FAYETTEVILLE -- Eric Musselman moved up the seniority rankings of SEC men's basketball coaches in a hurry after last season.
That's what happens when a 14-team conference makes six coaching changes.
Musselman, going into his fourth season as coach at the University of Arkansas, is tied for fifth in seniority in the SEC at his current school with Alabama's Nate Oats, Texas A&M's Buzz Williams and Vanderbilt's Jerry Stackhouse after being tied for 11th a year ago.
SEC coaches who have been at their programs longer than Musselman are John Calipari in his 14th season at Kentucky, Bruce Pearl in his ninth at Auburn, Rick Barnes in his eighth at Tennessee and Kermit Davis in his fifth at Ole Miss.
Musselman, who has a 73-28 record at Arkansas, is the only SEC coach to lead his team as far as the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament the previous two seasons.
So it seems logical to ask if the five SEC athletic directors who decided to make a change -- Mike White resigned as Florida's coach to take the Georgia job -- are looking for the next Eric Musselman?
Musselman came to Arkansas from Nevada after leading the Wolf Pack to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with a Sweet 16 run in 2018.
Five of the new SEC coaches were at mid-major programs last season.
The SEC hiring trend could be called "The Musselman Effect," though he wouldn't speculate on that theory.
"No, I'm staying in my own lane and worried about how do we get better," Musselman, whose Razorbacks are ranked No. 10 in The Associated Press preseason poll, said Friday. "We spent an hour and a half today on recruiting. We've got enough to worry about between our own walls."
Long-time SEC media members couldn't recall a time previously when basketball had so many new coaches to open a season.
Six coaching changes for basketball tripled the number this season for football, which added LSU's Brian Kelly and Florida's Billy Napier.
"What I remember about the SEC is that when I was there, guys stayed a long time," said John Brady, LSU's coach for 11 seasons from 1997-2008 followed by an eight-year stint at Arkansas State University. "But the climate has changed now with the transfer portal and players getting paid so to speak [through Name, Image and Likeness deals] and the money coaches are making.
"The expectation to win is more prevalent with fans and the school administrations than it's ever been, and I think that's going to lend itself to more jobs changing.
"Now in the SEC if you don't go to the NCAA Tournament by your third year, the tendency is to fire the coach."
Will Wade had a 105-51 record in five years at LSU and the Tigers made the NCAA Tournament last season, but he was fired after the SEC Tournament when LSU received an NCAA notice of allegations.
The other four SEC coaches who were fired didn't win enough.
Three had Final Four appearances -- Georgia's Tom Crean, Mississippi State's Ben Howland and South Carolina's Frank Martin -- on their resumes. Also fired was Missouri's Cuonzo Martin.
South Carolina's unexpected run to the 2017 Final Four was the Gamecocks' only NCAA Tournament appearance in Martin's 10 seasons.
Crean took Marquette to the 2003 Final Four and Indiana to three Sweet 16 appearances. Howland took UCLA to three consecutive Final Fours from 2006-08 and Pittsburgh to the Sweet 16 twice. Neither came close to duplicating that success in the SEC.
Georgia didn't make a postseason appearance -- not even in the NIT -- in Crean's four seasons and the Bulldogs bottomed out with a 6-26 record last season, including 1-17 in SEC play.
In Howland's seven seasons at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs' only NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2019, though they might have made it in 2020 if the coronavirus pandemic hadn't shut it down.
Martin, who led Missouri to NCAA Tournament appearances in 2018 and 2021, was fired after the Tigers finished 12-21 last season.
"Pressure is a privilege, really it is," said Davis, whose only NCAA Tournament appearance at Ole Miss was in 2019, "It's just the nature of our business right now at every sport in the SEC."
Davis survived a 13-19 record last season to return as the Rebels' coach.
"A lot of people care about basketball in the SEC, which maybe wasn't the case 25 and 30 years ago," Davis said. "And I think that's a great thing."
Calipari, who has four Final Four appearances at Kentucky highlighted by the 2012 national championship, said additional revenue generated by the SEC Network has benefited every sport.
"Many [SEC schools] invested in basketball," Calipari said. "They invested in facilities. They invested in coaching salaries. They invested in recruiting budgets.
"Now the problem is when they really invest, you've got to win. Not everybody is going to win. If you don't win, you've got a lot of change."
First-time SEC basketball coaches are Dennis Gates moving to Missouri from Cleveland State, Todd Golden to Florida from San Francisco, Chris Jans to Mississippi State from New Mexico State, Matt McMahon to LSU from Murray State and Lamont Paris to South Carolina from Tennessee-Chattanooga.
"What it says is that there has been a growth in our conference when it comes to the importance of basketball," Gates said of the high turnover. "Obviously, there was a time where you had two or three teams representing the SEC [in the NCAA Tournament], and you now grow that into about eight or nine hopefully."
Florida made the NCAA Tournament four times in White's seven seasons, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2017.
But with fans spoiled by Billy Donovan's four Final Fours -- including back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 -- before he left Florida after 19 seasons for the NBA, White's future looked shaky when the Gators failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season.
Now White is viewed as an upgrade at Georgia after the Bulldogs' struggles under Crean.
"Happy to be at Georgia and very, very blessed," White said. "Excited about going to work every day in Athens."
White became the first basketball coach to move directly from one SEC school to another since Tubby Smith left Georgia for Kentucky after the 1996-97 season. Eddie Fogler left Vanderbilt for South Carolina after the 1992-93 season.
Missouri hadn't been invited to join the SEC when Mike Anderson left for Arkansas after the 2010-11 season.
"Things were a little restless at Florida for Mike White, and then he signed a whole new contract with Georgia," Brady said. "That's a good coaching move."
Arkansas' conference opener will be at LSU on Dec. 28 in McMahon's first SEC game. Then the Razorbacks play their SEC home opener against Gates and Missouri on Jan. 4 at Walton Arena.
Eight of Arkansas' 18 SEC games will be against new coaches.
"This league, with every sport, it's constantly evolving," Musselman said. "The competition is so fierce in this league. You have to be creative. You have to look for new avenues [to succeed].
"You can't relax as a coach in this league, I know that."