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Musselman: Why he's the #1 option and it's not even close...
Posted on: March 15, 2017 at 12:56:59 CT
zounami MU
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tl;dr version: He's widely regarded as one of the best teachers and player-developers in the game (I provide examples below). He proved that his coaching and teaching skills translate to the college game, with his rapid turnaround and success at Nevada (details below). He has recruited well at Nevada and has the potential (and sales pitches) to be a top recruiter in the SEC.
I urge you to read the full version (below) and compare his resume and skillsets to other candidates. None of them come close.
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In less than 2 years, he took Nevada from Kenpom #271 to the NCAA tournament. Here's Nevada's Kenpom ranking trend before and since acquring Musselman:
2015: #271 (9-22 record) — the year before Musselman arrived
2016: #124 (24-14 record) — after Musselman's first year
2017: #54 (28-6 record) — currently in Musselman's second year.
They won the Mountain West regular-season title, the conference championship, and received an NCAAT bid.
Without a doubt, he has the highest ceiling and would deliver the fastest turnaround at Mizzou.
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His experience is unparalleled with an extensive track record in the NBA. If you look closely at his 3 years as an NBA head coach, he actually did surprisingly well — better than the head coaches who immediately preceded and followed him at those NBA clubs (indicating a personnel/talent problem, not a coaching problem).
Sports Illustrated (SI) referred to him as the best teacher in the D-League. He was named D-League Coach of the Year in 2012.
As phredj pointed out: "He's highly regarded among NBA folks as a player development guy. His pitch to recruits would be pretty incredible. He'd be one of the few guys, if not the ONLY guy, who can say he not only has experience getting players into the NBA, but helping them develop into SUCCESSFUL players in the NBA."
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According Kentucky head coach John Calipari: "Eric is one of the best in our sport. Extremely driven and knowledgeable. I've watched and coached against him in the NBA and FIBA games. He has an uncanny feel for the game, and ability to read where the game is at. More importantly, is his ability to motivate and teach his players what it takes to improve and win. He is as good as it gets."
He understands the game but, more importantly, has the reputation of being an excellent teacher — someone who can relate to players and get them to follow a system and play well together. He is the one guy (other than perhaps Gregg Marshall) who could not only turn Mizzou around quickly, but take us to the next level in terms of competing for SEC titles and even NCAA Final Fours.
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LSU is reportedly pursuing him, as we should be. It makes me sick that we haven't heard similar rumors about Sterk and MU. Instead, we keep hearing that Sterk is arbitrarily limiting himself to P6 coaches, going after washed-up retreads like Tom Cream and Cuonzo Martin (who both lost in the first round of the NIT last night). Crean and Cuonzo have high floors but low ceilings. It would be so "Mizzou" if we hire one of them when there are candidates like Eric Musselman.
If it takes a bidding war with LSU, then so be it — offer whatever it takes. I'm confident that we could get him for $3 million, and it would be the best investment Mizzou ever made.
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One last thing: We regret not hiring guys like Bill Self, Bob Huggins, and Gregg Marshall when we had the chance. In 2-3 years, I guarantee that Musselman will be considered one of the hottest commodities in college basketball. If we don't hire him now, we'll look back on yet another mistake and always think of what could have been. Like we have with Self, Huggins, Marshall, and all the other up-and-coming coaches (at the time) that we overlooked. Let's not make that mistake again.
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I urge you to read the full version (below) and compare his resume and skillsets to other candidates. None of them come close.
____________________________________________________________
In less than 2 years, he took Nevada from Kenpom #271 to the NCAA tournament. Here's Nevada's Kenpom ranking trend before and since acquring Musselman:
2015: #271 (9-22 record) — the year before Musselman arrived
2016: #124 (24-14 record) — after Musselman's first year
2017: #54 (28-6 record) — currently in Musselman's second year.
They won the Mountain West regular-season title, the conference championship, and received an NCAAT bid.
Without a doubt, he has the highest ceiling and would deliver the fastest turnaround at Mizzou.
____________________________________________________________
His experience is unparalleled with an extensive track record in the NBA. If you look closely at his 3 years as an NBA head coach, he actually did surprisingly well — better than the head coaches who immediately preceded and followed him at those NBA clubs (indicating a personnel/talent problem, not a coaching problem).
Sports Illustrated (SI) referred to him as the best teacher in the D-League. He was named D-League Coach of the Year in 2012.
As phredj pointed out: "He's highly regarded among NBA folks as a player development guy. His pitch to recruits would be pretty incredible. He'd be one of the few guys, if not the ONLY guy, who can say he not only has experience getting players into the NBA, but helping them develop into SUCCESSFUL players in the NBA."
____________________________________________________________
According Kentucky head coach John Calipari: "Eric is one of the best in our sport. Extremely driven and knowledgeable. I've watched and coached against him in the NBA and FIBA games. He has an uncanny feel for the game, and ability to read where the game is at. More importantly, is his ability to motivate and teach his players what it takes to improve and win. He is as good as it gets."
He understands the game but, more importantly, has the reputation of being an excellent teacher — someone who can relate to players and get them to follow a system and play well together. He is the one guy (other than perhaps Gregg Marshall) who could not only turn Mizzou around quickly, but take us to the next level in terms of competing for SEC titles and even NCAA Final Fours.
____________________________________________________________
LSU is reportedly pursuing him, as we should be. It makes me sick that we haven't heard similar rumors about Sterk and MU. Instead, we keep hearing that Sterk is arbitrarily limiting himself to P6 coaches, going after washed-up retreads like Tom Cream and Cuonzo Martin (who both lost in the first round of the NIT last night). Crean and Cuonzo have high floors but low ceilings. It would be so "Mizzou" if we hire one of them when there are candidates like Eric Musselman.
If it takes a bidding war with LSU, then so be it — offer whatever it takes. I'm confident that we could get him for $3 million, and it would be the best investment Mizzou ever made.
____________________________________________________________
One last thing: We regret not hiring guys like Bill Self, Bob Huggins, and Gregg Marshall when we had the chance. In 2-3 years, I guarantee that Musselman will be considered one of the hottest commodities in college basketball. If we don't hire him now, we'll look back on yet another mistake and always think of what could have been. Like we have with Self, Huggins, Marshall, and all the other up-and-coming coaches (at the time) that we overlooked. Let's not make that mistake again.
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Musselman: Why he's the #1 option and it's not even close... - zounami MU - 3/15 12:56:59
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