All Hogs

Fans Can't Travel, Muss Will Recruit His Own

After putting on clinic of how to recruit locals to be Hog fans in Buffalo, Arkansas coach returns to old stomping grounds in San Francisco looking to pack stands with #BayHogs fans

Kent Smith

Fans Can't Travel, Muss Will Recruit His Own
Fans Can't Travel, Muss Will Recruit His Own /

When the brackets were announced and it became apparent Arkansas would have to transition from the East Coast region of Buffalo, N.Y. to the West Coast region of San Francisco, much was made about traveling to different coasts. 

However, if Arkansas somehow survived the first two rounds, the most difficult of the travel situations, things would greatly improve in California.

First off, San Francisco is basically a second home to Eric Musselman.

As many people saw, when Musselman saw there weren't going to be a lot of Razorback fans who could make the trip to Buffalo, he immediately set out to recruiting local area fans in his "spare time." 

He had his custom shoes painted to reflect the city of Buffalo. 

He hit up anyone who would listen for "Bills Mafia" gear and even landed extensive private time Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane.

He then took us on a tour of literally every pro sport in Buffalo and also spent a lot of time openly pumping up the city of Buffalo. He even got an official endorsement from the Buffalo Bills on its Twitter, which wasn't left unnoticed in a building that was packed with locals during the Arkansas games.

Musselman also subtweeted a reminder to Golden State fans that he used to game plan for them to shut down Kobe Bryant. It's not only a call-back to the fact he's one of them, but it's also a respectful nod to Bryant, who, while a bitter enemy on the court, was respected off the court in California late in life.

He's also already receiving Moses Moody gear from San Francisco and using it to make the connection that to love Golden State is to love Arkansas also. He also wore his San Francisco Warriors shirt in the press conference shown above out of respect to his love for the fans in the area.

So now you have a former Golden State Warriors coach going back to San Francisco where he has tons of connections and will definitely be rocking Golden State gear while putting a little extra pub behind former Razorback Moses Moody. 

But even when the Hogs are simply sneaking in an extra practice in Fayetteville, Musselman doesn't miss an opportunity to recruit more fans by tagging the Razorbacks with #BayHogs.

It will be interesting to see if he puts on gear for the San Francisco Dons and St. Mary's Gaels, two bay area teams who battle Gonzaga every year. It might be going too far to wear clothes from other colleges, but if he does, we'll find out whether the West Coast Conference has SEC-type loyalty, or whether the hatred for Gonzaga win out.

One way or another Musselman is going to find a way to even things out as much as possible from a fans standpoint. His ticket requests from people he knows in San Francisco, plus his mother who will see him coach Arkansas for the first time, have greatly exceeded three year's worth of ticket requests according to Musselman.

Also, as someone who has taken young men and women to the East Coast to compete and the West Coast to compete, I can say with certainty that everything being an hour early (especially right after losing an hour last week) takes something out of your team. However, the energy of having everything start two hours later, giving everyone plenty of sleep and a more natural rhythm is a huge advantage.

Eating lunch at 11 a.m., which would be 1 p.m. in Arkansas is an advantage. Eating your team meal around 4 p.m. for a 6 p.m. game means eating at a more natural 6 p.m. in Arkansas gathering. 

Speaking of lunch, dinner or simply breaks for entertainment, returning to an area you know as a leader of young men and women makes a huge difference. The stress is lower, the experience is a higher quality, and there are just fewer disruptions and opportunities for unnecessary drains on energy. 

Gonzaga has a lot of these advantages as well, but if there are going to be any shenanigans by the locals trying to give a team food poisoning or doing something to keep players up late at night, it's going to the Bulldogs who bring the potential bad blood to the area, not Arkansas.

That's the beauty of Muss. He's always recruiting. 

One minute he's stealing your area players, the next he's stealing your area fans, which might lead to a little bit of a shocking environment for Gonzaga.

After all, San Francisco is Musselman's town.

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BE NEXT TO JOIN HOG FANS IN CALI?

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WHERE CAN MUSSELMAN, HOGS FIND WEAKNESSES IN GONZAGA'S GAME?

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Published
Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments.