Arkansas Basketball: Mike Anderson fired after 8 years as head coach

Let’s look at the coaching career of Mike Anderson while examining what Arkansas Basketball will do for their next head coach.

After eight seasons with the Razorbacks, Mike Anderson has been fired by Arkansas Basketball. He never really had any terrible seasons, but was never able to elevate the program or create lasting postseason success. In our early season head coach rankings, Anderson came in at 29th, but that’s a number that certainly would’ve gone down for next year.

Anderson played collegiately at Tulsa and quickly joined the coaching staff under Nolan Richardson. He followed Richardson to Arkansas and spent 17 years on his bench, winning the national championship in 1994. After Richardson was fired in 2002, Anderson got his first chance to run a program at UAB, leading the Blazers to three NCAA Tournaments in four years. He next spent five seasons as the head coach at Missouri, leading the Tigers to the Elite Eight in 2009. After success at both spots, he got the chance to return to Arkansas as head coach in 2011.

Predecessor John Pelphrey had not had a lot of success with the Razorbacks. The program was a perennial Tournament team under Richardson and Eddie Sutton, but the last decade of basketball had been far less successful. Anderson’s time with the Razorbacks was certainly not a failure, but he was unable to return the program to that former glory. He made just three NCAA Tournament appearances in his eight seasons, bowing out in the NIT this past year. His 169-102 record did include a 78-64 mark in the SEC, but they were never competing for league titles on a yearly basis.

This year’s Razorbacks team went 18-16 and finished in 9th place in the SEC. However, this was a very young team without a single senior on the roster. The next head coach could stumble into a great situation, or he could have a bare cupboard, as any or all of these Razorbacks could seek a transfer. Sophomore forward Daniel Gafford (16.9 ppg, 8.7 rpg) shined in his second year while freshman guard Isaiah Joe (13.9 ppg) showed that he can develop into a deadly 3-point shooter. This is just scratching the surface at the potential on this Arkansas roster; but how much of it will be intact. There are hundreds of transfers and this team could add to that number.

Anderson had 8 years and couldn’t win in Arkansas, and the next head coach has a challenge on his hands. Initial reports indicate that Kelvin Sampson of Houston will be in the mix for the job, though his season continues with Houston in the Sweet Sixteen. It would not be a surprise to see the Razorbacks hire a big name coach, as they plucked Anderson away from the Big 12 eight years ago. If Sampson, who previously worked under Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, isn’t the man, then there will be plenty of intriguing mid-major candidates to fill Anderson’s role.

A mediocre eight-year run has ended for Anderson, but the man has proven that he is a solid coach. He’ll have the chance to return as a head coach, already showing what he could do with the Blazers and Tigers in building a program. He just couldn’t take Arkansas to the next level. Sadly, this was a young team that might soon get blown up, but it could be for the greater good. The next head coach faces the challenge of rebuilding this team into a yearly contender and sometimes it’s best to push forward even with a young roster coming back. Regardless, there’s a lot of change happening in the SEC and this is a golden opportunity for Arkansas to nail this hire and get back to competing for league titles.