Eric Musselman fires shot at John Calipari when discussing USC roster turnover in debut season

The iconic coaching carousel of the 2024-25 college basketball offseason will be remembered forever. Who could forget something like that?

Former USC head coach Andy Enfield jumped from SoCal to SMU, leading to Eric Musselman jumping from Arkansas to USC. College Basketball Hall of Famer John Calipari then shocked the college basketball world when he announced that he would be leaving Kentucky for Arkansas, turning the sport on its head.

With one season down for both Muss and Cal in their new environments, Musselman threw a very obvious shot at John Calipari and his former program. He did so during Thursday’s Big Ten Media Days.

“Having a full offseason changes everything,” Musselman said. “I didn’t talk much about, you know, when we inherited the job we had one player. I heard a lot of that out of Arkansas that they only had one player. We didn’t really reiterate that even though that’s what we had, so I think certainly having a full offseason changes how you can recruit and understand the academic requirements at USC.

“When you first get the job, there’s so much going on. You’re trying to move and check on your family that’s still got a month and a half in Fayetteville. My daughter going to school. And so once you get your feet planted, you should have a much better recruiting class after kind of getting the landscape of your new job.”

Musselman went after Calipari for his comments about depleted roster

Throughout last year’s early season struggles, Calipari repeatedly reiterated that he inherited a roster that contained just one player from the previous team (Trevon Brazile). The Hall of Famer eventually turned things around and led the Hogs to yet another Sweet Sixteen appearance, while Musselman’s USC team finished with a 17-18 record and missed the NCAA Tournament.

“Last year, you know how it started. We had no team, we had no staff. I said, ‘Can I see the schedule?’ There was no schedule,” Calipari said in July. “… And now you bring guys together that did not know each other, and I had a couple from before (at Kentucky), but the reality of it was it was a brand-new team. Then we get hurt. I didn’t get to do the scrimmaging, so I knew we’d be behind.

“But at the end of the year, that was the most rewarding year I can remember in a long time, because they stayed true and they stayed strong. We just kept tweaking and changing to make us good.”

Unfortunately, there is no Arkansas–USC matchup on the docket this season. However, there is undoubtedly bad blood between the former SEC rivals and a clash on the court once again would be cinema for college basketball fans around the country.