Arkansas head coach Tom Collen yells to his players in the first half of a first-round women's Southeastern Conference tournament NCAA college basketball game against the Mississippi Wednesday, March 5, 2014, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Jason Getz) (The Associated Press)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long says the school has fired women's basketball coach Tom Collen.
The Razorbacks (19-11) lost in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament to Mississippi on Wednesday, the eighth time in nine seasons they've failed to advance past the opening game.
Collen was 132-90 in seven seasons at Arkansas after being hired away from Colorado State. However, the school reached the NCAA tournament just once, during the 2011-12 season, and the Razorbacks were 40-68 in SEC play — including a 6-10 finish this season.
Long says the program hasn't "made the progress necessary" to compete in the SEC, and that a national search will begin immediately to find his replacement. Collen made $415,691 annually and was under contract through March of 2016.
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