Isn't Musselman taking the same approach as Manning (last season)? He is over 50 and has a top 10 offense with a shitty defense. Their team would be a shell of itself if he didn't land the Martin twins via transfer.
Well, his offense is indeed dramatically better than his defense, but his defense is still better than Manning's has been. This year his defense is 94th per KP and last year it was 101st. Manning's best defense at Wake was 125th (in his first year) while last year was 176th. Another way of looking at it, this year his defense was the 5th best in the MWC while Manning's was the 14th best in the ACC.
The team certainly would not be as good as it is without the Martin twins. I don't see how that is a knock against Musselman though. Ok, so two ACC castoffs make up 2 of his best 3 players. Well, there are only four ACC teams ranked higher than Nevada in KP. He took over a team that was the 270th best in the country the year before he was hired. Now they are the 19th best. That's astonishing. And, yes, the exact route he took to get talent in the program is not necessarily sustainable, especially at Wake Forest, but the man can recruit, develop, and coach players. If he couldn't then Nevada wouldn't have put together three consecutive 19+ win seasons right after a 9 win season. Or made two consecutive tournaments after not making it for 8 years.
As for age, yeah, it would be nice if he was younger, but I think it's foolish to set any kind of hard limit in hopes of finding "our Coach K". Sure, if there's a young coach who could credibly be that guy, like Brad Stevens in 2010 or Shaka Smart in 2014 then absolutely do everything you can to make it happen. And sure even stretch the criteria some if there's a guy like Mike White, who didn't quite check all the boxes in 2014 but was clearly a star. But don't stretch so far that you end-up with a Kelsey type candidate who hasn't won enough or at high enough level to give enough confidence that he would be successful in the ACC. UNC doesn't regret hiring 52 year old Roy Williams. Louisville doesn't regret hiring 49 year old Rick Pitino. Oklahoma doesn't regret hiring 58 year old Lon Kruger. Oregon doesn't regret hiring 51 year old Dana Altman. Hell, we all made fun of Miami for hiring a 61 year old but he's lead them to the two best seasons in the history of their program. And doesn't seem to be slowing down one bit.
