Latest news with #MussBuss
Los Angeles Times
10-03-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
The Sports Report: UCLA defeats USC to win Big Ten tournament
Howdy, I'm your host, Houston Mitchell. Let's get right to the news. From Ben Bolch: Holding her cellphone at an angle as she sat down in the interview room, championship hat atop her head, Lauren Betts smiled for the selfie alongside teammates Kiki Rice and Londynn Jones. The picture captured more than a moment, seizing on the combined effort that was needed Sunday afternoon inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. No matter the obstacle against their archrival, Betts and her UCLA teammates had a counter. Foul trouble, ugly turnovers, a double-digit deficit against an opponent that had handed the Bruins their only two losses this season — none of it could stop this team on this day. After second-seeded UCLA withstood every challenge, rallying for an improbable 72-67 victory over top-seeded USC in the Big Ten women's basketball tournament championship, the Bruins mobbed one another at midcourt, streamers and confetti falling from the rafters. Finally, after a disappointing loss to the Trojans at the Galen Center was followed by an even more deflating setback against their rivals at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins mustered a strong rebuttal heading into the season's most important stretch. Tears flowed freely amid the smiles on the court as players and coaches celebrated UCLA's first tournament championship since it won the Pac-10 title in 2006. All it took was outscoring the Trojans 37-22 in the second half. 'Thankful and humbled to watch them persevere, to grow, to find ways to win, to be committed to selflessness, just so grateful,' UCLA coach Cori Close said after a triumph that might have secured the No. 1 overall seed for her team in the NCAA tournament. 'This group just said, 'We'll find a way.' There was no panic.' Continue reading here UCLA-USC box score AP top 25 rankings From Ryan Kartje: 'Are you gonna wear those?' Eric Musselman stares down at a pair of beat-up, brown boat shoes with his eyebrows raised. His smirk suggests I've chosen the wrong footwear for my first trip on the Muss Buss. We're standing in an auxiliary workout room at Galen Center a few minutes after USC wrapped morning practice in late July. And Musselman, a few months short of 60, looks prepared to run a half-marathon. His first three months as USC's men's basketball coach were a full-on sprint, with a new staff to hire, a roster to rebuild and a hoops program to reinvigorate — not to mention roots to set down in the South Bay. But for Musselman, stamina has never been a question. He's a workout fiend, just like his father, Bill, was before him. Every day, he walks or jogs or runs upwards of 10 miles, no matter where the job takes him or how packed his day is. And he's never just walking or jogging or running. He's always multitasking, sending reminder texts or listening to podcasts or highlighting passages from articles he's compiled and printed. Continue reading here From Dan Woike: As he suspected postgame Saturday night, early indications are LeBron James avoided a serious injury to his left groin muscle, according to a person close to the situation not authorized to discuss it publicly. James, who left Saturday's loss to the Boston Celtics in the fourth quarter, said postgame that he didn't believe the injury to be as serious as the one he suffered in 2018 when he missed more than a month after hearing his groin muscle pop. As of Sunday morning afternoon, there were no signs that James' initial assessment, when he said there was 'not much concern,' is inaccurate, though even minor groin injuries can take more than a week to heal. Continue reading here From Broderick Turner: Before the Clippers even played their 'very significant' game against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, they had to do so without the man who has keep their team in order — Tyronn Lue. Lue, who spoke to reporters before the game about how meaningful the contest would be, ended up not coaching in it after going home with back pain. That left Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw in charge. The game was a thriller, with Kawhi Leonard scoring on a left-handed shot as time expired to give the Clippers an important 111-110 overtime win at the Intuit Dome that keeps them in eighth place in the topsy-turvy Western Conference. Leonard, who was wrapped up in celebration by his teammates after his winning shot, finished with 17 points and four rebounds for the Clippers (35-29). James Harden had 29 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists, and Ivica Zubac had 22 points and 14 rebounds. Continue reading here Clippers box score NBA scores NBA standings From Kevin Baxter: Right-hander Michael Grove won't pitch for the Dodgers this year after undergoing season-ending surgery last week to repair his right labrum. Grove walked into the Dodgers clubhouse with his right arm in a sling Sunday morning but quietly declined to speak with reporters. He threw a couple of bullpen sessions this spring but hasn't pitched in a game since injuring his shoulder in the second game of the Division Series against the Padres. In that playoff appearance, he gave up a home run to Xander Bogaerts then struck out Jake Cronenworth. He was removed from the roster following that game. 