Eric Musselman shares reminder from wife as he coaches young team

Eric Musselman’s team is going through a fairly steep learning curve. With so many new faces, let alone young ones, at Arkansas, the Razorback head coach is having to display more patience than usual. It’s taking a lot, but he says some important people in his life are helping him do that.

Musselman spoke about his tolerance during his press conference on Monday. He said his wife, along with assistant coach Keith Smart, have helped him a ton in getting better at that.

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“My wife reminds me walking out the door each day that, at practice, you’re gonna see some turnovers. And to be patient. The last few years of doing this, our teams have always gotten better and to keep that in mind,” said Musselman. “Then we have a staff text thread that we’re in. Coach Smart does a good job of putting things in perspective.”

Arkansas is going from a pair of 25+ win seasons Elite Eight bids to a completely new roster. 11 newcomers guaranteed that the Razorback staff was going to have to teach almost if not more than they ever had in Musselman’s four years. The problems are taking their time to be ironed out, but he’s still optimistic about the improvements he still expects his team to make.

“The three-point percentage and the turnovers are problematic. And so is just the repeating of the same thing over and over. But we’ll get better,” said Musselman. “We’ve just got to keep repeating.”

Six freshmen, with some needing to play major roles, already meant Arkansas would need to take their time teaching. Adding five players through the transfer portal only compounded that problem. This Razorback team is talented, but they have a long way to go to get where they want to be. While they work out the kinks, though, it’ll take even more lessons from Mrs. Musselman to keep their head coach even-keeled.