Eric Musselman showing off his… MUSCLES @RazorbackMBB pic.twitter.com/P2D7yYioOF

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 18, 2023

How good has he been? Musselman has a career 205-76 NCAA coaching record and his teams have made the NCAA Tournament in 6 of his 8 collegiate coaching seasons, including two Elite Eight and two Sweet Sixteen appearances.

Eric Musselman’s past interest in Gophers MBB head coaching job

Throughout his coaching career, which has mostly been at the pro level (NBA, D-League, CBA, USBA), Eric Musselman has expressed interest in an eventual return to the state he grew up in. Musselman has been a candidate/finalist during the last two Gopher MBB coaching searches.

A decade ago (2013), when Tubby Smith was fired, Musselman was one of the last candidates standing before then Athletic Director, Norwood Teague, hired Richard Pitino.

By the time Pitino was fired in 2021, Musselman already had two seasons and an Elite Eight run under his belt at Arkansas. That, combined with his success at Nevada, made Musselman one of the most expensive and well-known candidates AD Mark Coyle was considering at the time.

Still, if Minnesota was willing to pay his buyout and a similar salary, Musselman was legitimately interested. Instead, Coyle hired the cheapest and least-known candidate, Ben Johnson, another homegrown kid (DeLaSalle) and Xavier assistant who had zero head coaching experience.

Yes, Musselman would reportedly have interest in Minnesota job again.

In two seasons as Gophers head coach, Johnson has posted a 22-39 overall record, including two of the worst Big Ten seasons in Gopher men’s basketball history and life isn’t expected to improve in his third year.

Minnesota lost one of its best players over the last two seasons, Jamison Battle, to a big NIL deal at conference rival, Ohio State, and most experts have the Gophers picked to finish at the bottom of the Big Ten for the third-straight year. Should those predictions become reality, Ben will be fired at season’s end and Mark Coyle will, yet again, be searching for a new MBB head coach.

At first glance, it seems nearly impossible that Musselman would have any interest in leaving Arkansas, in favor of Minnesota. That would mean taking over one of the worst power-5 men’s basketball programs in the country, and leaving a program he’s built into a Sweet Sixteen / Elite Eight regular.

But, according to long-time Twin Cities insider and Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters, that’s the wrong assumption. If the price is right,

— Pssst: Don’t think Arkansas men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, a two-time NBA head coach, wouldn’t consider the possibility of coaching the Gophers, which his father Bill once coached, for the right offer.

Charley Walters – Pioneer Press

What would Gophers have to pay up for Musselman?

According to Walters, Eric Musselman is currently making $4 million per year at Arkansas so he’d have to get a bigger offer from Minnesota, in order to leave. His buyout, however, will be an extremely low $1 million after the 2023-24 season, which would give he and the Gophers athletic department a perfect window for negotiation.

For comparison purposes, Ben Johnson is making $2 million per season. It’s also important to remember how much more money athletic departments in the Big Ten will have rolling in this season and beyond, after their new $7 billion TV deal kicked in last week (July 1).

Brian Dutcher (SDSU) could be even more gettable.

In the same column that he mentioned Musselman as a possible replacement for Ben Johnson, Walters also names Brian Dutcher as a probable candidate. The U of M grad has been at San Diego State for 2+ decades (mostly as an assistant) and coached them to the National Championship game last season.

— Although Brian Dutcher is loyal to San Diego State, the Gophers would be expected to consider the Bloomington Jefferson and Minnesota grad if there’s a men’s basketball coaching change, which seems likely, after the coming season.

Charley Walters – Pioneer Press

Charley didn’t get the green light on reporting Dutcher’s interest in the Gopher head coaching job, like he did Musselman, but Brian has roots even more entrenched in University of Minnesota history and maintains a clause in his contract at SDSU that makes his buyout a fraction of the cost, should he leave for his alma-mater.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Golden Gopher men’s basketball team lost again on Saturday afternoon. That makes for 9 losses in their last 13 games. Richard Pitino’s team has gotten worse as the season’s gone on, even as their schedule has gotten easier.

Minnesota began Big Ten play with the toughest schedule in the country, playing EIGHT straight top-25 teams. They finished that brutal stretch with an impressive 4-4 record and made their own appearance in the top-20.

But instead of snowballing that momentum into a dominant second half, the Gophers have crappie-flopped themselves out of the NET top-50 and squarely into the NCAA Tournament bubble. Jerry Palm currently has Minnesota as one of his “First Four Out” teams.