'It's been a shoulder issue that's been bothering him for, I don't know how far back,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. 'He tried to pitch through it and the recovery wasn't what any of us would have liked. We tried the rest approach and we just felt that we had to get the surgery done.' Continue reading here From Gary Klein: The Rams began remaking the receiver corps for star quarterback Matthew Stafford, agreeing to terms with three-time All-Pro receiver Davante Adams on a two-year contract, the team announced Sunday. Adams' deal reportedly is worth up to $46 million, with $26 million guaranteed. Adams, 32, starred for the Green Bay Packers for eight seasons before playing two-plus seasons for the Las Vegas Raiders and 11 games last season for the New York Jets. With the Jets, Adams caught 67 passes for 854 yards and seven touchdowns. He has 957 career receptions for 11,844 yards and 103 touchdowns. Adams has eclipsed 1,000 yards receiving in a season seven times. Continue reading here Adrian Kempe scored the decisive goal in the third period of the Kings' 6-5 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night. Quinton Byfield, Warren Foegele, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore and Brandt Clarke also scored for the Kings. David Rittich stopped 27 shots in the win, L.A.'s second in as many nights. Kempe beat goalie Adin Hill on a rush early on a power play. Byfield's goal 1:56 into the second period extended his goal streak to three games and put the Kings ahead 3-0. Continue reading here Kings summary NHL scores NHL standings Sam Colangelo scored twice, Lukas Dostal stopped 31 shots and the Ducks beat the New York Islanders 4-1 on Sunday night at Honda Center. Colangelo gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead with 2:08 left in the first period, then added an empty-netter when Islanders coach Patrick Roy pulled goalie Marcus Hogberg just 8:18 into the third. That gives Colangelo goals in four straight games and five in that span. Drew Helleson and Mason McTavish also scored for the Ducks, who won for just the third time in eight games (3-4-1) and moved to seven points behind Calgary for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Continue reading here Ducks summary NHL scores NHL standings Roman Burki made eight saves while keeping his third consecutive clean sheet to start the season and St. Louis City kept the MLS Cup champion Galaxy winless with a 3-0 victory Sunday. Burki was outstanding in his 18th career shutout for St. Louis, turning away every scoring attempt by the injury-depleted Galaxy. The standout Swiss keeper had to make just one save in St. Louis' first two games combined. The defending champions have scored just one goal in their three losses without star playmaker Riqui Puig and rampaging forward Joseph Paintsil. Both key components of last year's team are out indefinitely with significant injuries, and L.A. has been unable to compensate even though healthy stars Gabriel Pec and Marco Reus repeatedly created scoring chances against St. Louis. Continue reading here Galaxy summary MLS standings 1913 — The Quebec Bulldogs win the Stanley Cup in two games over Sydney. 1920 — Quebec's Joe Malone scores six goals to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-4 rout of the Ottawa Senators. 1961 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors becomes the first NBA player to score 3,000 points in a season. Chamberlain scores 32 points in a 120-103 loss to Detroit to bring his season total to 3,016. 1963 — Wilt Chamberlain of the San Francisco Warriors scores 70 points in a 163-148 loss to Syracuse. 1985 — Dick Motta becomes the fourth NBA coach to record 700 victories as Dallas beats New Jersey 126-113. 1991 — Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State becomes the first coach to lead four schools into the NCAA tournament. Sutton also coached Creighton, Arkansas and Kentucky in the tournament. 1992 — New York Islanders coach Al Arbour becomes the second coach in NHL history to win 700 games with a 5-2 victory over Philadelphia. 2001 — With Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark looking on, Hermann Maier wins the giant slalom for his 13th victory this season, equaling one of the mightiest alpine skiing records. Maier, winner of the overall World Cup title three of the last four years, ties the record Stenmark set in 1979. 2002 — John Stockton, the NBA's career assist leader, has 13 assists in Utah's 95-92 loss at Houston to give him exactly 15,000 for his career. 2004 — Orlando's Tracy McGrady scores a franchise record 62 points in a 108-99 win over Washington. 