With every major job at the collegiate level, there is pressure and expectations facing those who hold those positions.
As college athletics have exploded in popularity, the revenue generated by these sports has also increased to the point where colleges and universities are funding the rest of their programs on the backs of what the revenue-generating sports bring in.
That’s why coaches have become more and more highly compensated.
But to meet expectations that comes with a top job, coaches need to have the resources at their disposal to compete with other major programs around the country.
In the era of Name, Image, and Likeness, the playing field has not yet been leveled, and there are different ways schools around the country operate when it comes to utilizing NIL funds to assist with their different athletics programs.
Maybe that prompted Eric Musselman to leave Arkansas for USC this offseason.
He had a great thing going there since taking over in 2019 after leaving Nevada. In five seasons, he accrued a record of 111-59 with three NCAA Tournament appearances, two trips to the Elite Eight and another to the Sweet 16.
Yet, after a disappointing year in 2023-24, Musselman decided to bold for Los Angeles in an attempt to boost a program who has been solid in the Pac-12 conference, but needed a change before coming into the Big Ten.
The hope is Musselman can get the program competing for national championships.
To do that, he’s going to utilize the NIL resources that USC has presented him, something he seemingly didn’t get at Arkansas based on his thinly-veiled message when discussing Name, Image, and Likeness surrounding his new stop.
“The support here has been phenomenal. No complaints at all from any of us at all other than just being super appreciative because it’s hard to raise money anyway,” he said according to Sam Gillenwater of On3.
Maybe that’s looking into things way too much, but something prompted the coach to leave a school he was successful at to take this job.
NIL had to have played a factor.
USC has several different collectives they work with in Los Angeles, making it much easier to allocate resources to the basketball program.
This has already impacted Musselman in a positive way as 11 players were added through the transfer portal and two more Top-75 freshmen are joining them.