Arkansas swings and misses at top two basketball coaching targets

Chris Beard chose to stay at Ole Miss. Jerome Tang was offered an extension at Kansas State. Now Mr. Show-Cause himself is the frontrunner.

Chris Beard was not just Arkansas fans’ top choice to replace Eric Musselman, but Arkansas brass’, too.

He chose to stay at Ole Miss.

Arkansas then moved on to Jerome Tang at Kansas State to be the next Razorbacks basketball coach. Tang was offered an extension to state in Manhattan.

Now, multiple reports have Arkansas going after McNeese State coach, and former LSU coach, Will Wade. Wade was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2023-24 season and was given a show-cause penalty for bribery and recruiting violations dating back from his time as Tigers coach.

McNeese State went 30-4 during the regular season this year and landed in the NCAA Tournament. Before that, Wade took LSU to the Big Dance three times in his five seasons. He was fired in March 2022 when the NCAA served the allegations to the school.

Arkansas lost coach Eric Musselman to USC earlier in the week after he spent five seasons with the Razorbacks. He led Arkansas to two Elite Eights and a Sweet 16, but the the Hogs suffered their worst season this year since 2008-09. Musselman is a California native.