We continue our summer look back at random figures in Cleveland Cavaliers history by shining a spotlight on Wooster’s own — Bill Musselman. He served various roles for the Cavs, including head coach for stretches of the 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons.
Former Cavs owner Ted Stepien is widely regarded as one of the worst owners in American professional sports history. He was an overall creepy person, to say it mildly, who also didn’t have any business sense. For example, he threatened to move the team
numerous times, including to Toronto, and injured people in a publicity stunt that included throwing softballs off of Terminal Tower.
Additionally, Stepien didn’t seem to understand basketball.
To say he didn’t know how to run the Cavaliers would be an understatement. Stepien is infamous for trading first-round picks for over-the-hill players, which is why the Stepien rule exists today. That rule requires teams to make first-round selections at least every other year.
Stepien only owned the Cavs for three seasons, 1980-83, but oversaw six different head coaches during that time. One of whom was Bill Musselman.
Musselman started out as a college basketball coach. He began his coaching tenure with Kent State, but is more known for leading the University of Minnesota from 1971 to ‘75. That team had success on the court, but had controversies off of it.
During Mussleman’s tenure, two Minnesota players assaulted Ohio State center Luke Witte after a game during the 1971-72 season. This resulted in a brawl that ended with three Ohio State players being hospitalized. Mussellman has been blamed for the incident because he encouraged overly physical play, which led to this kind of behavior.
Mussellman left Minnesota in 1975 with over 100 NCAA violations. He bounced around the ABA for a few years before taking over as head coach for the Cavs in 1980.
Mussellman’s physical and abrasive style didn’t translate well to the NBA. For instance, he played guard Randy Smith 48 minutes in his first outing as head coach, even though it was a preseason game.
Mussellman was relieved of his duties late in his first season. The team was 25-46 at the time. Stepien replaced him with “general manager” Don Delaney — who spent time coaching Stepien’s professional softball team. This move speaks to the dysfunction that was around the franchise at the time.
Despite being relieved as head coach, Mussellman still worked as director of player personnel. Delaney started the next season as head coach, went 7-19, and was replaced again by Mussellman.
Mussellman’s second stint with the Cavs went worse. They won just two of their final 23 games of the 1981-82 season. Mussellman was supposed to start the following season as head coach, but resigned a few days before the 1982-83 campaign.
Overall, the Cavs went 27-67 with Mussellman, which somehow, was the best winning percentage for a coach during the Stepien era.
Mussellman bounced around as head coach after leaving Cleveland. He spent time in the ABA before making it back to the NBA to coach the Minnesota Timberwolves from 1989-91. He didn’t fare much better as he went 51-113 in two seasons.
Mussellman went back to minor league and college basketball before returning to the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers as an assistant coach in 1997. He served as an assistant there for three seasons before dying in May 2000 after suffering a stroke.
Mussellman was known as being a fiery and hard-nosed coach who hated losing, despite doing it quite often. Even though he didn’t have much NBA success, Mussellman did give Tom Thibodeau (who may have picked up on Mussellman’s substitution patterns) his first job as an NBA assistant. Other members of his coaching tree include Sidney Lowe, who was an assistant under J.B. Bickerstaff in Cleveland.
Mussellman’s son, Eric, spent time as an NBA head coach and is currently leading USC.
The Cavs were a mess during the Stepien era. Mussellman’s brief foray into and out of leading the Cavs was just a small part of what was a dysfunctional three-year period. Fortunately, things never reached that level of chaos after Gordan Gund bought the team in 1983.
