FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Eric Musselman's coaching staff is beginning to take shape.
On Friday, Musselman hired Chris Crutchfield as an associate head coach on his first Arkansas staff. Crutchfield spent the previous eight seasons on the Oklahoma staff under Lon Kruger, and is the second known assistant coach hired by Musselman.
Former Stetson head coach Corey Williams was hired on April 24.
In Crutchfield’s tenure at Oklahoma, the Sooners advanced to the NCAA Tournament in six of his final seven seasons, including the 2016 Final Four. Oklahoma won 29 games in 2015-16, sixth-most in program history.
Crutchfield played a key role in recruiting as well, helping secure the signatures of 2016 National Player of the Year and two-time Big 12 Player of the Year Buddy Hield, and Trae Young, the first five-star prospect to sign with Oklahoma during Kruger’s tenure.
A Hopkinsville, Ky., native and Nebraska-Omaha graduate, Crutchfield was an assistant coach at New Mexico for four seasons then served as director of basketball operations and assistant coach at TCU during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. He spent four seasons at Oral Roberts before he was hired at Oklahoma.
Crutchfield was also an assistant at Texas-San Antonio for the 1996-97 season before becoming the head coach at Tyler (Texas) Junior College from 1999-2001.