Nevada AD doing what it can to retain Eric Musselman

Reports are flying out that Cal is going to hire Nevada’s Eric Musselman, another says not so fast. Regardless, this is the one opening that would have the biggest appeal for Musselman to take and leave Reno.

Nevada is clearly aware that Musselman is in high demand due to his success in just two years with the Wolf Pack, but their athletic director Doug Knuth would not comment on if Musselman was granted permission, or asked, to interview for the Cal opening.

“My standard line is I don’t comment on other people’s searches," Knuth told the Reno Gazette-Journal.”

The AD went onto say that that the school is putting together a well-deserved contract extension, but would not comment on how much of a raise Musselman could get. He currently makes $400,000 annually.

Cal could triple that amount of money — the Golden Bears paid Cuonzo Martin $1.89 million last year, yet the new coach is expected to make less than that -- and it would take a very large increase in pay to even be in the same neighborhood of a Pac-12 program.

“We’ve been talking for a while," Knuth said of an extension. "He knows our interest and our interest is to make sure he and his family are happy here and are here for a long, long time.

“We’ve talked about the future and a contract extension and that stuff. It gets to the end of the season and you’re talking about playing for a conference championship and the last thing a coach wants to do is talk about contract stuff. That led right into a conference championship in the regular season and that led right into the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament. There haven’t been a lot of concrete discussions and rightfully so because he was very focused on basketball the last three or four weeks.”

There is a reasonably hefty buyout with Musselman’s contract with Nevada. He we would owe the school $1.15 million if he takes a new job prior to Sept. 1, and would owe that amount within 20 days of leaving the Wolf Pack post.