USCs Eric Musselman publicly breaks silence with telling admission after racist lawsuit, beach clash
It’s been a troubling few weeks for Eric Musselman.Last month, the USC men’s basketball coach was accused of going on a racist rant in a lawsuit by a former player who had been kicked off the team.Two days later, a video surfaced showing Musselman in a nasty confrontation with a beachgoer.In his first public comments since issuing a brief apology for the confrontation, Musselman on Thursday acknowledged that he was striving for personal growth.“I mean, I gotta get better, you know?” Musselman said during his team’s pro day before more than a dozen NBA scouts at the Galen Center practice facility.
“Obviously apologized about the beach incident, wanna get better and wanna improve, wanna be a lifelong learner, you know?“So for us, it’s about moving forward and trying to get better in every aspect we can.”Asked about the lawsuit filed by former Trojans guard Chad Baker-Mazara that accuses him of having “lost his mind” during a locker-room tirade, Musselman declined to comment.Musselman’s response about self-reflection came after he did not directly address a question regarding his level of concern over the lawsuit and beach video impacting the perception of himself and the USC program, particularly in recruiting.“Yeah, the recruiting right now has been, you know, great,” Musselman said.“You know, we’re trying to decide with name, image and likeness where our freshmen — the ‘27 class – where we land.
But yeah, we feel like the recruiting’s going really well.This group has been totally focused on the upcoming season and from a chemistry standpoint, this group’s probably been as close as any group that I’ve had and probably been the funnest group that I’ve coached as well.”Baker-Mazara’s lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles, accused Musselman of being volatile after Baker-Mazara departed a game against Nebraska in late February with an injury.In the locker room afterward, the lawsuit contended, Musselman began shouting at the t...