We are in the 11th hour of the Razorbacks search for a new head basketball coach.
The question now seems to be not IF but WHEN Mike Anderson will be officially announced as Arkansas next head basketball coach. Multiple sources have confirmed to the Razorback Nation that a deal with Anderson is eminent and that only the very last details are left to hash out. The offer came after both Arkansas and Anderson received permission from Missouri to talk to each other.
Anderson has spent the past five seasons at Missouri compiling a 111-57 record as the Tigers head coach. This past season Anderson made his third straight NCAA Tournament appearance losing in the first round to Cincinnati. In 2009 Anderson and his Tigers made it to the Elite Eight, his highest finish as a head coach.
Before coming to Missouri, Anderson spent four seasons at UAB, finishing with a record of 89-41 making it to three NCAA Tournaments, including a trip to the Sweet Sixteen.
Anderson began his coaching career spending seventeen seasons at Arkansas as an assistant under Nolan Richardson. After Richardson’s firing at Arkansas in the spring of 2002, Anderson coached the final regular season game against Vanderbilt getting a win. He also coached the Razorbacks to a loss in the SEC Tournament to Tennessee.
Anderson’s overall record as a head coach is 200-98 with six NCAA Tournament appearances. Anderson will not be the only one with ties to Arkansas on the bench as former Razorback guard T.J. Cleveland is an assistant coach on his uncle’s staff.
One of Anderson’s assistant coaches Matt Zimmerman has ties to Arkansas as well. Zimmerman played basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks for three seasons (1987–88, 1988–89 and 1989–90) under head coach Nolan Richardson and assistant coach Mike Anderson. During those three seasons Arkansas had a overall record of 76–21, a conference record of 42–6, two conference titles, and three National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament appearances including a final four in 1990.
Zimmerman has been an assistant coach at three different universities under two different coaches.
When Nolan Richardson was let go at the University of Arkansas, the Razorbacks hired Stan Heath rather than long term assistant coach Mike Anderson, who had been an assistant for 17 seasons under Richardson. Instead the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), located in Anderson’s home town of Birmingham, Alabama, gave Anderson a chance to be a head coach at a Division One basketball School, where he added Zimmerman to his staff. When Anderson was hired by the University of Missouri after four years at UAB, Anderson again added Zimmerman as an assistant coach.
If indeed hired, Anderson would replace John Pelphrey, who was let go by the U of A earlier this month.
