FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The question was fairly pointed and the answer that was going to come back was obvious. Still, it was worth a listen to ESPN Louisville’s Nick Coffey’s response when he was asked on ESPN Arkansas whether the Cardinals or Razorbacks presented the better job option for Hogs’ coach Eric Musselman.
There was no world where Coffey wasn’t going to say Louisville no matter what might have been in his heart. According to him, he has family in Arkansas, but the man’s paycheck comes from building loyal listeners in Kentucky.
He’s already going to take heat for admitting the Wildcats are Louisville’s big brother. He couldn’t completely bury himself by saying Arkansas is a better job, so Musselman should stick around.
While he identified Baylor’s Scott Drew as the team’s primary target for next head coach, he did go on to say that if Musselman ended up in Louisville, it would be a slight step up. The only question is how much reality goes into that statement.
ATTENTION
Let’s start with the “Big Blue” elephant in the room. Going to Louisville means playing little brother to Kentucky, which is just something that’s hard to imagine Musselman wanting to do. It already burns him up when Kentucky edges the Razorbacks out on the court 40% of the time.
In addition to having to sit back and watch John Calipari and Rick Barnes take all of his recruits, he’d be splitting NIL opportunities also. Meanwhile, Arkansas is the only show in town. There is no spotlight to share.
Louisville can’t even get out of the shadow of its women’s program. A Google search for Louisville basketball brings up the women’s team. The same search for Arkansas brings up the men.
(Google)
Even if Musselman can shake Barnes and Calipari, Louisville is where the SEC, ACC and Big Ten converge. There’s tons of recruiting pressure all around.
Meanwhile, Arkansas sits driving distance from Texas, one of the largest collections of high school athletes on the planet where the main competition is Texas, Kansas and Baylor. Not to mention that up the road in Branson sits Link Prep, one of the best basketball preparatory schools in the country and Arkansas always features Top 100 talent within its borders.
MONEY
Remember, Louisville is stuck in the ACC with its laughable television deal that has been the catalyst for numerous teams trying to leave the conference. The athletics program is already at a decisive disadvantage from that standpoint alone.
Right now Musselman makes $4.2 million with raises for additional years of service and various team success incentives that he’s collected often. Just to match his base salary, Louisville would have to come up with an extra $700,000 per year. That’s a big chunk of change just to get even, especially after hunting down a donor to buy out the recently fired Kenny Payne while the program continues to pay off his predecessor.
The down side to it though is that it doesn’t actually make the Cardinals even. You see, Musselman is due a $1.5 million bonus in 2026 if he is still the head coach at Arkansas.
Because of this bonus and built-in year raises, to get to a starting point that would put Louisville on equal footing with the Razorbacks, the Cardinals would need to cough up around $4.65 million per year. Hitting up the fan base for an extra $1.15 million per year plus the NIL money that would be necessary to be competitive is a big ask.
BAGGAGE
Few schools have ever been plagued by as much scandal as Louisville. There’s the Rated R Rick Pitino scandal. The federal investigation into a pay for play racket featuring collusion with Adidas that led to the program having to vacate 123 wins, plus more drama Coffey detailed in his interview.
“[Chris Mack] had an assistant coach extort him that led to a big embarrassment for the school and I think a lot of folks think Mack was fired. Mack was not fired. Mack was not asked to leave. He just walked away midseason, just because of you know all of the dysfunction at the University of Louisville. The athletics director who hired him left in the middle of the football season. The president of the school left in the middle of the night around Christmas time to go to Penn State. There was really nobody else that was around to bring him on that was still there. I think he felt like I probably want to get out before you know, something bad happens. They get rid of me. But I think Chris Mack’s a good coach. I think he would have really worked here. I just think timing. It was bad, and you got to keep in mind, he never actually coached the game here in four years without a cloud above the program in regards to a big punishment that was coming for the FBI stuff. So, I just think that we’ll chalk it up as bad timing. And you know, bad luck really for him. But yeah, I think I think he would have really worked well here.”
Needless to say, while Arkansas has a group of fans which can be a pain to deal with, the athletics department is stable overall. Coaches have been given long leashes and Yurachek seems to be solidly placed in the athletics director spot.
No FBI. No stories about Italian restaurants that will make people never want to eat there again. No coaches extorting one another. No one feeling like they have to sneak out in the middle of the season.
TRADITION
The one argument Coffey really wanted to hang his hat on is Louisville having more tradition than Arkansas. First off, both are basketball schools. Most years football season is something that happens to pass time until basketball season starts for both programs.
Arkansas has been to two national championship games and Louisville has been to three. Well, technically, Louisville has also only been to two since one appearance has since been vacated by scandal. The Razorbacks won one of those appearances and the record books have the Cardinals winning two.
So, if that’s as deep as it goes, then slight edge to Louisville. However, starting at 1978 and working down the list, there’s very little difference.
The Cardinals have five officially recognized Final Fours. Arkansas has four.
Louisville has eight Elite Eight appearances with the most recent being 2009. Arkansas also has eight with the most recent being 2021 and 2022.
Louisville has a small edge on Sweet 16 appearances with 16, while the Razorbacks have 13. However, Arkansas has been three times since the last time the Cardinals made an appearance.
In 2022, Arkansas blew away everyone for highest attendance in college basketball. The Hogs played in front of 361,412 home fans. The second closest team was Kentucky with 348,082. As for Louisville, the Yum Center hosted 211,867. That’s 150,000 fewer fans showing up to games.
In addition to drawing nearly twice as many fans, Arkansas is known for its iconic Hog calls and magical moments in Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas forward Jaylen Williams celebrates taking down No. 1 Auburn as fans join the celebration on the court.
Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
If we’re talking long term, like 40+ years long, then Louisville gets the slightest of edges on tradition, but if this is about recent success or playing in front of college basketball’s largest crowds, the Cardinals can just take a swim in the shallow end.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Arkansas has a decisive edge on Louisville when it comes to the better job from a 400-foot perspective. The only thing that might tip things in Louisville’s favor is a certain segment of the Razorbacks’ fan base on social media that becomes more difficult for the Hogs’ coaches, players and families to stomach with each passing season.
If things have reached a point with that group that it’s worth it for Musselman to put up with a new set of headaches at Louisville to get away, then anything goes. Otherwise, Arkansas comes out on top.
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