NCAA Basketball: Potential impact of Arkansas HC Eric Musselman taking the USC job

Impact at USC

First and foremost, USC would be adding a very talented head coach into the mix. This is certainly a football school, but with the right talent can be a contender in basketball as well. Nailing this hire is especially important with the Trojans transitioning to the Big Ten and Musselman certainly would be a home run hire.

Less than a decade ago Musselman was hired by Nevada and built dominance up in Reno, winning 110 games in four seasons with a CBI title, a Sweet Sixteen, and three total trips to the Big Dance. If anything he’s been even better in the SEC, taking the Razorbacks to a pair of Elite Eight’s and a Sweet Sixteen. Musselman has been a winner over the last decade and that’s exactly the kind of success that USC needs.

Musselman has been excellent at landing players through the Transfer Portal and that’s certainly attractive for the Trojans. This is how contenders need to build championship-level rosters in this day and age. While the resources at USC are certainly attractive to young basketball players, Musselman has been a recruiting fiend and could build even more successful rosters than Enfield had over the last 11 years.

What’s important about this is that Musselman can make an instant splash. We’re not saying that the Trojans could compete for a Big Ten title in year one, but they’d be on the road to success much quicker with a coach like Musselman. Not every offseason move pans out, and Arkansas’s struggles this year certainly show that, but Musselman boasts a unique combination of passion and recruiting acumen that could really recharge both the fan base and program trajectory at USC.