2011 — Veteran referees Jim Burr, Tim Higgins and Earl Walton, cited for two errors in the final seconds of the St. John's-Rutgers game, withdraw from the rest of the Big East tournament. The three officials missed two calls — a travel and stepping out of bounds — in the final 1.7 seconds of St. John's 65-63 win in the second-round of Big East tournament. The Big East acknowledged after the game the officials blew the calls. 2014 — The game between Dallas and the Columbus Blue Jackets is postponed by the NHL after Stars forward Rich Peverley collapses on the bench during the first period. 2018 — Texas Southern beats Arkansas-Pine Bluff 84-69 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. Texas Southern (15-19) earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament after starting out 0-13 this season. The Tigers didn't win a game until Jan. 1 and never beat a nonconference opponent. 2018 — The Vegas Golden Knights set a record for road wins by an expansion team with a 2-1 shootout victory at Buffalo. At 20-12-3, the Golden Knights break a tie with the 1993-94 Ducks for most road wins by an NHL team in its first season. 2022 — After a 99-day lockout, Major League Baseball and MLB Players Association reach a new collective bargaining agreement; MLB teams set to play full 162 game season in 2022. Compiled by the Associated Press
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Inside life on the Muss Buss: Eric Musselman's drive to transform USC basketball
'Are you gonna wear those?' Eric Musselman stares down at a pair of beat-up, brown boat shoes with his eyebrows raised. His smirk suggests I've chosen the wrong footwear for my first trip on the Muss Buss. We're standing in an auxiliary workout room at Galen Center a few minutes after USC wrapped morning practice in late July. And Musselman, a few months short of 60, looks prepared to run a half-marathon. His first three months as USC's men's basketball coach were a full-on sprint, with a new staff to hire, a roster to rebuild and a hoops program to reinvigorate — not to mention roots to set down in the South Bay. But for Musselman, stamina has never been a question. He's a workout fiend, just like his father, Bill, was before him. Every day, he walks or jogs or runs upwards of 10 miles, no matter where the job takes him or how packed his day is. And he's never just walking or jogging or running. He's always multitasking, sending reminder texts or listening to podcasts or highlighting passages from articles he's compiled and printed. The plan was for The Times to join Musselman during his preferred beachside walk along the Strand, a few blocks from where he lives. But practice was moved to the morning, which meant shifting his required steps to a treadmill. A treadmill feels like an ironic place to meet Musselman, someone who always seems to be moving towards something. To Muss — which is how his family refers to him — standing still is not acceptable. He is constantly seeking answers to new questions that stretch beyond the bounds of his day job. Working with Muss means consenting to more than the normal share of 5 a.m. text messages. 'If I wasn't there to put a stop to it, he'd be texting people every night until he fell asleep,' his wife, Danyelle, says. She laughs. 'Most people are not wired to that level.' But if you're a part of his program, you're expected to keep pace. 'We gotta keep the coffee running, for sure,' said Anthony Ruta, a longtime assistant. 'It's six, seven, eight cups to keep up.' Muss, meanwhile, has no use for caffeine. Managing every detail of his hoops program keeps him plenty stimulated. And rest assured, he has thoughts on every detail. Marketing. Social media strategy. Student section morale. Michael Musselman, the head coach's son and assistant, has found crude drawings of team T-shirt designs left on his desk more than once. Read more: USC confident energetic Eric Musselman can give basketball program sorely needed boost One day, at Arkansas, Muss burst into his son's office wondering if they could conceive and develop a video game for the team in his spare time. 'I can barely play video games, let alone develop one,' Michael says now. 'It might sound crazy. But that — isn't that what makes great coaches great?' Since he came to the college game a decade ago, Muss has won 236 games — posting a 69.1% career win percentage that nestles him right between Tom Izzo (70.9%) and Mick Cronin (68.3%) among active Big Ten coaches. Four of his six trips to the NCAA tournament have lasted until the second weekend. At the height of his success at Arkansas, he led a long-suffering Razorback hoops program on consecutive trips to the Elite Eight. He's been just as successful in selling programs to the public. At Nevada and Arkansas, attendance and season-ticket sales soared after his arrival. 