BASKETBALL

USC To Hire Eric Musselman

The USC coaching search is over. Did anyone else besides Eric Musselman interview?

Musselman is expected to become USC’s new basketball coach. It will probably be rocky at times, but if he can deliver a couple Elite Eight appearances and compete in the Big Ten, he will be worth it.

If he doesn’t reinvigorate the program, then people will start focusing on his personality and penchant for staff changes.

I suspect USC will pay him between $4.5-5 million per year but he also comes cheaply because of the $1 million buyout. The bottom line is he has to be considered an upgrade from Andy Enfield.

42 thoughts on “USC To Hire Eric Musselman”

  2. ‘Brawny’ is not going to put up with a Musselman so he is as good as gone. Let’s see if this newcomer can grab any local talent

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      1. True that football is king in America, George, but basketball has many more ‘small thrills’ and may lay claim to the best athletes

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      3. That’s true, George. But with that beautiful, relatively new arena, it would be nice to get closer to that 10.3K capacity. We did average 6.3K this year, which was up from 4.0K last year.

        Being based on ticket sales not attendance, it was probably more like 5.0K this year.

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      2. Yeah, John, a Knight couldn’t exist in today’s world. But 18 technicals during his 5 seasons at Arkansas, including 4 this year is a mark I hope to see him improve upon! 😜

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  5. Maybe ‘Muzzle-man’ has a sense of humor: ”Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat”

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    1. And drop F bomb’s all over the place, rip off your shirt in a rage, have your assistant take a student reporters phone and throw it on the floor, F bombs opposing fans.

      Great hire Jen !

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    1. I don’t believe Wiley goes all the way to being a misanthrope, I believe he picks out the people he doesn’t want to associate with

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  10. This is a risky hire. Jen is either very naive in thinking she can control this renegade coach or very bold in thinking she will let him be himself and he will create a winner. Until others, I like the pick. The guy has a reputation for coaching hard, developing players, and putting players into the NBA. People have compared him to Bobby Knight – good. Nobody says the guy is a bad coach. If you want a guy who will always act appropriately, hire someone like Helton or Andy Ain’t winning. It’s time to change the DNA of the program and put people into the seats and you only do that with bold hires. 

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    1. The more I think about it I think “Muzzleman’ will work out if he can control his mouth. If only Ol’ Jen can place a towel in his mouth

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    2. I can’t believe we allow that to happen here in america. If we get to January 1, 2026 and we haven’t had martial law enforced upon us at least once, I’d be surprised.

      Certain globalists are moving this countries young people towards civil war (which is what they want). Have you heard the libs talk about “build back better”(Joe Biden has used the phrase). These people think america must be torn down and then built back up(their way). The problem is that they are really good at tearing down and really bad at building back up. We shouldn’t be allowing this in our schools.

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      2. I’m beginning to think the Soviets were right. They said that they would conquer us without firing a bullit. Krushchev said “we will bury you”. We seem to be living in the last days of america.

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    1. Bronny leaving has no affect on the resale value of your BB tickets Dollar Bill. He averaged less than 8 points a game. If his Dad was not LeBron James he would be playing at Cal-State San Bernardino and averaging 12 points a game. 

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  13. I like the hire. Musselman started coaching when he was 24 (35 years) including extensive time in the NBA. 20 wins in CBB every year with exception of 2024.

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  14. We shall see. There is no substitute for winning, but it may come down to recruiting. If Musselman cannot pull in the going-to-NBA talent, including recruiting high school 1-and-done types in the NIL era, then there will be a limit to what hard-nosed coaching will be able to deliver in terms of results. I could see this hire going either very well (i.e. Floyd before the bribe allegations) or very very badly (i.e. O’Neill…all of it). 

    And to answer the unasked question – basketball at USC is an important sport to ease the landing at the end of the football season, and becomes more important in a football down year. If football tanks and basketball isn’t there to buffer, the ire gets compounded.

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  16. Have to wonder what Ohtani’s looking like even with the HR last night. That’s a far more interesting study than men’s basketball at USC will ever be.

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  17. No wonder this blog has only eight visitors a day. The AD is lazy. She picked who the boosters wanted and they wanted a disciplinarian for a sport that they don’t follow. What a joke. He just picked up a player from UMass, which hasn’t produced any talent since John Calipari was coaching there. Your supposed to pick a coach with a proven track record of success. He was trash at Arkansas and the fact they pushed him to USC should have been a red flag. Enfield knew he was going to catch more heat and left because it was only a matter of time. Mussleman is a mistake, plain and simple. Especially when Jay Wright was available.

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  18. I am disappointed by this hire. He does not reflect or embrace President Trump’s MAGA Conservative Christian values, Had we hired a Coach who is MAGA and embraces President Trump’s teachings we could have turned USC into a MAGA University and had President Trump sitting court side, I think we should rename the Galen Center to Donald J. Ttump MAGA Arena.

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