the kind of stability the program enjoyed under Eddie Sutton and Richardson, who coached the Razorbacks for a combined 28 years with a 649-244 record and 22 NCAA Tournament appearances from 1974-2002.
Over the past nine years since Richardson’s firing, UA is 151-129 with three NCAA Tournament appearances.
The Razorbacks’ style of play under Richardson, marked by pressure defense that created points off turnovers, became known as “40 Minutes of Hell.” Since Anderson became a head coach, his teams’ style has been billed as “The Fastest 40 Minutes in College Basketball.”
This season, Missouri (23-11) ranked No. 2 nationally in steals per game (9.7) and turnover margin (plus-5.4), and 10th in scoring offense (80.8 points per game).
After Anderson failed to land the UA job in 2002, he returned to his hometown to coach Alabama-Birmingham.
As a player, Anderson was the University of Tulsa’s starting point guard when Richardson coached the Golden Hurricane and led the team to the 1981 National Invitation Tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament berth in 1982.
Anderson then began his coaching career at Tulsa as an assistant coach and followed Richardson to Arkansas in 1985.
While Heath and Pelphrey were considered up-and-coming coaches from mid-major conferences (Mid-American and Sun Belt) when they were hired at UA, Anderson’s success at Missouri in the Big 12 Conference fits the stated objective of Long to hire a seasoned coach from a program in a power conference.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/24/2011