As a new day begins for USC men’s basketball, a white horse waited inside the doors of Galen Center. It was an unusual sight: the school’s live mascot, Traveler, was on display for quite some time inside press conference — but on a Friday morning meant to inject passion and pageantry, fire and hope into a coach meant to keep the Trojans from sliding back into stagnation, it was an apt metaphor.
And that was before the band started blaring and smiling singing girls started waving, boldly welcoming USC’s new coach, Eric Musselman, into his new role with all the pomp and circumstance of a victory parade. The message, amid the feverish introduction, was clear: the Muss Buss has been completely gassed at USC.
“This is a transformational day for USC men’s basketball,” said USC athletics director Jennifer Cohen.
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Nearly eleven years had passed since similar statements were made about a fresh, new era for USC basketball. But so much had changed in the decade-plus since Andy Enfield took charge of a program in complete decline. The Trojans’ trajectory, under Enfield’s watch, had remained significantly stable since then, rising as high as the Elite Eight in 2021. But even as Enfield continued to climb the all-time wins list at USC, it became clear during a losing season in 2023. -24 that his time with the Trojans had come to an end, a fact that even he seemed to realize as he took the leg left for Southern Methodist.
In his place comes a coach who has more than once served as an adrenaline rush for a program in dire need of it. At Nevada, Musselman took over a 9-22 team that had not reached the NCAA Tournament in a decade, then reached the tournament in three of his four seasons. At Arkansas, where the Razorbacks had been a mediocre program since the early 1990s, Musselman led the program to the Elite Eight in his second season and then reached the second weekend of the tournament in each of the next two.
Even his long tenure in the NBA yielded immediate success, although it was often short-lived. In 2002–03, his first season as coach of the Golden State Warriors, Musselman finished second to the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich for NBA Coach of the Year.
“He not only builds elite, high-performing teams, he knows how to maintain them,” Cohen said. “He has a bold vision and plan for USC basketball. And it’s about very high expectations and standards for himself, for his players and for his staff.”
For Cohen, Musselman’s appointment marks the first step in her own bold vision for USC athletics, the first head coach she has had to hire since her arrival in August. She wasted little time in making a decision and never went beyond exploratory phone calls to other candidates. The ink had barely dried on Enfield’s new deal in Dallas when Cohen flew to Fayetteville on a private plane to pick up her new coach.
“That was her first choice,” university president Carol Folt said Friday.
In Musselman, whose passionate reputation precedes him, Cohen may have found a more natural counterpart than the mild-mannered Enfield. Musselman’s passion has long been his calling card as a coach, even before he climbed atop a scorer’s table, took off his shirt and waved around after Arkansas upset top-ranked Kansas in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Last month, when Arkansas was eliminated early from the Southeastern Conference tournament, Musselman had to be restrained by assistants. It wasn’t the first time.
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“I’m going to state the obvious: He’s not shy,” Cohen said with a smile. “We all know that.”
But at USC, university leaders see the coach’s enthusiasm and intensity as an ideal fit for a team that has historically shrunk in the shadows of the school’s other powerhouse programs.
The feeling was mutual for Musselman, who said he awaited Cohen’s final word with “great anxiety.”
“We think the potential here is huge,” Musselman said. “We feel that with everything going on, with the USC brand, with us going into the Big Ten, this is a really great fit for us as a family, and an incredible fit for USC. I love it all around.”
After all, Los Angeles was where Musselman’s basketball career began. Fresh out of the University of San Diego, Musselman’s first job was with the Clippers as an account executive in 1987, where he sold tickets to a team at the bottom of the NBA standings.
The task ahead at USC may not be so mind-boggling. But while Musselman takes the reins, he does so without much known help on the roster. Only three players are still committed to the team – Harrison Hornery, Arrinten Page and Brandon Gardiner – while all of Enfield’s previous commitments, including top guard Trent Perry from Harvard Westlake, reopened their recruitments this week.
The coach’s pitch to these players was already underway Friday, as Musselman fired off text after text at current players and former players, including freshman Bronny James, who announced he would declare for the NBA draft and was just hours away would sooner enter the transfer portal. the new coach was introduced.
Some may still choose to remain in the middle of transition. Freshman Isaiah Collier, who is expected to be picked in the NBA lottery, attended the coach’s press conference.
Even as he rebuilds from scratch, Musselman – and USC – projected as much passion as possible for a program with far more questions than answers. He called USC a “dream job.” University leaders raved about him as “a perfect match.”
But even Musselman knows that the first burst of a new era means so much to a program that has never quite been able to sustain its energy.
“Now,” he said, “the real work begins. We will see where we stand in November.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.