Could Arkansas Athletic Director be on the Hot Seat?
Between retaining a Sam Pittman and successful Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman rumored to be interviewing with the USC Trojans, should Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek be on the hot seat? We got into how the Hogs arrived at their current tumultuous state amongst some of their premier athletic programs.
From the outhouse to the penthouse, back to the outhouse. That has been the tumultuous past couple months of Arkansas Athletic Director, Hunter Yurachek.
Before the last week of the Arkansas Razorbacks 2023 football season concluded, Yurachek came out in support of Razorbacks head coach, Sam Pittman stating that he would be retained for the 2024 season. A few days later, the Hogs put on an abysmal performance against the rival Missouri Tigers enduring a 48-14 blowout loss.
At this point, Yurachek’s decision was largely questioned by the Hog faithful. The conversation quickly turned however when Yurachek and Pittman decided to hire back former Razorbacks head coach, Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator. Petrino led the Hogs to back-to-back double digit win seasons in 2010 and 2011 before off the field issues led to his firing in the off season heading into 2012.
12 years had passed and with Pittman making a last ditch effort, Hog fans welcomed the addition of Petrino back to Fayetteville. This seemed to put Yurachek back in the good graces of fans.
Fast forward to earlier this week and that quickly changed again as after back-to-back elite eight appearances by Arkansas Men’s Basketball Coach, Eric Musselman in 2022 and 2023, the Hogs fell on hard times this year concluding their campaign with a 16-17 record.
Rumors have been swirling throughout the season as to how happy Musselman is in Fayetteville and whether or not he will stay.
Hunter Yurachek stirs the pot in Fayetteville once again
#OneRazorback pic.twitter.com/qEyaxDYHxf
— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) March 28, 2024
Well, Yurachek once again stirred the pot after he posted a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) that some view as mocking the current head coach of the Razorbacks for still being in the position.
The tweet got so much attention that Musselman ended up addressing it in a recent interview with the 1 star recruits YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@1starrecruits stating that "That video was recorded a few years ago…That video was probably 30 or 40 seconds in length, and we edited that down. I had our communications staff edit that down. As you guys alluded to, coach Musselman, much to his success, has been rumored for multiple jobs that have been open here in this offseason, and he's still the basketball coach as I sit here today and record this podcast at the University of Arkansas.
He has been well taken care of in his past contracts where he's had a couple of extensions in the past few years at six-figure increases. There's not a new contract in place for him this year, but that video was just trying to dispel some of the rumors that, 'Hey, he's still our basketball coach.”
Whatever the justification for the video and however folks throughout the state of Arkansas are feeling, one thing is for certain that some features are inevitably going to be ruffled by the actions and decisions of Yurachek since the end of the college football season.
Between deciding to keep a football coach with a 48% winning percentage in four years and controversial comments on a basketball coach that has had a lot of post-season success for the Hogs, the real question in Fayetteville may not be who the coach of their main sports are pretty soon, but who the next athletic director should be.