Yurachek believes Musick hire will jumpstart rebuild of Arkansas women’s hoops

BY DUDLEY E. DAWSON

FAYETTEVILLE – When the opportunity presented itself to take over a rebuilding Arkansas women’s basketball program, Oral Roberts University head coach Kelsi Musick was quick to accept the challenge.

Musick, who rebuilt Southwestern Oklahoma University in record-setting fashion and most recently upgraded the program in three years at ORU, relishes the challenge of doing so in the SEC.

““I think the fact that I’ve been able to be successful building a program, because that’s not easy,” Musick said of her reasons for that belief. “Some people can come in where it’s already built.

“But when you’re trying to build something, you’re starting over, laying a foundation, and that’s definitely not an easy task. But I’m up for that challenge.”

It may be a conference that put 10 teams in this season’s NCAA Tournament, but its not one that scares Musick, who will arrive in Fayetteville with a belief that she can compete at the highest level.

The 45-year-old Musick was 259-125 years in 13 years at SWOSU with a trip trip to the 2019 Division II National Championship game in a season that ended 35-2.

Musick was 90-12 her last three seasons at SWOSU.

She was 57-39 in three seasons at ORU, including 21-11 and 24-9 in the final two seasons.

Musick’s new players are on spring break this week and she noted her focuses right now are staff, recruiting and then getting to know her players when they get back.

She did announce that current assistant Lacey Goldwire has agreed to remain with the Razorbacks.

“This first season is about the foundation laying, having the right culture, having the right vision, having the intensity, the effort, the energy,” Musick said. “[Having] the things that we need to lay the foundation for this program and continue to grow it.
“Will it happen overnight? No. But anything worth building has to be built the correct way, the right way, and extremely with a strong foundation in order to withstand the test of time, in order to grow a program that will continue to grow over time and get better.”

The former Lawton (Okla.) College point guard (1988-92) will do so with an exciting brand of basketball that saw the Golden Eagles average 83.2 points per game last season.

That was eighth nationally among NCAA teams in a year where Arkansas averaged 68.2 a contest.
“(One thing) we love to do is put points on the board,” Musick said. “We’re not going to play slow, we’re going to play fast. We’re going to get up and down and force the issue on the offensive end, and then you’ve got to get back and you’ve got to guard.

“But definitely that energy, that level of passion and that effort to perform at the highest level, that’s extremely important. I’m known for my high-octane offense, and that’ll definitely be taking place here.”
That high-powered offense is one of the reason Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek chose Musick, whose hiring was announced last Friday in a press release.

Musick signed a deal worth $600,000 per season that runs through 2030.

Yurachek told reporters after Monday’s press conference that he had officially interviewed four coaches and had informal discussions with eight more candidates.

“I spoke to multiple coaches, multiple informally and a few formally,” Yuracek said during his opening statement. “What I can tell you is that some wanted to be an Arkansas Razorback, some did not. Some embraced the challenge of building a nationally competitive program in the SEC and some did not.

“Some were using this as an opportunity to leverage their current institutions and some had a genuine interest in this job.

“…I was looking for a coach who indeed wanted to be an Arkansas Razorback and understood what the challenge was to build a nationally competitive program in the Southeastern Conference.

“And I wanted a coach that embraced competing against the coaches in this conference because the best coaches are in the Southeastern Conference and they didn’t need to shy away from that.”

There were some other factors.

“I wanted a proven winner,” Yurachek said. “I wanted a program-builder and I wanted a good person who was a great fit for our department and a great fit in our head coaches room.

“And I wanted a coach who still valued the student-athlete and the student-athlete experience in this ever-changing environment in college athletics.

“I truly believe Kelsi checked all of those boxes and many more.”

Yurachek needed a new coach after parting ways with Mike Neigbors, who went 148-114 in eight season at the helm of the Razorbacks.

Neighbors final team went 10-22 in a tenure where his teams advanced to post season six times, but only twice to the NCAA Tournament.

“I just thought that our program over the past few years was going in the wrong direction,” Yurachek said. “(Mike Neighbors) took a program eight years ago that had some problems, both on the court and off the court, and took the program to an SEC championship game, took us to the NCAA Tournament.

“We never could get over the hump in the NCAA Tournament, then never could get back above to kind of the middle of the pack in the SEC over the past few years. And this league is just getting better and better and better.”

Little did she know it at the time, but Musick was actually auditioning for the Arkansas job when her visiting Eagles routed the Razorbacks 94-73 on Nov. 21.

“She truly did come on my radar screen on November 21,” Yurachek said. “I said, ‘Hey, if things don’t work out..she was going to be somebody on my list.’

Yurachek pushed back on the narrative that Arkansas does not fund the program enough.

“[Musick] is going to have the resources needed to compete at this level,” Yurachek said. “I’m very confident with that. Our women’s basketball program is going to be one of our programs that participates in revenue sharing. We’re not going to be at the top of the SEC, but we’re going to be definitively in the ballgame.”

Pressed on specifics, Yurachek pointed to the success of other Arkansas women’s programs
“I would say that that is a wrong assessment and I don’t know where that assessment is coming from,” Yurachek said. “You look ay our women’s sports across the board and they are leading the charge and have been leading the charge.

“Women’s basketball has not been a part of that charge…but needs to be be part of it now.”

Yurachek doesn’t expect that to happen overnight.

“Here’s what I know: I know I must be patient and I’m going to be patient,” Yurachek said. “Our fans will have to be patient because this is not going to happen overnight. But I promise you, under Coach Musick’s leadership, special days are ahead for our women’s basketball program.”

He does want to be out of the 16-team SEC’s ottom quadrant – as it was this season – in the new future.
“I think we’ve got to take steps,” Yurachek said. “I think you can break the SEC up into quadrants, and right now we’re in the bottom four of that. I think we’ve got to take a step to the bottom eight, and you’ve got to take it the next step to the top eight, and then a next step to that top four.
“I think if we can slowly build that where we climb a quadrant every year, we’re building this program the right way where it can have some sustained success.”