SEC Basketball: Ranking all 14 head coaches heading into 2023-24 season
By Caleb Hall
No. 3 Eric Musselman, Arkansas Razorbacks
Eric Musselman is one of the hottest coaches in the SEC and every year he gets higher and higher on lists like these. Musselman has probably the most diverse experience out of anybody on this list. He coached the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings for a total of 4 years until he started to become an assistant at multiple college schools. He was an assistant at Arizona State, LSU, and Nevada until taking the Arkansas head coaching job in 2019.
In Musselman’s first season he went 20-12, but the postseason was cancelled so we will never know if he would have made it or even gone far in the tourney. However, in his next 3 seasons he would take Arkansas to back-to-back elite eights and a sweet sixteen last year. Musselman in the last 2 seasons alone has taken down two number 1 seeds in Gonzaga and Kansas.
The Razorbacks are in the right hands, and even if they don’t have the best regular reason you can count on Musselman to have them ready to play in the postseason. That is the important quality for a head coach, if he can get the team ready to play in late March then you’re a quality head coach.
Musselman has the edge over some of these more establish coaches like Buzz Williams and Chris Beard just because of his recent tournament success. He has the ability to jump quite a bit as well. Eric Musselman should a coach that everyone should keep their eye on in the coming future in the SEC.