'Every place he's coached,' says Todd Lee, his longtime assistant, 'they fill the arena. He always has ideas for making it happen.' With that in mind, you can see the case for bringing Muss to L.A., where USC hoops struggled to translate some deep tournament runs into fan enthusiasm and championships under previous coach Andy Enfield. In hiring Muss last April, USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen handed the program to a coach on the opposite end of the spectrum from Enfield, who never seemed comfortable commanding attention in a crowded hoops scene. Musselman is more the type to tear his shirt off after a big win. He's shirtless more than most major college basketball coaches, a fact that he says he'd probably change about himself if he could. But that intensity has another, uglier side. In 2022, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Musselman got into a confrontation after a win at the Maui Invitational during which he cursed at a group of opposing fans. He's no stranger to being held back from confronting referees either. That level of passion might not be for everyone but for Muss, it is rooted deep in his DNA. His father, Bill, who had a long, successful career coaching hoops, was known for a similar fervor. A book written about him was entitled 'Obsession', and he once famously said that defeat was worse than death 'because you have to live with defeat.' Ask anyone who has spent time in his orbit — players, staff, even immediate family — and they will tell you that Muss, like his father before him, demands a great deal from those around him. 'The expectations are always super high with him,' says Gus Argenal, who worked with Musselman at Arkansas and now coaches at Cal State San Bernardino. 'Everybody is operating in that world where every day is kind of the Super Bowl, right?' To many who have played with him or coached alongside him, that's precisely what makes Musselman special. Others feel less warm and fuzzy about it. Whispers about Musselman being hard to work with have followed him since his NBA days. 'It's not always easy to work for people who push you to do more, accomplish more, be more than you've ever done in the past,' Michael explains. 'That's not a comfortable feeling. But we don't want it to be comfortable.' That drive guided him back to the game after flaming out as a young coach in the NBA. And at USC, it's the Trojans' best hope of jump-starting a program that has never quite caught fire. Read more: Inside the 30 frenzied days it took Eric Musselman to revive USC men's basketball 'Year 1 is always the hardest,' Muss says. 'I don't know when it will be. But my vision is that this building will be sold out.' Back at Galen Center, months before the season begins, his treadmill roars to life, and I realize I have no other choice but to step onto the machine next to Musselman. During the next hour, as he lays out how he made it to USC, Muss talks mid-jog, never once slowing down to catch his breath. Meanwhile, walking alongside him — and failing to keep up — I've sweat completely through my polo shirt. The sole of my left boat shoe comes loose. This is a small sample of life on the Muss Bus. By late February, it feels like the wheels are falling off at USC. Musselman sits behind a microphone, frustrated after a fourth straight defeat — this one doomed, the coach says, by 'the worst defense I've ever had a team play in my college tenure.' He spent much of the loss to Ohio State screaming at the refs or throwing his hands up in exasperation. It has been that kind of season for USC and its coach. Injuries struck early. The Big Ten schedule wore them down late. There were moments, sprinkled throughout, when it seemed USC found something. But then leading scorer Desmond Claude hurt his knee. Two close losses, to Minnesota and Northwestern, let any remaining air out of the Trojans' tires. 'I told you guys a long time ago about our team,' Musselman said from the podium. 'We have to play near-flawless to win basketball games.' It's true — Musselman was honest about his team's shortcomings from the start. And now most everything he warned of in July had flared up by February. The uncertain frontcourt. The lack of rim protection. The dearth of point guards. Tonight, he'll lament their lack of lateral foot speed. What he didn't anticipate was the toll that Big Ten road travel would exact on his team. A couple days earlier, their flight from New Jersey didn't arrive back in L.A. until 5 a.m. It felt, to Musselman, like an NBA schedule. Except, his players had to be back at class by 9 that morning. Two days later, they're still exhausted. 'I feel terrible today,' said Wesley Yates, the Trojans' breakout guard. The coach looks just as worn down. It's been a long few weeks. He hoped to be further along than this by now. 'We're building,' he assures from the podium. But on a night like this, it's hard to feel that way. 'We're not where we want to be right now,' Musselman said. 