How's this for a complicated coaching triangle — with SMU departing the AAC and swapping out that second ‘A' for a second ‘C', the Mustangs entered the offseason with the intention of making a splashy hire at head coach. Enter Andy Enfield, who shot to fame as the head coach of FGCU's Dunk City squad that became the first 15 seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen back in 2013. Enfield departed FGCU for USC while the metaphorical iron was hot, and in eleven seasons as the Trojans head coach, he's moved up to 3rd all-time in program history in wins. Now it will be Enfield, whose Trojans missed the tournament this season, who leaves Southern California for Dallas and the ACC, a potentially attractive landing spot for any Texas-based recruits who want to stay close to home while also having the opportunity to play in the ACC.
This leaves an opening at head coach for the Trojans, and it's Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman who has been the primary named mentioned in rumors for the job. Musselman has ties to the state of California — he graduated from the University of San Diego, and coached in the NBA for both the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. Even factoring in his head coaching stops in the G-League and his four-year stint at the University of Nevada, Musselman had coached exclusively on the west coast prior to signing a deal with Arkansas in April 2019.
Those rumors of Musselman potentially leaving Fayetteville for Los Angeles were briefly put to rest when Arkansas Director of Athletics Hunter Yurachek took to X and posted the following video of Eric Musselman seemingly moonlighting as a bus driver on campus.
#OneRazorback pic.twitter.com/qEyaxDYHxf
— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) March 28, 2024
If you put the puzzle pieces together and use context clues, you can certain deduce that this appears to be some sort of confirmation that Musselman is expected to remain the head coach at Arkansas. However, there is some conflicting information out there courtesy of the hosts of the Search SZN podcast, which is devoted exclusively to the College Basketball Coaching Carousel, that seems to indicate Musselman staying in Fayetteville is not quite a sure-thing, if only because Musselman and the Razorbacks had not yet agreed to a contract extension.
Could Eric Musselman still depart for USC?
Eric Musselman was made one of the highest-paid coaches in the country after inking a $4 million per year extension in 2021 that extends through the 2025-26 season. However, with just two years left on the deal, Musselman is due for another extension, and as things stand right now, an extension has not yet been reached. That makes the release of this video feel even more premature.
WOAH: An Arkansas source is telling me that Musselman himself had no prior knowledge of this video before it came out and that there has been no talk of an extension between the AD and Muss. A FASCINATING piece of content to release given those apparent circumstances… https://t.co/CWWM2EfrkB
— Curry Hicks Sage (@CurryHicksSage) March 28, 2024
On the surface, there's a certain allure that Southern California has that Northwestern Arkansas doesn't. But there are two things that the Arkansas basketball program has that USC's doesn't:
- A history of basketball success
- Conference stability
Arkansas has played in six Final Four's compared to USC's two, and while the Trojans have never won a National Title, Nolan Richardson's Razorbacks put opponents through “40 Minutes of Hell” on their way to a championship in 1994. I'm not sure how much that means to recruits nowadays. Maybe I'm naive to think that could play any kind of role in such a decision. Or perhaps I'm just hopeful that it would.
And then there's USC's impending move to the Big Ten. We have no clue what such a bold move will do to the sports programs at USC. It's entirely possible that this move breathes new life into the athletics programs at both USC and UCLA, but there's also a chance that both schools would've been better off had the Pac-12 not crumbled.
This leaves Eric Musselman with one heck of a decision to make on where he'll be coaching basketball next season. Maybe as he's driving around the streets of Fayetteville in that bus he can come to the correct decision.
Follow Us
Subscribe