The Razorback Nation welcomed home one of its own on March 23, 2011, when Mike Anderson was named the 12th head men’s basketball coach in Arkansas history. A longtime assistant and associate head coach at Arkansas, Anderson spent nine years as a head coach at the University of Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri, before returning to the Razorbacks. He is now charged with bringing back the winning tradition that was synonymous with the Razorback program throughout the decades of the ’80s and ’90s.
Anderson has been a friend to the Black Alumni Society as soon as he arrived on campus in the ’90s. He is a past keynote speaker and has provided the support alumni and friends needed to see from Razorback Athletics.
Over the past five years, Anderson was the head coach at Missouri where he inherited a program that had been sub-.500 for two consecutive years and had the Tigers dancing to the Sweet 16 three years later. He guided Missouri to an overall record of 111-56 (.665) with 13 wins over ranked opponents, four NCAA Tournament victories and a 75-13 mark at home.
Missouri’s success is due in large part to Anderson and his coaching staff who searched for the best talent available to fill the needs of “The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball.” That search led to back-to-back Big 12 Newcomers of the Year, Missouri’s first Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Man of the Year and multiple All-Big 12 honors. Missouri’s 2010 recruiting class was the best in the Big 12 and ranked in the top 10 in the nation by every recruiting service.
Now known as a builder of programs, Anderson’s first head coaching stop was at UAB where in four years he amassed an 89-41 (.685) record with the Blazers. His teams made four consecutive post season appearances including three NCAA Tournament runs and his 2003-04 squad went all the way to the Sweet 16 as it defeated No. 2 Kentucky in the second round.
He was named the Ray Meyer Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2004 after leading the Blazers to an overall record of 22-10 and a share of the league’s regular season championship. UAB’s first round NCAA Tournament victory over Washington that season was the Blazer’s first since the 1986 season and the Sweet 16 run was a first since the 1981 UAB season.
Anderson’s success at both UAB and Missouri made him the ideal candidate to fill Arkansas’ coaching vacancy when it opened. A 10-day search ended when Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long made his hiring official on the evening of March 23.
“We are extremely excited to welcome home Mike Anderson to the University of Arkansas as our new head men’s basketball coach,” Long said. “Mike is one of the outstanding head coaches in college basketball. His teams play an exciting brand of basketball that has already proven successful at both UAB and Missouri.
Anderson was a part of perhaps the greatest run of basketball in Arkansas history as it matched many of the biggest names in the sport in total wins, NCAA Tournament appearances and Final Fours. The Razorbacks won five outright conference championships in his 17 years on the bench, won an SEC Western Division title as well as Arkansas’ only SEC Tournament Championship in 2000.
Anderson’s coaching career began as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Tulsa, where he worked with Richardson for three years before moving to Arkansas. His teams were 69-22 (.758) in those three seasons and earned two NCAA Tournament berths.
Anderson and his wife Marcheita have four children; Darcheita (husband Keith), Michael Jr., Yvonne and Suney and four grandchildren, Aiyanna, Mikayla, Kaila and Anderson Keith. Michael Jr., is a recent graduate of Missouri where he played for his father and Yvonne is a junior point guard at the University of Texas and was the Missouri High School Player of the Year in 2008.
