After a stale end to the Andy Enfield era, Eric Musselman is ready for his return to California. The Muss Bus is going to bring a new energy to USC and the Big Ten they both need.
by Jordan Beckley
The Coaching Carousel in College Basketball got a little carried away this offseason.
The will-they-won’t-they flirtation with the Kentucky athletic department and firing Coach Calipari finally lead to Cal leaving the Kentucky job for the Arkansas job. With maybe the best coaching job in College Basketball open, we got intense Scott Drew and Dan Hurley rumors before UK hired former player and 1996 National Champion Mark Pope.
Lost in the Kentucky madness was why the Arkansas job was open in the first place.
After frustrations built for everyone (the fans, the boosters, the AD, and Musselman too), the Muss Bus took the nearest exit and headed on the 412 West towards California.
Eric Musselman’s five year tenure at Arkansas was mainly a success story. It vaulted him and Arkansas back into National prominence.
It took the Razorbacks 25 years and burning thru 3 head coaches before Musselman took them back to their first Sweet 16 since the Nolan Richardson 90’s teams.
For Musselman, it was a proof of concept. He took his winning formula from Nevada and applied it to a power conference program and went to three straight Sweet Sixteens.
For Arkansas, Musselman proved that they could be a recruiting destination again (something Calipari is already continuing) and be a winning program.
After a frustrating year that ended the marriage between Musselman & Arkansas, both have hot new girlfriends that they are excited to show off. However for Musselman, USC is not just a fun new Basketball program to run but also a return to his roots.
California Love
Eric Musselman moved around growing up, but San Diego was always a home for him as he played for the University of San Diego as a student from 1983-87. He became Coach Musselman shortly after his playing days.
His early Coaching career tipped off as Head Coach of the Rapid City Thrillers from the Continental Basketball Association as well as semi-professional stints for the Florida Beach Dogs and then the Florida Sharks. Add in gigs as an assistant coach for Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic and the Atlanta Hawks, before Musselman finally made his way back home to California in 2002 when he became Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors.
After two brief mediocre seasons (75-89 overall 45.7%), Musselman was relieved of his duties. He spent the next few seasons as an assistant for the Memphis Grizzlies before once again returning to California to be head coach of the Sacramento Kings.
Muss was dealt a losing hand with a subpar roster as the first coach after the Rick Adelman Kings era sputtered out. Sacramento went 33-49 in Musselman’s first season and in typical dysfunctional 2000s Kings fashion he was fired before getting a fair shake making it his lone season as Head Coach.
What followed was a retreat away for Musselman. He took three years off before coaching in the NBA D League for a few seasons. It wasn’t until 2012 that Musselman came back to the College game when he became an assistant under Herb Sendek at Arizona State.
The College game offered Musselman a chance to be reborn. After the 2014-2015 season he took the Nevada Head Coaching job. Reno was able to revitalize Musselman as he garnered National attention winning the Mountain West Conference regular season Title three straight years from 2017-2019.
The Martin Twins (Caleb and Cody) were March Madness darlings in 2018 where the 7th seeded Wolfpack beat Texas and no. 2 seed Cincinnati on their way to the Sweet Sixteen. The success catapulted Musselman back into the good graces of the Coaching world and he would take the Arkansas job after the Martins went pro.
Like I said before Arkansas was another huge success for Musselman. The Razorbacks had only made 3 NCAA tournaments the past 11 seasons before Muss took the gig and hadn’t made it to the Sweet Sixteen in a quarter of a century. Musselman made the Elite Eight in just his second season losing to eventual National Champion Baylor. Arkansas then made it back to the Elite Eight after upsetting no.1 seed Gonzaga with Drew Timme, Andrew Nembhard and Chet Holmgren before losing to Paolo Banchero’s Duke team. The next year the Razorbacks again upset a no.1 seed in Kansas before losing to eventual National Champion UConn (yes by 23 points but everyone has lost to UConn by 20) in the Sweet Sixteen.
Overall, Musselman went 8-3 in his three NCAA appearances at Arkansas (a record even Coaches with pure job security envy) and had 9 players make the NBA in just 5 seasons. Still, the 14-22 SEC record in his final two seasons with 9th and 11th place finishes was enough to create a schism between the fans, the athletic department and Musselman.
