Mike Anderson keeps the Arkansas recruiting class intact

Mike Anderson has handled his first challenge at his new job with relative ease.

The new Arkansas head coach was walking into a bit of a difficult situation. John Pelphrey had landed one of the best recruiting classes in the country, but with the head coaching change, the question that many in the Natural State -- and a number of other coaching staffs -- were asking was whether Anderson would be able to keep those kids committed.

According to Andy Katz, he has. And it was probably an easier task than you or I expected.

Guard Ky Madden and forwards Aaron Ross and Hunter Mickelson, who are all ranked in the top 25 at their position, are Arkansas natives. Their commitments likely had a lot to do with playing for their home-state Razorbacks. Point guard BJ Young and forward Devonte Abron were recruited by Anderson when he was still at Missouri, meaning that both had a previous relationship with Anderson. This wasn't a complete stranger taking over the program.

With a top ten recruiting class coming in and a decent amount of talent returning -- headlined by Rotnei Clarke and Marshon Powell -- Arkansas looks like they have a chance to make some noise in the SEC next season. The biggest issue will be how well the roster adapts to Mike Anderson's "40 minutes of hell" style of play. Anderson will have some athleticism at his disposal, which will make this a fun team to watch.

Success isn't guaranteed, however.

If you remember, last spring Jeff Bzdelik took over Wake Forest when Dino Gaudio was fired. He managed to keep Gaudio's impressive fine-man recruiting class intact and got a couple of Wake's returnees to stay on campus. All that resulted from Bzdelik's inaugural season in Winston-Salem was one of the worst teams in recent ACC memory.
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REPORT: Mike Anderson to re-sign with Missouri

So it looks like Mike Anderson isn't headed to Arkansas after all.

According to this report from the St. Louis Dispatch, Anderson is on the verge of signing a new contract with Missouri:

Pending formal approval today or tomorrow by the University of Missouri Board of Curators, according to two sources familiar with the dynamics, Mizzou is on the verge of finalizing a contract extension and raise for basketball coach Mike Anderson that it believes will keep him at MU.

If approved, the new contract would add two years to the five remaining on Anderson's contract and call for a jump approaching $2 million a year from his current base salary of about $1.5 million.

If true, this confirms the rumor that the Arkansas report was the result of Anderson's agent trying to leverage the Tigers into giving him a raise.
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Missouri's Mike Anderson to Arkansas per KLUT TV; has not happened yet

According to a tweet from an anchor for a TV station in Tulsa, OK, Mike Anderson will be introduced as the new head coach of the Arkansas basketball team tomorrow.

That may not necessarily be true just yet.

Gary Parrish has reported that the two sides are close to a deal, but that nothing is official yet and that there is no introduction planned for tomorrow. A source told me that Mike Anderson has not yet informed the team of his decision to leave.

Mike Anderson is still the head coach of the Missouri Tigers.

But that may only be for so long at this point.

Anderson was an assistant with the Razorbacks for 17 seasons under Nolan Richardson. He's been at Missouri for five years and has been to the NCAA Tournament for each of the last three.
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Mike Anderson rejects Oregon's advances

First, St. John's ended their coaching search when they pulled Steve Lavin out of the ESPN studios and put him back on the sideline. Then DePaul, the doormat of major college basketball, snagged Oliver Purnell from Clemson.

Hell, even UNC-Wilmington, who had been without a coach for two months, was able to hire former Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson.

And through it all, Oregon -- and Phil Knight's gobs of cash -- is still without a coach nearly six weeks after news first broke that Ernie Kent was going to be let go.

Mike Anderson will not be leaving Missouri.
(photo credit: Missouri.edu)

The latest rejection came from Missouri's Mike Anderson. He met with Pat Kilkenny -- the former Oregon AD who is heading up the search for a new coach -- at Nolan Richardson's charity golf event in El Paso, TX, on Thursday.

But on Saturday night, Anderson reassured the Tiger faithful he would not be leaving Columbia.

"It's certainly flattering any time another university notices what your program is accomplishing," Anderson said in a statement Saturday night. "And when I was approached by Oregon, I decided to listen, but it was simply with my family in mind. All that quick conversation did was reaffirm that Missouri is home to us."

Reports had Oregon offering as much as $3 million a year to Anderson, who just finished the first year of a seven-year contract with $1.55 million a season. It was the second time in two seasons that the former UAB coach and longtime Richardson assistant at Arkansas spurned the advances of a program offering more money. He turned down $2 million from Georgia before resigning with the Tigers after his Elite 8 trip in 2009.

That means that Anderson joins the long list of big-names that have rejected Oregon. Mark Few, Billy Donovan, Tubby Smith, Tom Izzo, Brad Stevens, and Jamie Dixon have all said thanks but no thanks to the Ducks.

It begs the question: what is wrong with the Oregon job?

Short answer: not much.

There's the Nike money that will be lining your bank account. The Ducks move into a new arena next season. There is a talented class of rising-juniors. Oregon does play in a Pac-10 that doesn't look to be all that promising next season.

But the problem is that Oregon doesn't realize that they aren't quite UCLA.

Think about it like this: Oregon is the guy in your fantasy league that overvalues every single player on his roster. He's the guy that offers you LaDainian Tomlinson for Adrian Peterson, that thinks that just because Kevin Garnett is Kevin Garnett, he's worth Kevin Durant straight up.

The Ducks need realize they aren't going to make a splash hire. They aren't going to land an established coach like Izzo or Smith that is good standing and they aren't in a position to pry a hotshot young guy like Stevens away from a good job.

The ironic part?

It doesn't matter whether or not the Ducks come to that realization, because they have already exhausted all of their options when it comes to big names. They can't make a splash hire because there are no names left on the market big enough to create more than a ripple.

Expect the next guy they go after to be Randy Bennett from St. Mary's.

And if that falls through?

Maybe Ernie Kent?

That would certainly make a splash.
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Mike Anderson to Oregon not dead yet

Could we finally be nearing the end of Oregon's search for a basketball coach?

The school has gone after names like Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo, Brad Stevens, Jamie Dixon, and Tubby Smith, throwing buckets of Nike money at their candidates. But nearly a month after the March 17th firing of Ernie Kent, the Ducks still are coachless.

Their latest target is Mike Anderson, who had reportedly rejected an offer of $3 million a year on Thursday. It wouldn't be surprising. Anderson, who makes $1.55 million a year, rejected $2 million a year from Georgia last off season.

Mike Anderson to Oregon? Well, Jeff Goodman tweeted this earlier.
(photo credit: Blog.Al)

But this morning, The Oregonian is reporting that Pat Kilkenny, the former Oregon AD and the man in charge of the search for a new coach, met with Anderson in El Paso, TX, where Anderson is in town to participate in a charity golf event, to discuss the position.

Anderson, who coached under Nolan Richardson at Arkansas where he learned the "40 minutes of hell" defense that he runs, has revitalized both the UAB and Missouri programs since 2002.

Anderson is just one year into a 7 year contract with Missouri, but if Oregon truly is offering $3 million a year -- double his current salary -- that is a lot of money to turn down.
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