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Nevade hires Musselman as coach

Eric Musselman, a former NBA coach, is taking his first college head coaching job.

ERIC MUSSELMAN is adding the college ranks to his long list of head coaching jobs.

The former NBA coach has been hired at Nevada, pending formal approval today by the Board of Regents.

Athletic director Doug Knuth said in a statement yesterday that he plans to present a proposed 5-year contract with Musselman to the state Board of Regents during a meeting in Las Vegas. Musselman will join the meeting by teleconference from Reno, where the school is located.

The 50-year-old Musselman coached the Golden State Warriors from 2002-04 and the Sacramento Kings in 2006-07. He spent this past season as an assistant at LSU.

He has hoped for years to land a head coaching job at the college level, which will be a fresh start from his disappointing NBA stint. Musselman interviewed for the California job last year before the program hired Cuonzo Martin to replace Mike Montgomery.

Now, Musselman is in line to replace David Carter, who was fired earlier this month after his third straight losing season. Nevada spokesman Chad Hartley said a news conference was planned on the Reno campus this afternoon following the regents meeting.

Jeff Van Gundy, a former NBA coach and current analyst for ESPN, said Musselman is "as competitive of a guy as I've ever coached against.

"He's hungry. He's a brilliant offensive mind and he's going to be a terrific recruiter," he said. "This is a guy who can tell kids exactly what it takes to play in the NBA."

Musselman went 108-138 as an NBA coach. He is the son of the late Bill Musselman, a longtime coach.

Noteworthy

* Bobby Hurley agreed to a new contract with the University at Buffalo that will make him the Mid-American Conference's highest-paid coach, a person familiar with negotiations told the

Associated Press

.

Hurley will make more than $550,000 a season, the person said. The person said that while the sides have agreed on the deal, it has not yet been signed as the school and coach work out final details.

The agreement was reached after the former Duke star point guard led the Bulls to their first NCAA Tournament berth in only his second year on the job. Hurley's immediate success had made him a potential candidate to be lured away by higher-profile schools this offseason.

Buffalo (23-10) was eliminated with a 68-62 loss to West Virginia in the round of 64 on Friday. With a 42-20 record, Hurley became Buffalo's first coach to reach 40 wins in two seasons.

Buffalo will return four of five starters next season.

* South Carolina coach Frank Martin said guard Sindarius Thornwell played all season with tendinitis in both knees and will need injections to help heal this offseason.

Martin said that Thornwell chose to keep playing and working at practice instead of resting to ease the condition. Martin said Thornwell's knees were sore during games and it caused him to lose some leg strength on his shot.

The 6-5 sophomore entered this season as the team's top returning scorer at 13.4 points a game. However, Thornwell's average dropped this season to 11.1 points a game.

* LSU sophomore forward Jarell Martin said he'll leave the Tigers to enter this summer's NBA draft. The 6-10 forward averaged 16.9 points and 9.2 rebounds this season and received AP All-SEC first-team honors.