Despite the success he had at Nevada and then at Arkansas, Musselman couldn’t keep California out of his mind. Now, Musselman hopes that Third Time’s the Charm as he heads to sunny SoCal to be the head coach of the Trojans.
Enfield’s End
Paradoxically, things have not been sunny at the USC Basketball program the past few years.
Just a few year’s ago Andy Enfield had peaked at USC with Evan and Isaiah Mobley pushing the Trojans to a 2nd place finish in the PAC-12 and an Elite Eight appearance. Evan Mobley would win PAC-12 POY and be drafted no.3 overall in the NBA Draft while Enfield won Coach of the Year for the PAC-12.
That kind of season can often elevate a coach and allow him to get top recruits potentially even graduating as a program to compete at a higher level consistently. The next three recruiting classes brought in six 4-Star recruits and one 5-star in no.2 overall recruit Isaiah Collier. Yet, the next two years Enfield would be bounced in the first round in the no.7 vs no.10 game before completely missing the tournament last year.
It was a repetitive story for Enfield and USC. Enfield had been there for 11 seasons and made 5 NCAA Tournaments. The Trojans didn’t win a PAC-12 regular season title or a conference tournament in that entire decade plus. In the 4 NCAA appearances excluding the Elite Eight run with a Top 3 NBA pick, Enfield had gone just 1-3 in the First Round and would then lose promptly in the Second Round after his lone win.
Overall, the USC program has been in an extended drought.
The Trojans haven’t made a Final Four in 70 years. Their last appearance was back in 1954 where they only had to beat Idaho State and Santa Clara to make the Final Four. USC then lost to Bradley in the Semifinal and then lost to Penn State in the now extinct Third Place game.
Fun Fact, USC never even won a PAC-12 regular season Title or Conference Tournament. And the Trojans only won one PAC-10 regular season Title (1985) and one Tournament Title (2009) in 33 seasons and both of those teams lost before the Sweet Sixteen.
Despite the amazing location, great weather, thriving athletics department, and history of NBA players, USC has not been a good basketball program.
Andy Enfield made them relevant. He made USC basketball good not great. For awhile that was good enough however Andy might have seen the writing on the wall as he bolted for the SMU job as the Mustangs head into the ACC. Meanwhile, USC prepares to enter the Big Ten and it was time to take a big swing. Bringing a high energy guy like Eric Musselman home to SoCal after the sleepy Enfield era might be the perfect connection.
The Portal Mercenary
Much of the stability from the Enfield era will be swiftly replaced by the anarchy of Eric Musselman in the Transfer Portal.
Here is a sample of Eric Musselman’s team building the past few seasons at Arkansas:
| Year | New Scholarship Players | Transfers | Recruits |
| 2020 | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2021 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 2022 | 11 | 5 | 6 |
| 2023 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
The past four seasons Musselman has essentially replaced half of his team. Each year adding more and more transfers in place of perhaps too-fresh Freshmen.
Musselman has in a way become the face of the Transfer Portal. A coach who hasn’t shied away from the rapidly changing landscape of the sport but rather embraced it. Arkansas even became known for contacting a comically large amount of players entering the portal with them reaching out to 80+ players last year’s cycle for again just 13 roster spots. However, the volatility of the transfer portal also showed in his results.
When executed perfectly the portal provides an opportunity to skip rebuilding years. Coaches can grab ready made replacements for the seniors or early draft entrants they lose and grab an All-Conference performer from the MAC with 70+ college starts under their belt ready for their call-up to the big leagues.
Musselman was able to employ that strategy with transfers like Ricky Council IV, Stanley Umude and JD Notae being top scorers for Arkansas during that three year Sweet Sixteen stretch. Yet, last year the Razorbacks missed with El Ellis being a dud while Tramon Mark & Khalif Battle put up points but couldn’t create enough shots for teammates or put enough tally marks in the win column.
Muss’s new team is no different than his past few Arkansas’ teams. In fact, with the coaching change the entire roster is new with all thirteen scholarship players being fresh to USC. Eleven of them are transfers. Two of them are 4-Star recruits flipped to USC on short notice.
The Trojans have been overlooked this offseason, regularly being ranked the second lowest of the four new Big Ten additions. But what if the media is making a mistake?
Nobody is more prepared and experienced in the portal to succeed in Year One (and skip the rebuild) like Musselman. All of his portal classes good and bad have prepared him to try and make USC win right away.
A Trojan Horse?
