Arkansas isn’t what Arkansas basketball fans think it is.
Eric Musselman proved as much late last week when he skedaddled out of Fayetteville for University Park, Los Angeles, to become the next USC basketball coach. The place is basically home to Musselman, who grew up in San Diego and went to the University of San Diego.
One thing about Los Angeles: it ain’t Arkansas.
USC basketball does not have the cachet Arkansas basketball does. It also doesn’t have the same climate, geographically, politcally or with alums. The University of Southern California has loads of monied donors who don’t particularly concern themselves with the outcome of the basketball team.
That might sound like it puts the Trojans down, but an alternate argument is that a small spotlight creates fewer would-be king-makers. Imagine that, a smaller spotlight in LA than Fayetteville. Arkansas alumns, those with money, largely live and breathe Razorbacks athletics. At USC, they’re concerned with different matters.
Musselman is banking on his charisma and the appeal of the city itself – along with its move to the Big Ten, which is regularly better than the SEC in basketball, anyway – to draw in recruits. He has plenty on his resume and combined with his social-media presence and penchant for removing his shirt after big wins, players notice.
Fair or not, college basketball’s best players aren’t looking at the state of Arkansas and saying “That’s where I want to go, for sure!” Certainly high-schoolers and transfers don’t care anything about education rates or cost-of-living. The stereotypes about the state of Arkansas are very real and whether they’re accurate or not is besides the point.
That also isn’t to say they’re always going to be the most important thing a college basketball considers. In fact, they’re probably not. But in an era in which politics enters every single conversation, seemingly, a first word an initial impression can matter.
Think about the way the last several coaches in Arkansas’ two biggest sports have been treated as they’ve exited.
“If Eric Musselman doesn’t want to be here, good riddance.”
“Mike Anderson has taken us as high as he was going to.”
“Bret Bielema only cared about himself!”
At least the animosity about what John Pelphrey did with the basketball team and what Chad Morris did with the football are legitimate, even if some remain way too angry about such things.
Even on Sunday, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette columnist Wally Hall wrote that Arkansas needs to get a chance that won’t just use the school as a stepping stone. That suggests that Arkansas is an elite job. It isn’t and likely won’t be for a good long time. A Tier II job, maybe, but it’s hard to imagine Fayetteville as an ultimate destination for any coach, save maybe Darrell Walker, a Razorbacks All-American in his playing days who has coached at Little Rock for the last six seasons and is interviewing for the job Saturday.
Would Chris Jans want to be at Arkansas permanently? Will Wade?
It’s good to proud of your home, even if your home has its flaws. It’s another, though, to expect others to carry the same affinity.
Arkansas doesn’t need an Arkansas Man, it needs another Musselman.