Anderson Back at Arkansas
For most, the journey for Coach Mike Anderson began at Arkansas. He spent 17 years as an assistant to heralded coach Nolan Richardson before heading off on his own. But the relationship between Anderson and Richardson began long before that.
Back when Anderson was playing college ball at Jefferson State Community College, an opposing coach took notice of him. That coach was Richardson, who was at West Texas Junior College at the time. The timing worked out very nicely for Anderson. When Richardson got the head coaching job at Tulsa, Anderson was ready to move on from the juco ranks and Richardson was waiting with a scholarship. After playing under Richardson for two years, Anderson was a volunteer assistant for Tulsa.
When Richardson left for Arkansas in 1985, Anderson followed. And there he remained for 17 years. When Richardson was let go towards the end of the 2001-2002 campaign, Anderson was the interim coach. However, it would take nine more years before he got the head coaching job. In the meantime, Anderson split from the semi-retired Richardson for the first time in over 20 years. Anderson headed back to his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama and took over the head coaching job at UAB.
At UAB Coach Anderson started off his head coaching career with a lot of success. After taking the Blazers to the NIT Quarterfinals during his first season with the team, he went to the Sweet Sixteen the following year. After two more trips to the NCAA Tournament, Anderson was offered the job at Missouri. It took him a couple years to turn that group into winners, but three straight NCAA Tournament appearances later, Arkansas came calling.
Missouri was not happy that their coach left, especially after he told a reporter that he wasn’t leaving. But, in the end, where else does Coach Anderson belong? Arkansas has only won one NCAA Tournament game since Coach Richardson was let go. There is good reason to believe that Anderson, being the closest thing the Razorbacks can get to Richardson outside of Richardson himself, can bring back the glory days of the Arkansas basketball.
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