'We're not where we've been in the past.' Flying high above Mount Rushmore on a helicopter tour in 1988, Pat Hall was trying his best to woo the 23-year old he hoped would take the helm of his South Dakota semi-pro team, the Rapid City Thrillers. Eric Musselman had hoped to join his father's staff with the Minnesota Timberwolves. But Bill Musselman wouldn't hire his son before he blazed his own path, and his mother suggested he try anything but coaching. Which is how he ended up in the plains of South Dakota, laying out for Hall a step-by-step plan to take his Continental Basketball Assn. team to the top. Hall, who had worked before with Musselman's father, was blown away by the presentation, which included plans not only to revamp the roster, but also to inject energy into the whole operation, from marketing and media to in-game entertainment. 'This kid was incredibly organized at 23,' Hall said. 'And his energy level was so high. It felt like he must stay up 24 hours a day. So I hired him.' Read more: Eric Musselman gives brutal assessment of USC's defense after blowout loss to UCLA In Rapid City, Musselman learned how to manage every facet of a basketball operation. He turned a losing roster right away into one of the best in the CBA. Then, to save the team money, he took on coaching duties, too. He was the youngest in league history when he was hired in 1989. Just as quickly, Muss managed to turn the Thrillers into a must-see spectacle. That's what still sticks with Hall most 40 years later. He was as good at capturing attention as conceptualizing a roster. Maybe better. 'He was just like a bolt of lightning,' said Hall, who still works in real estate in South Dakota. 'There was electricity wherever Eric Musselman went.' So much of what Muss learned about entertaining crowds came from his father, who famously staged his own Harlem Globetrotter-style warm-ups. Following his lead, Muss flew in big-name acts to Rapid City, like the Laker girls or Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, to perform and came up with outside-the-box promotions to get fans in the door. Before long, they were coming en masse. Muss was always there to greet them. 'People were literally scalping for Thrillers tickets,' he says. A few of his promotions made headlines. Once, Hall got a call from NBA commissioner David Stern, whom, he says, was 'hotter than a pistol.' Word of Michael Jordan's gambling habits were circulating, so Musselman put together a 'BE LIKE MIKE' promotion: The team would give away season tickets to fans who were still gambling at the local casino at 1:30 a.m. The league wasn't happy. Neither was Jordan's agent. 'He called and said the only thing that was going to be left of me when he was done was a pair of cowboy boots,' Hall recalls. Hall ran to Musselman's office. The coach started laughing. 'I guess we got the publicity we wanted,' Musselman told him. Musselman left the CBA with the second-highest winning percentage in league history. But the goal had always been to make it to the NBA. He coached briefly on his father's staff in Minnesota, only for the Timberwolves to clean house soon after. Bill Musselman spent the rest of his life longing to be an NBA head coach again, while his son chased the same dream, bouncing between Rapid City and another semi-pro league before Chuck Daly hired him to join his Orlando Magic staff in 1998. Bill died from heart and kidney failure in 2000, two years before his son got the chance both of them were waiting for. Read more: Controversial, Fiery Musselman Dead at 59 Musselman was only 37 when he was hired to coach the hapless Golden State Warriors. It wasn't like turning around Rapid City. But he still managed to lead the Warriors to 39 wins in his first season, their best record in a decade. He even finished second in NBA Coach of the Year voting, behind Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich. But the situation went sideways in Year 2. Players clashed with him over playing time. Then, the situation with upper management soured. 'Chris Mullin was being groomed to take over [as general manager],' Musselman says now. And Mullin, the recently retired franchise star, had a different vision. 'In the NBA, if you talk and act a certain way, you won't last a season,' Musselman says. 'You want to push and get the most out of your guys and their potential. But there's a delivery and a way that has to be of a certain temperament.' He figured that when he got another opportunity as a head coach, the circumstances would be easier to navigate. Instead his one season in Sacramento, in 2006, proved to be the most stressful of his coaching life. Several Kings players still wanted to play for the previous coach, Rick Adelman, while the general manager, Geoff Petrie, didn't agree with ownership's decision to hire Musselman. Then, in the preseason, Musselman was arrested for DUI. All the while, Musselman was navigating a divorce, driving back and forth in traffic to see his kids, who were living with their mother in the Bay Area. For the first time in his career, he felt worn down. All he ever wanted was to be an NBA coach, but when the Kings fired him, after a 33-49 season, he was certain he needed to step away. So at 42, for the first time in his life, he set basketball aside. He focused on spending time with his two sons, Michael and Matthew, instead. He married Danyelle, and together, they had a daughter. Still, he couldn't stay away. He found his fix in the form of his son's AAU team. He told Michael that he'd only coach the team until they lost a game … not expecting that they'd win 59 straight. 