USC's Eric Musselman reveals biggest question about evaluating programs in rev-share era

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Before he got into college coaching in 2012 as an assistant at Arizona State, Eric Musselman worked his way through the NBA ranks. He coached in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), NBA D-League and had stints as an NBA assistant before two runs as a head coach.

But in the time since he pivoted to college basketball, the world changed drastically. Especially in the NIL and transfer portal eras, Musselman pulled from his “unique” background in the pros, including as general manager of the CBA’s Rapid City Thrillers from 1988-89. Add in revenue-sharing, which went into effect this year following House settlement approval, and he thinks his resume could set him up to be a college general manager.

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That’s not to say he wants that, though. But that experience is still important for Musselman as he and his staff build out the USC roster.

“My background is a little unique because it wasn’t just coaching,” Musselman told On3 at Big Ten men’s basketball media day. “I was a general manager for a long time in a lot of the minor league places, or president in charge of the budget. In Orlando, although I was an assistant coach, my job was really free agent planning with John Gabriel and kind of being a conduit between Chuck Daly and John on player acquisitions.

“If I wasn’t coaching, I feel like I could be a college GM – not that I want to do that. But I do think the background would lend itself to do that, if I had to.”

Of course, even though there are some similarities between the professional and college games in this new era, Musselman said there’s one key difference. The economics at the pro level provide another component to evaluate teams’ successes.

In college, rev-share data isn’t publicly known, which is why Musselman compared the current structure to Major League Baseball. There isn’t a “salary cap” in MLB, but different markets operate at different spending levels. Musselman sees that in college basketball, when looking at the rev-share cap in place.

“There’s gonna be certain programs that are gonna have a little bit – it’s the same thing in Major League Baseball,” Musselman said. “Everybody’s got the same cap number, but that doesn’t mean everybody’s going up to that. I’ve been part of NBA franchises where you’ve got different economic parameters. The difference with the program is everybody knows – if you’re managing the Oakland A’s and you finish .500, everybody’s like, ‘Hey, that’s a heck of a job,’ because we all know what those salaries are at the professional level. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, I think from a program, coaching perspective, you don’t really know what your competition [is paying]. So how do you evaluate roster building, win-loss record?

“Because, again, you kind of know at the next level – whether it’s NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL – you know where the structure of the economic standpoint of what the roster makeup is. As we move forward, nobody really knows with the way it’s currently constructed, which makes it hard to evaluate, other than just wins and losses.”

Eric Musselman predicts ‘important’ GM trait

As he looked at the future of college basketball in the revenue-sharing era, Eric Musselman acknowledged the importance of general managers. While USC has a consultant instead of a formal GM, he said that person is part of the money conversations.

But as the landscape shifts, he thinks the next wave of general managers will have something else to offer. Musselman thinks a law degree is important when it comes to navigating contract language.

“I think the one thing that, as we evolve, it’s going to be important for the GMs – if a GM has a law degree, I do think it’s really beneficial,” Musselman said. “I don’t think that that’s seeped its way into college yet. The legal counsel part of understanding contracts, to me, is an under-talked-about part of this as we move forward.”

For now, Musselman and coaches around the sport will continue adapting to any changes to the space. He aptly summed up what it’s been like, as well.

“I think all of us have to continue to adjust,” he said. “It’s kind of like moving every single day.”