With just four games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament, the Gophers are running out of time to collect the 17 wins they will likely need to make the NCAA Tournament next month.

If they miss the dance again… Richard Pitino can say goodbye to his job as the men’s head basketball coach at the University of Minnesota.

With today’s 31-point home loss to Illinois, Richard Pitino has secured another season in which he will not lead the #Gophers to a winning Big Ten record. His seventh such season in his eight year tenure. Pitino is currently 54-92 (37%) in Big Ten play.

— Zach Johnson (@ZachJohnsonGI) February 20, 2021

Richard Pitino is 6-36 his last 42 B1G road games

— Dane Mosher (@___daner) February 19, 2021

Candidates to Replace Pitino

Should the Gophers miss the dance, or if Mark Coyle decides to move on from Richard Pitino regardless, then there are a few intriguing options that immediately stick out as possible replacements.

I’ll list them from the LEAST to MOST likely hired.

Tim Miles | Career: 187-202 | Age: 55 | Current: Unemployed

Tim Miles would never be on this list if it weren’t for his local history. Now unemployed for two seasons, Miles started his head coaching career at Southwest Minnesota State before making a name for himself as the first DI head coach in the history of North Dakota State University.

He eventually left Fargo for Colorado State, where he coached for nearly 10 years before moving onto Nebraska, where he lasted seven seasons and was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2014-15. He only made one NCAA Tournament appearance in Nebraska, however, and his career coaching record is sub-.500. Miles is a long-shot and not someone I’d put my money on.

John Beilein | Career: 571-325 | Age: 68 | Current: Unemployed

John Beilein would be the top pick for many Gopher fans who watched him take the Michigan Wolverines on repeated deep Big Ten and NCAA Tournament runs over the last decade. He took the head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers after the 2019 season and it was a complete and utter disaster.

So he’s back on the college market and looking to build himself another perennial power. If he was 10 years younger, he’d have a plethora of top jobs to choose from. But, that’s not reality. Instead, Beilein is coming up on 70 years of age and that’s a red flag for anybody hiring new employees.

Bob Richey | Career: 87-32 | Age: 37 | Current: Furman

Bob Richey would be my dark horse favorite. Richey is currently coaching at Furman University, where he’s completely dominated smaller-level competition since he took over in 2017. In his three seasons leading Furman, he’s gone for 23 wins, 25 wins and 25 wins. The Paladins are 15-7 in a shortened 2020-21.

I can guarantee you Mark Coyle has Bob Richey on his short list of possible coaching candidates. A lot of mannerisms remind me of PJ Fleck. He talks a lot about program culture and seems very detail oriented in the way he operates. If you scrub through this podcast he did last summer, just listening to bits and pieces, you’ll quickly hear what I’m talking about.

Eric Musselman | Career: 147-51 | Age: 57 | Current: Arkansas

Ah, Eric Musselman. Does the last name ring a bell? It should. His dad, Bill Musselman, coached at the University of Minnesota for 4 seasons, holding an impressive 61-32 record from 1971-1975. Bill was also the first head coach of the expansion Minnesota Timberwolves, holding the job for both the inaugural 1989-90 and the following 1990-91 seasons.

Eric is a fun-loving “players coach” whose nerdy, caring personality clearly hits home for those in his program. His career coaching record is breathtaking, outside of a couple rocky stints in the NBA where he is a career 108-138.

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman living his… BEST life after beating Kentucky ????????????pic.twitter.com/sLjCSTtUxG (via @michaelmuss_13)

— Aaron Torres Sports Podcast (@AaronTorresPod) February 10, 2021

College Coaching Career (2015-Present)

Career (Outside NBA)

Outside of his time in the NBA, where he’s still had his moments — named NBA coach of the year runner-up to Greg Popovich in 2002-03 — everything Eric Musselman touches has turns to gold. As a college head coach, he’s recently turned around both the Nevada and Arkansas basketball programs, but that’s only his most recent history.

The CBA (Continental Basketball Association) is a historic basketball league, created 1946 and used as an NBA feeder system for twenty years, from 1980-2000. That was before Isiah Thomas bought the league for $10 million in 1999 and ran it into the ground in under two years.

Eric Musselman is a CBA head coaching legend. He’s still in the history books as the league’s youngest-ever head coach, taking the helm for the Rapid City Thrillers in 1989 at age 23. Musselman coached seven total seasons in the CBA and still owns the league’s 2nd-best winning percentage. Legendary coach, George Karl is the only CBA coach who won more often that Musselman Jr.

