At the dawn of a new day for USC men’s basketball, a white horse awaited inside the doors of Galen Center. It was an unusual sight — the school’s live mascot, Traveler, on display for an entirely indoor news conference — but on a Friday morning intended to inject passion and pageantry, fire and hope in a coach meant to save the Trojans from sliding back into stagnancy, it was a fitting metaphor.
And that was before the band started blaring and smiling song girls started swaying, boldly welcoming USC’s new coach, Eric Musselman, into his new role with all the pomp and circumstance of a victory parade.