Razorback Report: New Hogs' coach Kelsi Musick's best quotes on first practice

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — First-year Arkansas women’s basketball coach Kelsi Musick held her first official practice with the Razorbacks on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Musick met with reporters to talk about not just the team’s first practice, but also the overall status of the team.

Embrace your moment pic.twitter.com/rqtmWMoMcC
— Razorback Women's Basketball (@RazorbackWBB) September 25, 2025

Here are the five best quotes from Musick’s post-practice press conference:

Musick on Jenna Lawrence's return to Arkansas...

Jenna has so much potential. I think that's the one thing is the five that we were able to retain, the three freshmen we brought in and the girls from the portal, we do have potential. But then you've got to turn potential into something. Obviously understanding our system, our offense, our defense, we have so much to put in. But instilling a confidence in them, instilling the energy, the offensive system, those things are crucial. But keeping Jenna, keeping Arkansas talent at home is imperative to our success, not just now but in the future. And that's something we're really focused on as a staff.

You're building something at Oral Roberts...Why take that leap of faith and take this job here?

It's a huge opportunity. I've never shied away from a challenge or an opportunity to build something. I've done it, like you said, I've done it at all the stops that I've currently been at. And I believe in my system. I believe in what we're trying to build here. And I think Arkansas is a phenomenal program. To me, it's one of the top programs in the nation. And in order to resurrect that, you've got to have that mentality that you're not going to be scared and you're not going to back down. And I think our pillars and the way that we're going to do things on and off the floor, it's going to matter and it's going to show. It's going to take a little time. It's not going to happen overnight. But if the players will continue to buy in, be all in, and stay the course, we're going to have the opportunity to do something great.

How do you strike that balance between either getting on somebody, but also kind of having that face-to-face and taking that extra step?

I think part of it is learning my players, you know. Obviously, there are going to be moments where I'm probably going to lose my mind a little bit. But in a way, they're also young women, and they want to be talked to and respected, and I respect the fact that they are learning and they are trying to do the right things. They're not trying to mess up. And so being able to have those face-to-face, one-on-one conversations and talk them through some things, I think that they respect and they respond better in certain situations.

What do you remember about that game last year leading Oral Roberts into this arena?

When we walked in here as the Golden Eagles, we were ready for 40 minutes. And, you know, my players believed. They stuck to the game plan and they were able to execute. And I think that once we got going, it just really – the confidence just ended up being full steam ahead at that point, especially in that third quarter. We really were able to kind of go full steam ahead.

The rock in the shoe exercise at the beginning (of practice), where did that come from?

I want to instill things in them that's going to help for not just this moment, for the rest of their life. the little things that could hold us back on the court, but it's the same thing in the classroom that could hold them back or in life. And so I want to teach them life lessons that they can take with them, but instilling those little things because, you know, it is just a rock and it's tiny and maybe it's, you know, you get a rock in your shoe, it's uncomfortable. Maybe you can walk around with it for a while, but do you really want that to linger all day? And just teaching them those life lessons and helping them shed some of that negativity, shed some of that doubt, so that when we get on the court that they have pushed out some of the other things that might be going on in their life to where they can be where their feet are and hone in.

And a bonus quote:

Any other music lessons planned?

There's always something. I just can't give you all my secrets yet.

Yesterday’s Results

Men’s Tennis: Arkansas at ITA All-American Championships
Women’s Tennis: Arkansas at ITA All-American Championships

Today’s Schedule