Boykins hired as assistant coach at UTEP

Earl Boykins (from left), Arkansas director of student-athlete development, speaks Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019, with Hunter Yurachek, director of athletics, and assistant coach Clay Mosier during practice in the Eddie Sutton Gymnasium inside the Basketball Performance Center in Fayetteville.

Earl Boykins is moving on from the Arkansas basketball program after two seasons.

Boykins, who was named the Razorbacks’ director of student-athlete development in September 2019, has been hired as an assistant coach at Texas-El Paso under first-year coach Joe Golding, it was announced Monday. The head coach at Abilene Christian the previous eight seasons, Golding replaced Rodney Terry in April.

Boykins has not been an assistant coach at the college level.

"Earl has played at the level our players aspire to be at one day,” Golding said in a release. “He has so much experience and I can't wait for him to share it with our players. He understands the game of basketball and the different ways it can be played.

“He will be such a great asset for our program on the floor and with recruits."

The second shortest player in NBA history, Boykins played for Eric Musselman with the Golden State Warriors during the 2002-03 season as well as when Musslman was an assistant coach for the Orlando Magic.

“He’s a guy that certainly would be a great college coach,” Musselman said in April.

Boykins was the head basketball coach at Douglas County (Colo.) High School prior to his time at Arkansas.

As a senior at Eastern Michigan, where his No. 11 jersey was retired in 2011, Boykins was an All-America honorable mention and the recipient of the 1998 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, which is given to the nation’s best college player under 6 feet tall. Prior to that, he helped lead Team USA to a gold medal the 1997 World University Games.

Boykins scored 5,791 points in his NBA career and finished with 2,092 assists. He played for 11 different franchises after going undrafted out of college. He also played one season in the Italian League in 2008-09.