Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman announced a restructuring of the Razorback basketball staff to reflect new NCAA rules that went into effect this past July. Under the new legislation, basketball now allows five assistant coaches for on-court instruction during practices and games.
With that, Todd Lee, Michael Musselman and Ronnie Brewer will join Keith Smart and Anthony Ruta as assistant coaches. Smart, Ruta and Michael Musselman will be designated as the off-campus recruiters, along with head coach Eric Musselman.
“All three of these coaches have demonstrated their importance to this program and the program will continue to benefit from their knowledge and expertise,” said the Razorback head coach Eric Musselman. “Michael has successfully led our recruiting efforts for the past four years. As a former head coach, Todd’s contributions this past year were invaluable to me and our program in terms of breaking down our own program and our opponents. Ronnie has played a key role in our recruiting success, done an excellent job getting our players involved in the community and has been a mentor to our players by sharing his extensive NBA knowledge.”
Michael Musselman (assistant coach – director of recruiting) is starting his fifth season at Arkansas. He started as the Razorbacks’ director of recruiting, added the responsibility of assistant director of basketball operations for the 2020-21 season and was promoted to director of basketball operations for the 2022-23 season. During his time, Arkansas has produced two, top-five recruiting classes that included the likes of Moses Moody, Jaylin Williams, Davonte Davis, Anthony Black, Nick Smith Jr., Jordan Walsh and incoming McDonald’s All-American Baye Fall.
Lee (assistant coach) is in his second year at Arkansas, serving as the director of scouting and assistant to the head coach this past season. Lee and Musselman’s coaching relationship spans 30-plus years when Lee was an assistant coach under Musselman with the CBA’s Rapid City Thrillers. Lee has 12 years as a collegiate head coach under his belt, including eight at Kentucky Wesleyan and four at his alma mater South Dakota, where he recruited and coached Stanley Umude before he transferred to Arkansas for the 2021-22 season.
Brewer (assistant coach – recruiting coordinator) is a 2006 NBA Lottery pick and Razorback All-American who starts his third year on Arkansas’ staff, serving as recruiting coordinator since the 2020-21 season. In his first season in that role, Arkansas produced its best recruiting class in program history featuring five-stars (Black, Smith and Walsh) while all six, including sophomore Joseph Pinion, were rated among the ESPN.com top 100. This past year, Arkansas signed Fall and Layden Blocker, who rank as the sixth and seventh-highest recruited players, respectively, by ESPN.com.
Arkansas Razorbacks 2023-24 Men’s Basketball Staff
Head Coach: Eric Musselman (San Diego, 1987)
Assistant Coach: Keith Smart (Indiana, 1995)
Assistant Coach: Anthony Ruta (Arizona State, 2012)
Assistant Coach: Todd Lee (South Dakota, 1986)
Assistant Coach – Director of Recruiting: Michael Musselman (San Diego, 2018)
Assistant Coach – Recruiting Coordinator: Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas, 2015)
Director of Internal Operations: Riley Hall (Arkansas, 2016)
Asst. Dir. of Operations: Caleb Cline (South Dakota, 2020)
Asst. Dir. of Recruiting & Scouting: Blake Wetherington (Murray State, 2017)
Special Assistant to the Head Coach: Tommy Abdenour (Utah, 2012)
Coordinator of Creative Content: Ryan Witthoff (Florida State, 2022)
Graduate Assistants: Alec Kagan (Cincinnati, 2018) • Jackson Lee (Dordt, 2023) • Matthew Musselman (San Diego, 2023), Tony Hall (Arkansas Tech, 2021) • Austin Howard (Charleston (W.Va.), 2018) • Reid Roberts (FIU, 2020), Jonathan Steelman (Wofford, 2023) • Joey White (Saint Mary’s (Minn.), 2023)
https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/arkansas-mens-basketball-announces-coaching-staff-additions/
