LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eric Musselman finally had a chance to catch his breath. Sitting next to athletic director Jen Cohen, he calmly surveyed the crowd at his introduction as Southern California men’s basketball coach on Friday.
It was the culmination of a hurried courtship. Andy Enfield left the job earlier in the week after 11 years to coach at SMU. Cohen immediately targeted Musselman, who was coming off his first losing season in five years at Arkansas.
“It became very clear that he was the right person at the right time for USC men’s basketball,” said Cohen, making her first major coaching hire since taking over last August. “He’s a proven winner. He not only builds elite, high-performing teams, he knows how to sustain them.”
For his part, Musselman was intrigued, saying, “I knew right away it was something of great interest.”
The Trojans went 15-18 overall and 8-12 in the Pac-12, the first time in five years they didn’t win at least 20 games under Enfield.
“We think the potential here is through the roof,” Musselman said. “Coach Enfield did great things for 11 years here. We want to continue to do things that he’s done and try to build on some of those things as well.”
