Like It Is

Musselman's passion rebuilt Arkansas basketball

Eric Musselman, Arkansas head coach, reacts in the second half vs Kentucky Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks lost 73-66 to the Wildcats.

In little more than a year since he was hired, Eric Musselman has rebuilt the excitement in the University of Arkansas men’s basketball program.

Whether it is recruiting, making clever videos for social media or announcing a series with Oklahoma, all news is good news about the future of Razorbacks basketball.

Musselman has just enough promoter in him to complement his knowledge of the game he teaches, his energy level and his commitment to making the Razorbacks better.

Musselman’s passion for the game was passed down from his father Bill, a former college and NBA coach also, and is shared by his entire family.

Razorbacks basketball is truly a family affair.

It was interesting to read the comments he and Oklahoma Coach Lon Kruger made about each other. The respect and friendship are obvious.

It will be fun to watch them go at it this December, but Razorbacks basketball already has reached a level of fun in one season that wasn’t expected.

If it wasn’t for the pandemic, Sam Pittman would be on the verge of doing the same thing with Razorbacks football.


Here’s another new element to the dilemma for college football.

Amid all the discussions of starting on time, starting late, making it a two-semester sport or even playing in the spring, now comes Penn State Coach James Franklin’s concern.

It came after Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said all conferences may not start at the same time.

It appears Franklin is concerned someone is going to get an edge on him by starting their season before he does.

All of college athletics needs to take a deep breath and look at the situation differently.

Each day that passes does not put college football in jeopardy of a major change, but each day that passes gives college football more knowledge of what it is facing.

Everyone is monitoring the coronavirus pandemic, from the White House to the Big House to the Little House on the Prairie.

It is a numbers game that has a number of variables, with No. 1 being the number of tests.

The NCAA will eventually make a recommendation, and then the Power 5 conferences will decide what they are going to do, either individually or as a group.

The NCAA does not really rule the Power 5 conferences, and has little to do with the College Football Playoff.

What seems uniform is that all the schools’ first concern is the welfare of the student-athlete, and that’s where it should start and end.


SEC media days in Atlanta are scheduled for July 13-16, and no changes have been announced — yet.

The Big 12 said Thursday that its two day media days, July 20-21, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will now be conducted virtually.

The ACC (July 22-23 in Charlotte, N.C.); Big Ten (July 22-23 in Chicago); Pac-12 (July 29 in Los Angeles); and Sun Belt (July 28-29 in New Orleans) have yet to announce whether their in-person media days will be changed or altered.

The SEC media days are easily the most attended, with usually more than 1,000 media folks showing up.

It is one of the reasons the SEC goes so early, so it can accommodate everyone and not make them choose between SEC media days and those of another conference.

Notice it is also the only one that is four days long.

The SEC does a great job of being fair. Every head coach and two players from each school get the same amount of time with print, TV and radio reporters.