University of Arkansas men's basketball Coach Eric Musselman announced the hiring of his third assistant coach in Clay Moser, who has an extensive NBA background, on Saturday.
Moser, 56, will join Corey Williams and Chris Crutchfield on Musselman's first coaching staff at Arkansas. Williams previously was head coach at Stetson, and Crutchfield was hired away from an assistant coach position at Oklahoma.
Moser was an assistant coach and director of basketball strategy for the Los Angeles Lakers since 2015. He was the Lakers' head advance scout between 2012-15, and previously was on the franchise's analytics committee specializing in advance opponent preparation.
Moser began working for the Lakers organization in August 2011 as the associate head coach for the Los Angeles D-fenders of the D-League.
"I know the University of Arkansas has a great history, a national championship," Moser said. "They have great fans, great environment. It's an unbelievable league. I know all that going in, and that clearly excites me to a great degree."
He said he is looking forward to the passion of the college game.
"You don't play nearly as many games as you do in the NBA," Moser said. "I'm not saying there's no passion in the NBA, but 82 games is a grind. Some nights it's there, and some nights it's not."
Arkansas will be the sixth team on which Musselman and Moser have worked together. They previously worked together with the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, and with the Reno Bighorns and the D-fenders of the D-League, which is now called the G-League.
"We also worked together for the Dominican Republic national team," Moser said.
Musselman was the head coach of the Dominican Republic and Moser was his first assistant when they secured a silver medal in the Centro Basket Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tourney and qualified for the Pan Am Games and the FIBA Americas-Pre-Olympic Qualifier in 2010.
Moser first met Musselman in 1989 when Musselman was the head coach of the Rapid City Thrillers and Moser was an assistant for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the Continental Basketball Association.
"He was either 22 or 23 and a head coach at the pro level, and I was an assistant coach and we were cross-state rivals," Moser said. "For a league that didn't draw very well, our two franchises drew really, really well, and when we played each other it was basically a packed house every night.
"So we started out as competitors, and over the course of time we had the chance to work together on multiple occasions."
Moser worked as the advance scout in 2002-03 for the Warriors when Musselman was the head coach and runner-up for NBA coach of the year, and in 2006-07 for the Kings while Musselman was head coach in Sacramento.
He said he and Musselman have always clicked when working together.
"It doesn't mean we always agree on everything, and I don't think it's even healthy to agree on everything, but we have good creative battles and good creative conversations and good creative debates," Moser said. "But at the end of the day, I always understood he's the boss, and when you leave the office or the conference room or wherever it is where you're having those battles, whatever he says goes and you go out on the floor with the players and that's the message you're putting forth."
Moser agreed to the job several days ago and signed an offer letter Friday.
"I will be in Fayetteville on Monday to kind of get my feet under me and get a lay of the land and see the city and meet all of the people," he said.
Moser was the regional advance scout for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009-10 when the Cavs had the best record in the NBA. He was the head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League from 2008-09, and was an advance scout for the Orlando Magic in 2007-08.
Moser also has NBA front office experience. He was vice president of business development in 2005-06 for the New Orleans Hornets when Hurricane Katrina forced the Hornets to play home games in Oklahoma City for two seasons.
He was an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs' summer league team in 2005. Moser was a consultant for the NBA in International Business Development and Team Business Operations also in 2005.
He worked for Jim Valvano at North Carolina State as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 1987-89. The school produced seven players that went to the NBA during that time.
There will be a learning curve for Moser as he gets used to the college game again.
"I need to relearn the college game, and I need to relearn the recruiting game, but I've already started that research," Moser said. "I've been working at it every day since Musselman and I started talking."
Sports on 05/26/2019