Arkansas football fans have seen plenty of good in the last few offseasons that didn’t quite pan out come fall. Malik Hornsby, for instance, looked like a more than serviceable quarterback, and then a potential game-changer as wide receiver, during…
Evin Demirel
Evin Demirel
Evin Demirel, a Little Rock native now living in Rogers, often writes about the intersection of local sports, culture, race and business.
- June 2022MagazineSports/Outdoors
Nick Smith Jr.’s 2023 Final Four Swagger Hints at a Different Kind of No. 1
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelNot since Corliss Williamson has a freshman come into the Arkansas basketball program with as much anticipation and acclaim as Nick Smith Jr. The Little Rock-area native skyrocketed up the high school-basketball recruit rankings over the last couple years, ultimately…
- June 2022MagazineSports/Outdoors
After Saban Fracas, Framing Pittman as the Anti-Jimbo Has Never Looked Better
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelThe full dysfunctional glory that is the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher feud has come to outshine almost everything else under the sports sun. For good reason, too, considering it’s not every day that you see two veteran national title-winning coaches, one…
- April 2022MagazineOpinionSports/Outdoors
For Hogs, Getting the Biggest Missing Piece to a 2023 NCAA Championship Starts Now
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelHistory — as we know, and as many of us have lived — repeats itself. Thirty-two years ago, a young, gritty Arkansas basketball team started the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed before shocking the nation and reeling off…
- February 2022Magazine
Arkansas Needs to Strike While Iron’s Hot: Recruiting, NIL Positioning Hogs to Ascend
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelIt’s early going, but so far the Arkansas football program is enjoying the kind of offseason you tell your grandchildren about. The Razorbacks team proper is showing up in the top 20 of the first batches of too-early preseason polls,…
- MagazineSeptember 2021Sports/Outdoors
The New Wild West: With No Standardized Rules in Place, NCAA’s NIL Landscape a Tricky One
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelThe New Wild West: With No Standardized Rules in Place, NCAA’s NIL Landscape a Tricky One Decades ago, a few Razorback fans put $100 bills into the hands of Arkansas basketball great Sidney Moncrief. “I can’t say that occasionally an…
- June 2021MagazineSports/Outdoors
Can Kevin Kelley Adapt His Successful System To College Ball?
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelGus Malzahn, for one, thinks the former PA coach can Over the course of 18 years at Pulaski Academy, Kevin Kelley coached numerous future Razorbacks like Hunter Henry, Hudson Henry and John David White. Kelley also strengthened ties to a few…
- MagazineMay 2021Sports/Outdoors
Can Eric Musselman Become The Dave Van Horn Of Razorback Basketball?
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelFor years, Eric Musselman has been on a text message chain with buddies who go back to his playing days at the University of San Diego in the mid-1980s. In the last few weeks, they had, apparently, essentially dared him…
- BusinessMagazineMarch 2021Sports/Outdoors
Yes, Eric Musselman is in Line for a Big Raise. But the Dynamics Aren’t So Simple.
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelIn early March, Hunter Yurachek said he’d already begun informal talks with Musselman’s agent about updating Musselman’s contract. After coaching Arkansas to its 10th straight SEC win in early March, Eric Musselman was well on his way to becoming one…
- February 2021MagazineSports/Outdoors
Paid to Lose? An Arkansas-centric Analysis of College Football’s Obscenely Large Buyouts
by Evin Demirelby Evin DemirelHunter Yurachek did the reasonable thing. In November 2019, with the Razorbacks embarking on yet another coaching search, Arkansas’ athletic director was ready to bring some common sense back into an industry seemingly growing out of control. Firings in the…