'By the end, he was working every night, trying to recruit the state's best talent to his team,' Danyelle says. He was so caught up in the competition by that point that it took another parent pointing it out to notice his son was no longer cracking his own rotation. It was an eye-opening moment; he never coached another AAU game after that. He was sitting in the carpool lane at Michael's school, when he says it hit him like an epiphany. He came home and told Danyelle it was time to get back to coaching. Musselman wasn't sure then where that instinct would lead him. At one point, he and Danyelle even found themselves contemplating a new life in Russia. They flew to St. Petersburg in 2009 for an interview with BC Spartak, a professional team in the Russian Super League. It had been almost three years since he last coached. When they offered him the job, he seriously considered it. Then, on their last day in Russia, they tried to go out to dinner. The night was a disaster. They couldn't communicate their order at the restaurant. They could barely get around in a cab. Danyelle, who was pregnant at the time, worried about what that might mean in a totally new world. We can't do this, they decided. He wasn't sure where to turn next. Was the NBA even a real option? Recent history wasn't exactly encouraging. Read more: Five-star Chatsworth guard Alijah Arenas commits to Eric Musselman and USC 'I researched how many coaches got third opportunities,' Musselman said. 'It's not many.' He took the job in 2011 as head coach of the Reno Bighorns in the NBA's D-League, hoping it might be enough just to be adjacent to the NBA. And when the Lakers called the next season, asking him to coach their affiliate, the D-Fenders, he wondered if he was getting closer. The D-Fenders set a league record for wins, Musselman was named coach of the year and still no NBA teams came calling. College basketball had never really been on his radar, even as friends tried for years to convince him he'd be a natural. He'd spent his life laser-focused on the NBA. But the universe was telling him to pivot. He listened. He took an assistant job at Arizona State in 2012 and moved into a furnished place in Tempe, with only his clothes in tow. He expected to land a head job right away. 'I'm thinking, I'm a two-time NBA head coach, let me get some experience recruiting, and some AD will hire me,' Musselman said. 'Never happened.' His resume wasn't convincing any athletic directors. He couldn't understand why. Neither could Hall, who tried pleading with the AD at South Dakota, a school with zero NCAA tournament appearances, to consider him. 'He carried this cloud with him,' Hall says. 'People were looking for reasons not to hire him.' One athletic director, Musselman recalls, fell asleep during his interview. But at least that school gave him an interview. Minnesota once canceled his plane ticket the day of his flight. When San Jose State had a vacancy in 2013, he offered to drive over and wait outside of the AD's office. They told him not to bother. That same spring, he was so desperate that he wrote a letter to the athletic director at Campbell, inquiring about the Camels' open job. He never got a response. It was, Musselman admits, 'a super humbling time for me.' 'The lack of respect was just mind-boggling,' he said. After two seasons at Arizona State, he moved back to the Bay Area, unsure of where his career was headed. Then, an old friend called. Flip Saunders, who played for his dad and worked for him in Rapid City, wanted Musselman to join him on the Timberwolves staff. Louisiana State , meanwhile, wanted him as its top assistant, working closely with future No. 1 pick Ben Simmons. Read more: USC responds to Eric Musselman's challenge in upset over No. 7 Michigan State It was a difficult decision. Here was a chance, maybe his last, to return to the NBA ranks. But Musselman chose the college route, hoping a head job would follow close behind. This time he was right. He returned to Reno a year later as head coach at Nevada. He'd spent his entire coaching career bouncing around, never staying in one place too long. But now the timing felt perfect. His youngest son, Matthew, was just starting high school in the Bay Area. 'Within a year and a half at Nevada, the building was being sold out,' Ruta said. The one college job he'd always wanted, at his alma mater San Diego, came open around that same time. But he chose to stay in Reno. He'd end up staying four years, longer than any of his previous stops. His son joined the staff, and Nevada made the tournament in three straight seasons. Along the way, he says, he turned down other bigger programs to stay. 