Bill Musselman
| Sport(s) | Basketball |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
September 13, 1940 Wooster, Ohio |
| Died | May 5, 2000 (aged 59) Rochester, Minnesota |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1975 | San Diego Sails |
| 1975–1976 | Virginia Squires |
| 1978–1979 | Reno Bighorns (WBA) |
| 1980–1982 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| 1983–1985 | Sarasota Stingers (CBA) |
| 1984–1985 | Tampa Bay Thrillers (CBA) |
| 1985–1988 | Albany Patroons (CBA) |
| 1989–1991 | Minnesota Timberwolves |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall |
College totals: 170-52, .766 pct. (NCAA) Pro record totals: 385-334, .535 pct. NBA record: 78-180, .302 pct. ABA record: 12-30 .286 pct. CBA record: 267-114, .701 pct. WBA record: 28-20, .583 pct. |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 4× CBA championship (1985–1988) | |
| Awards | |
| CBA Coach of the Year (1988) | |
William Clifford "Bill" Musselman (August 13, 1940 – May 5, 2000) was an American basketball coach in the NCAA, the ABA, the WBA, the CBA and the NBA. He was a fiercely intense coach who once was quoted as saying, "Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat."
Musselman was the second of five children. His father was an auto mechanic. He had a loving and dedicated mother named Bertha who later married James Miller. James became Bill's father and was a big part of his life growing up. The young Musselman played basketball, football, and baseball at Wooster High School in Wooster, Ohio. When he graduated in 1958, he was the school's second all-time leading scorer. After high school, he attended Wittenberg College (now Wittenberg University) in Springfield, Ohio, where he played basketball for Ray Mears, who would later coach the University of Tennessee.
In 1963, at the age of 23, Musselman was hired as the head men's basketball coach at Kent State University High School in Kent, Ohio. In Musselman's first season of coaching, the KSUHS Statesmen finished 14-5 and earned a share of the conference title.
In 1964, after one season of coaching high school basketball, Musselman was hired to assist with the football and basketball teams at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. In August 1965, Ashland's head basketball coach left for another coaching position. With only a few months before the start of the 1965-66 season, Musselman was promoted to head coach. In his first season, at the age of 25, he guided the Eagles to a 10-10 record. Over the next five seasons, Musselman's Ashland teams went 21-3, 24-6, 26-4, 23-4, and 25-3 (total: 109-20, with a .845 winning percentage).
While at Ashland, Musselman's teams reached the NCAA College Division Tournament (the predecessor to the current Division II and Division III Tournaments) four times and had 13 All-America players. His 1968-69 Ashland team allowed an NCAA-record-low 33.9 points per game.
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