Eric Musselman named head basketball coach at Nevada

The former NBA coach will get a shot at turning around the program in Reno.

Eric Musselman has been named the next head coach of the Nevada Wolfpack, the school announced Wednesday. The former NBA head coach and LSU assistant has been tied to other college coaching gigs in the past but will be running a program for the first time in Reno.

Musselman, 50, joined LSU in June 2014 after two years as an assistant at Arizona State. Prior to joining the college ranks, he was a head coach in the CBA, USBL, NBA and D-League, including stints as the top guy for the Golden State Warriors (2002-04) and Sacramento Kings (2006-07).

Neither of Musselman's NBA stints worked out well, and he spent the past few years between the D-League and NCAA. His most recent head coaching gigs came in 2012, when he was the head coach of the D-League's Los Angeles D-Fenders and Venezuela's national team. He found success with the D-Fenders, posting a 38-12 record in his one season with the team before joining Arizona State.

Musselman has been named as part of many coaching searches in the past, including UCLA's before the school brought in Steve Alford two years ago. This is the first prominent head coaching gig he's received since being fired in Sacramento, however, so it'll be interesting to see how he fares after gaining some experience as a college assistant.

Musselman replaces David Carter, who was fired after six years with the school. The Wolfpack went 98-97 under Carter, but most of those wins came in the first three years. During the past three seasons, Nevada went 36-58 and failed to reach the NCAA Tournament or NIT.

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