'I think about it all the time,' Musselman says now, 'What would have happened if I stayed married to my career for those eight years?' His final season in Reno, one of his star players, Cody Martin, mused about Musselman becoming an NBA coach again. He found himself wondering more and more about it. He still had a chip on his shoulder, from over a decade earlier. 'I didn't prove what I wanted to prove in the NBA,' Musselman said, 'and I thought then if somebody gave me a chance, I'd be so humbled by it, so motivated.' But the call never came. He left for Arkansas, where the basketball program had languished for years since winning a national championship in 1994, and in Year 2, Musselman took the Razorbacks to the Elite Eight. Once again, ticket sales soared. When his last season at Arkansas went awry, it felt like a sign. So he canvassed the available jobs last spring. 'I talked to Louisville, talked to DePaul,' Musselman said. 'But the minute [USC] came open, if they had interest, we were taking it.' It felt, to the entire family, like a perfect fit. His mother was already living in Southern California. His daughter, Mariah, was about to start high school. 'We didn't care about years, money,' he says. 'We wanted that job.' It was also another program in desperate need of a spark, struggling to sustain interest. The circumstances felt familiar. The process moved quickly. Cohen, USC's athletic director, even made a point to involve Danyelle in the process. 'Within a week, they were at our house picking us up,' Danyelle says. As far as she is concerned, it's the last time that they'll be moving. Their daughter, Mariah, started her freshman year at Mira Costa High in the fall. They have no intention of switching her schools during the next four years. Though, Danyelle takes it one step further: 'I told [Muss], 'This is it!'" she says. She bought new furniture for the house, just to hammer the point home. 'The stuff she's doing to the house, I'll ask her, 'Why'd you get that?'' Musselman said. 'And she'll say, 'Well, because we're not going anywhere.'' Musselman doesn't seem to mind that idea. His assistants insist, too, that he fits well in L.A. He loves waking up to walk the Strand. Loves the city's pro sports scene. Loves the USC brand. Consider then that the area is overflowing with young talent. You can see how someone might settle in. Michael, his son, calls it 'a dream job.' What a dream job means for Musselman has changed considerably since he started coaching, yearning to make it to the NBA. But he's not chasing the league anymore. His last NBA job in Sacramento was almost 20 years ago. And he has been on this treadmill long enough now to know how valuable it is to find the right job. It's a rainy night in Los Angeles, the last at Galen Center this season. The Trojans are limping into March, losers in seven of their last eight games. A month ago, they stood firmly on the NCAA tournament bubble. Now they were tiptoeing along the cutline for the conference tournament. This, needless to say, is not where Musselman intended his team to be by the end of his first season. All Wednesday night, he seemed to wear that frustration. Even as USC rolled to a much-needed 31-point win over Washington, saving its season for at least a few more nights, Musselman paced the sideline with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, looking unsatisfied. With 45 seconds left and USC up by 30, he shouted at a walk-on for taking an ill-advised, step-back three-pointer. Asked about his mood later, Musselman said: 'I wear my emotions on my sleeve. Pretty evident.' 'The people I've worked for and worked around 'you try to coach for perfection every possession.' That notion has driven Eric Musselman all his coaching life, just as it drove his father before him. Nothing has come easy at USC so far. But it didn't at other stops, either. He has built programs with far less at his fingertips. 'I've been through it,' Musselman said. 'You can't let the team see you flinch.' But there's no mistaking Musselman's frustration at the hand he's been dealt this season. He can't help but wonder aloud what might have been different if Claude hadn't gotten hurt. Or Terrance Williams. Or Matt Knowling. What if their travel schedule was more efficient? He says he doesn't want to make excuses. But as the season enters its final stretch, he laments not doing enough to energize USC fans. Fewer than 6,000 were in the stands Wednesday night. 'I don't know if there was much progress,' Musselman said. 'There will be next year.' A top-10 recruit, Alijah Arenas, will join USC then, giving Musselman a star to build around. Rising star Yates said last week that he's 'locked in' with Musselman, while Claude could also return. 'There will be a lot of effort put in by all of us,' the coach promises. 'We want to grow next year.' Building a program, he knows, takes time. But in the coming months, Musselman will surely sprint out in front, setting the pace like he always has, not a doubt in his mind that he'll have USC humming soon enough. Standing still, for Eric Musselman, is not an option. And at USC, there's still a lot of ground to cover. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