Success at College

Eric Musselman started his coaching career in the professional ranks, only to dive into the collegiate game over the past 10 years. As it turns out, developing young talent, before turning pro, could be his head coach calling.

Nobody even knew the University of Nevada had a basketball team before Musselman took it over in 2015. They went from 9-22 the year before he took over, to 24-14 in Eric’s first season. He’d go on to coach Nevada to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a record of 110-34 in four seasons.

Then, Eric Musselman was offered a power-5 job at the University of Arkansas, where he has coached two seasons, both through a once-in-a-century pandemic. He’s currently 37-17 as Razorbacks’ head coach and his team is currently one of the hottest in the country entering March.

More than a coach

Musselman was a Continental Basketball Association general manager before he was the league’s youngest head coach. In fact, he was the first general manager to hire Flip Saunders as a head coach. Musselman was part of the LA Clippers front office under Elgin Baylor, even before that.

The born-and-raised Minnesotan has also coached successfully in international play and he’s held assistant coaching positions under NBA greats like Chuck Daly, Doc Rivers and Lon Kruger.

Eric Musselman has seen it all and he’s done it all. He seems like a wonderful fit for Mark Coyle and may have been subtly reminding the University of Minnesota AD of just that, when he rowed the boat for a pregame speech before his Arkansas team won a huge game over Florida last week.

Musselman is a Minnesotan who’d love to come here and someone who might want to stick around long-term even if successful. He is THE perfect hire and, whether they go dancing or not under Pitino this season, Coyle should make the move on Musselman after the March dust settles on 2021.

Of note, Eric Musselman’s buyout (according to Stadium.com) at Arkansas drops SIGNIFICANTLY on May 1, 2021.

• $5 million – Through April 30, 2021
• $1.5 million – May 1, 2021 through April 30, 2022
• $1 million – May 1, 2022 through April 30, 2024
• $750,000 – May 1, 2024 through the end date of any extensions

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Minnesota Gophers head football coach, PJ Fleck, has given some of the most spine-tingling pre and postgame speeches known to sports history. They often include his patented “Row the Boat” phrase, which he uses as a life metaphor. I’ve witnessed some of the best postgamers in-person but his best work is done in the locker room, before hitting the pre-game tunnel.

If this PJ Fleck speech doesn’t make you run through the nearest wall then you probably like losing as much as Scott Frost. pic.twitter.com/kX147KHLE5

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 17, 2021

Nobody Like PJ

Most can’t do it like Fleck does and you don’t have to coach like PJ to be successful. Some will undoubtedly try, however. One of those attempts was posted to Twitter this afternoon and the attempt came from someone whose name might ring a bell.

Eric Musselman, Arkansas head basketball coach, Minnesota native and son of former Timberwolves coach, Bill Musselman, gave his best attempt at a PJ Fleck pregame locker room speech on Tuesday night.

His team was getting ready to play the SEC rival, Florida Gators. Sure, his delivery needs work… but it worked. And of course, Musselman’s #24-ranked Razorbacks came out victorious.

Loved how our guys rowed the boat together last night. Stayed in unison and played for 40 minutes. Borrowed the pre game speech idea from @Coach_Fleck pic.twitter.com/NS2U5TJsq6

— Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) February 17, 2021

Learn and get better next time…

If Musselman is going to try a “Row the Boat” speech, he has to be more committed. It’s not the type of thing you can be on the fence about. Hopefully, he and PJ can get on the phone and go over some things he can improve on next time.

Hell, I’ve already had a bunch of people in my mentions trying to get Mark Coyle to fire Richard Pitino and hire Musselman to come here. If that were to happen, he’d have plenty of time to learn from the best.

Honestly… the more research I do on Eric Musselman, the more concerned I get about him and PJ Fleck on the same campus.

.@RazorbackMBB HC Eric Musselman after upsetting No. 10 Mizzou ????

(via @RazorbackMBB)pic.twitter.com/S0m8RMRevz

— Bleacher Report CBB (@br_CBB) February 14, 2021

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman living his… BEST life after beating Kentucky ????????????pic.twitter.com/sLjCSTtUxG (via @michaelmuss_13)

— Aaron Torres Sports Podcast (@AaronTorresPod) February 10, 2021

Eric Musselman pulled up to the Nevada locker room without at shirt on ????????????pic.twitter.com/T5LUzyl6TF

— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) March 19, 2018

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan