"There’s nothing like USC sideline pregame": Eric Musselman embraces Trojans culture with help of Lincoln Riley
Eric Musselman, the new coach of the USC men's basketball team, is enamored by the Trojans football team's sideline pregame routine. Musselman, who left Arkansas this year to coach at USC, has learned a lot from USC football coach Lincoln Riley.
Musselman's departure from the Razorbacks led John Calipari to leave the Kentucky Wildcats and succeed Musselman. Eric shared how football was shaping his approach towards basketball at USC, per On3:
“Yeah, went to a couple practices,” Musselman said. “Actually got some good drills that we’ve kind of taken some quarterback, wide receiver drills that he used and have used with a five-shot drill that they had a five passing drill with their quarterbacks. But there’s nothing like USC sideline pregame.”
Musselman is the son of former NBA coach Bill Musselman. He has previously served as the head coach at the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings in the NBA.
However, Eric Musselman's responsibility for basketball recruiting is coming in the way of his love for football during the weekends. He shared how recruiting hinders him from watching football when USC is the road team, per On3.
“The only thing that’s been troublesome a little bit is we keep having recruits come in on weekends when our football team’s playing on the road,” Musselman said.
“And I keep wanting to go on a road football game, I’m like stop with the recruiting stuff so we can go on a road football game and experience Big Ten football.”
Eric Musselman built the USC roster from scratch
After coaching at USC for 11 years, Andy Enfield went to SMU and was replaced by Eric Musselman. The new USC coach pursued a robust transfer portal strategy to rebuild a vacant roster. Eric added 11 new faces from the transfer portal this year.
While Musselman might be using football as well to build the basketball program, USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen pointed out in April why Eric was the perfect choice for USC, per ESPN.
"It became very clear that he was the right person at the right time for USC men's basketball," Cohen said. "He's a proven winner. He not only builds elite, high-performing teams, he knows how to sustain them."
And Musselman shared in April why he was in love with the idea of coming to USC, per ESPN.
"I knew right away it was something of great interest," the coach said.
Eric Musselman has served as college basketball coach for nine years and made six NCAA tournament appearances, including four Sweet 16 appearances and two Elite Eight runs.
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