Eric Musselman is having a week. Video obtained by the California Post shows the USC head coach in a heated exchange with a man holding a metal detector underneath the Manhattan Beach Pier, and it is not a close call on who comes off worse.
The man is Gary, who runs the YouTube channel “Gary’s Metal Detecting.” The Trojans were gathered under the pier for team photos around 10:30 a.m. Sunday when Gary walked into the frame.
Someone who appeared to be on Musselman’s staff asked him to move. Gary said they would have to wait until he finished scanning that stretch of sand. Musselman, 61, then told him to “shut the f— up” and followed it with another profane insult.
The apology, and the lawsuit that landed a day later
Musselman apologized in a statement to the California Post. “I know the responsibilities that come with my role, and while I was trying to step in and support my coach, I definitely should have handled this situation better and will learn from this for the future,” he said.
On its own that is a nothing story. A coach lost his temper at a stranger on a beach, said something ugly and apologized for it the next day. Coaches yell.
The problem is what came next. Former USC guard Chad Baker-Mazara filed a lawsuit against the school and Musselman, alleging that the coach directed a racially charged tirade at him in the locker room after a Feb. 28 loss to then-No. 12 Nebraska, and that USC removed him from the roster on March 1 to avoid paying out the rest of his NIL deal.
The suit says the school terminated his NIL agreements the following day citing a morals clause, and it alleges breach of contract, conversion and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. Baker-Mazara claims the outburst attacked his national origin and Dominican heritage in front of the entire team. USC has said the decision to remove him involved a number of considerations, none having to do with race.
Two years in, the wins are not covering for him
Musselman arrived at USC in 2024 with a real resume. Nevada from 2015 to 2019 produced three straight NCAA Tournament trips and a Sweet 16. Arkansas from 2019 to 2024 produced three straight tournament appearances, two Elite Eights and a Sweet 16 run.
USC has produced none of that. The Trojans went 17-18 overall and 7-13 in the Big Ten in his first year, then 18-14 and 7-13 again last season. Add it up and that is 14-26 in conference play with zero NCAA Tournament bids across two seasons.
Losing coaches get scrutinized differently than winning ones. A viral clip involving a guy with a metal detector does not end a career anywhere. That clip stacked on top of a racial discrimination lawsuit and a 14-26 Big Ten record is a different situation entirely.
Where this goes
Musselman enters year three with almost no cushion. The allegations in Baker-Mazara’s suit are unproven and USC has denied the race element flatly, so the legal side will move at its own pace.
But the pattern is what an athletic director notices. The lawsuit describes a coach who lost control in a locker room. The video shows a coach losing control on a public beach in front of his own players and an active camera. Those two things arrived within 24 hours of each other.
He needs to win, and quickly, or September 2026 becomes the defining chapter of his USC tenure instead of a strange week nobody remembers.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.