The acclimation into the new conference will likely be very hard for Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington. Washington is predicted to have the worst go at it. Some people are high on the Ducks. Most believe UCLA will contend in their freshman campaign. In my opinion, the Trojans are the wild card.
Musselman has built a veteran team loaded with productive college players. Seven of the eleven transfers are four-year college players. Nine of the eleven averaged over 12 points per game last season. The two who didn’t were Kevin Patton Jr. who averaged 9.8ppg as a Freshman and Wesley Yates from Washington who is redshirting this season.
Beyond their experience and proven production, Musselman has built a team with length that will trouble a good portion of the Big Ten. The Trojans will have nine different players that are between 6’5″ and 6’8″. However, the downside of this wing-heavy build is the lack of bulk on the frontline. USC’s only true big is UMass transfer Josh Cohen (6’10” 220lb) who is a below average rebounder for his height. So, ‘small ball’ with 3 to 4 of these massive wings won’t just be a regular lineup, it will be required.
Eric Musselman potentially has his prized lead guard in Xavier transfer Desmond Claude. Claude is a 6’5″ rising Junior and a former Top-100 recruit. He averaged 16.7ppg 4rpg and 3apg last season improving by a dozen more points as he made the leap to a starter as a Sophomore. He is a crafty and lethal pick and roll guard who with an assist rate of 20% is more suited to run the offense and create for others than Tramon Mark & Khalif Battle were.
Claude’s shot (23.9% 3pt on 3.3att) and defensive effort are credible questions, but if either improve in his new home you could be looking at an All-Big Ten First Teamer. Just look at his final game last year against Georgia in the NIT where he recorded 30 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and most importantly hit 5 of 6 threes as proof of concept.
There are a couple other big swing potential players like Patton Jr. who could thrive with a guy like Musselman who loves his archetype of a lengthy shooting wing. Or Saint Thomas who averaged 19.7ppg, 9.8rpg, 4.2apg and 33% 3pt on 6.2 attempts at the same school that Dalton Knecht played at before Tennessee. Even 4-Star recruit and local LA product out of Sierra Canyon Isaiah Elohim could potentially be a win-now Freshman.
Those swing players will be stabilized in part by all the vets Musselman brought in. UC-San Diego transfer Bryce Pope will be a leading man in the backcourt after averaging 18ppg the past two seasons for the Tritons. Clark Slajchert (Penn) will bring some much needed shooting (18ppg, 42% from 3pt) and he along with Matt Knowling (Yale) will bring some Ivy League intelligence. While Terrance Williams (Michigan) and Chibuzo Agbo (Boise State) have expansive experience as role players in some of the best Basketball conferences.
The Trojans 100% have players who can play, but it will really come down to team identity and chemistry coming together in an accelerated offseason. As with many transfer portal teams, if the identity becomes too much about Me rather than We things can fall apart. Bigger hopes of the NCAA Tournament and Big Ten contention fall apart if you miscast the lead role and Saint Thomas or Desmond Claude aren’t ‘the guy’. And that’s why Musselman’s experience as a Portal mercenary is so important.
People have counted out USC already before a single ball has been tipped. It’s the kind of exclusion that a strong & long athletic team that lacks real big men could thrive on. Musselman is known for his high energy, big performative personality. Like when he took off his shirt after beating no.1 seed Kansas.
It’s that same amped up intensity that this underdog USC team will need to thrive on if they want to become a Trojan Horse and sneak out to slay the rest of the Big Ten.
Coach Musselman isn’t just a successful head coach with deep ties to California. He is also a personality hire. Andy Enfield did his best to make USC relevant, but there still was never an identity with his USC teams. You can say a lot about Eric Musselman, but you can not say he doesn’t know who he is.
Musselman is a showman, who at times might make things too much about himself, but you cannot deny his results. This might be my favorite hire of this summer as it is a perfect marriage of branding between a program needing a face and a Face who wanted to go home.
Even if USC isn’t a sleeping giant this season, the Big Ten somehow got even tougher by adding one of the sports best coaches (and best recruiters) and we will see soon enough if the uber traditional conference is ready for his new-age radical approach.
Read more on The Floor Slap:
- College Basketball Super Sixteen: December Edition
- Midweek Madness: Feast Week Leftovers
- Big Ten Betting Guide: Rivalry Week
- Big Ten Betting Guide: Week 13
- Big Ten Football Preview: Week 13