They might as well sell Bill Musselman`s seat. Musselman, coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, never sits in it.
”He`s up 48 minutes a night,” said guard Sidney Lowe. ”Jim Valvano was more controlled than Coach Musselman. Coach V. used to at least take a seat for one minute.” Lowe played for Valvano at North Carolina State.
Yet, Musselman isn`t prone to the histrionics associated with intense coaches such as Valvano. He is into constant clapping and instruction. His teeth are clenched, and the expression on his face is that of a man backing out of the driveway before a long trip.
What are we forgetting here? Where`s our edge? What needs work? How can we do this better?
Those questions constantly rotate through Musselman`s mind. Coaching an expansion team brings them around more often than he would like.
”I love this situation because we are starting from scratch,” he said.
”But I wonder what I would do with an established team.”
Such are the dreams of a lifelong underdog.
Musselman always has driven Yugos and Pintos against the Cadillacs and Lamborghinis of the basketball world. The University of Minnesota had a losing record when he arrived, and the Cleveland Cavaliers were known as the Cadavaliers before and after he left.
He turned around the Golden Gophers, who were 69-32 from 1971 to `75. But his record was 27-67 at Cleveland (1980-82). His lopsided losing record in the NBA and image as a troublemaker in college relegated him to jobs in the American Basketball Association, Continental Basketball Association and Western Basketball Association for eight seasons.
Musselman never has fully shaken the events of Jan. 25, 1972, when a riot broke out at the Minnesota-Ohio State game at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.
With 36 seconds remaining, and the Buckeyes leading, 50-44, Minnesota`s Corky Taylor and Ron Behagen led an attack focused on Ohio State`s Luke Witte. Three Buckeyes were hospitalized after the incident, and fans joined the free- for-all.
”I`m always asked about that night,” he said. ”When I did so well in the CBA (203-76 with four teams, including postseason) and people asked, `Why isn`t he in the NBA,` they figured it was that.”
Or maybe his association with the laughingstock Cavaliers kept him out of the NBA. Musselman was 25-46 before moving into player personnel duties in 1980-81. He was 2-21 as mop-up man the next season for Chuck Daly, who went 9-32. The coaches-as Daly`s success with the Pistons will attest-weren`t the problem. Owner Ted Stepien was.
”God bless Ted Stepien; he paid us all well,” Musselman said. ”But he made decisions for no reason and was actually involved in trades. We were interested in Maurice Lucas, but one of Ted`s advertising friends put it in his head that Lucas was too old.”
Lucas finished fifth in the NBA in rebounding in 1981-82 with the New York Knicks and led the Phoenix Suns in rebounds the next three seasons, averaging at least 13.4 points each year.
”I figured I would get back in the NBA someday,” Musselman said. ”Jack McCloskey interviewed me for the (Pistons) job Scotty Robertson got before I went to Cleveland. No one disputed my ability to coach before Cleveland.”
Musselman won Minnesota`s first Big Ten title in 35 years and its first outright in 53 years in 1972. He transformed an 11-13 team into an 18-7 conference champion in one season.
The Timberwolves hired Musselman, 49, after he won four straight CBA titles and twice was named coach of the year. His Albany Patroons were 48-6
(.890) last season.
”Some people told us not to hire him,” said Timberwolves president Bob Stein. ”But I decided that if Bill was a risk, he was one I wanted to take. He`s a guy who dances every dance and wants to beat you every night.”
The Timberwolves haven`t done as well as fellow expansion team Orlando
(8-11). But Minnesota leads Charlotte by two games in the Midwest Division.
Musselman thinks he might have been better suited to football, which he played at Wittenberg (Ohio) University.
Musselman, a head coach at Ashland (Ohio) College at age 25, said he couldn`t have tolerated the long wait football assistants endure before getting top jobs. Yet, his desire to overprepare and cover every angle is better suited for football.
”Now I`ve got four games in five nights and have more work to do than is humanly possible,” he said. ”I can`t put enough preparation time into every game.
”I tell our guys, `Forget it, we`re an expansion team. We have everything to gain and nothing to lose.` But the bottom line is, I want to win every game I coach. I don`t go berserk if we lose, though. The only time I do is if I think there is loafing. And we haven`t had that.”
