DANVILLE, Calif. - Eric Musselman has been a part of some of the best and worst times in minor league basketball in Rapid City. He's seen the highs of a sold out Rushmore Plaza Civic Center to the lows of moving a franchise once adored by a community.

From player issues, to arena concerns to simple things like uniforms, Musselman knows the grind of minor league sports.

With the expansion Rapid City Rush preparing for its inaugural season in the Central Hockey League, Musselman said there are several factors that go into making sure any minor league sport is successful.

"I think that the biggest thing in the minor leagues is your coach becomes the face of the franchise, because players are ever changing," Musselman said. "I think it is important that the coach, who is the face of the franchise, gets out in the community and meets people, meets business leaders."

Musselman served as head coach and general manager of the Continental Basketball Association's Rapid City Thrillers - a team that moved to the Black Hills from Tampa Bay, Fla. - following the 1987 regular season.

Musselman said he believes it is important for those associated with the Rush to be active in the schools and promote the game of hockey.

"Hockey is new in that area and in order for them to be successful, they have to educate people on the sport. I thought the time we were in Rapid City, we made basketball a better sport for high school and younger kids," Musselman said. "They got to come see and watch players that had that professional skill level. So I think if there are any future hockey players in that area, that's going to help the sport in general."

The former head coach of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings said he believes a successful Rush franchise could help bring professional basketball back to the Black Hills.

"I think anytime there is success with any minor league sport it opens the doors for other teams to potentially come if there is success," he said. "Even if there is not success, I don't necessarily think that means the city wouldn't support another minor league basketball team at all. I think it helps if it does well, I think it reinforces what happened when the Thrillers were there."

Musselman got his career started in the Black Hills, taking over a franchise that went 16-38 in its first full season in Rapid City. After the disappointing first season, team owners began searching for a new general manager and a new head coach. The owners turned to former Thrillers head coach, and Musselman's late father, Bill.

The elder Musselman was the head coach of the Thrillers while the team was in Florida and during the pre-playoff move to Rapid City. After winning the CBA title in 1987, Bill Musselman moved on to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Team owners asked Bill if he knew of anyone who could come in and help them turn things around. Bill suggested his 22-year-old son, Eric.

"My dad could not bring me to the Timberwolves because I didn't have any coaching experience," Musselman said. "He didn't want to put me on the staff without having experience."

So Musselman interviewed for the Thrillers' vacant general manager position and, ultimately, got the job. His first order of business was to hire a coach. Musselman turned to Flip Saunders, who played collegiately at the University of Minnesota for Musselman's father.

"Flip was an assistant coach at the University of Tulsa and Flip had played for my dad," Musselman said. "We turned the record exactly around from 16-38 to 38-16."

It wasn't easy though. Musselman and Saunders were intent on making the Thrillers a professional operation. That meant everything from uniforms, to catering, to the offices. So, the duo enlisted some outside help and went to work on redoing the Thrillers' offices in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

"I can remember vividly Flip Saunders with a hammer and nail in his hand. We wanted individual offices and the only thing they had was this huge office space, and we wanted each coach to have their own office," Musselman said. "My cousin came up from Dallas and was our public relations director and Flip brought some guys. It was kind of a family affair. We just brought a bunch of people we had known from the past."

Ultimately, Saunders would leave after that first season, heading for Lacrosse, Wisc., and later the Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons. So the search was on, again, for a head coach. Something Musselman was sure he was not ready to tackle.

"I was scared at the age I was and so it ended up where I interviewed a lot of different people for the job," Musselman said. "(Team owner) Pat Hall sat in on interviews. None of us felt comfortable with anybody."

But a call from the CBA offices a few weeks before the start of the season set a sequence of events in motion that led to Musselman taking a seat on the bench.

"So we got a call from the league office and they said if you don't have a coach named in the next 48 hours, we are going to start fining you," he said. "I don't know what it was, like $10,000. So Pat looked at me one night over dinner and said I'm not getting fined, you are the next coach."

Musselman's first season as head coach was a success. The team, led by key players like Keith Smart, Jarvis Basnight, Jim Thomas, Pat Durham, Michael Williams, Conner Henry and Michael Higgins, went 42-14 and 8-8 in the playoffs.

In all, Musselman's teams compiled a 191-89 record while in Rapid City, including a 27-25 mark in the postseason. Musselman said players like Fennis Dembo, Craig Neal, Shelton Jones, Cliff Robinson and Corey Crowder all became fan favorites, helping the civic center become a near impossible place for opposing teams to play.

"We had a winning streak, like 30- or 40-straight home wins, it really was like a Lawrence, Kan., when the Jayhawks play," Musselman said. "During the day at lunch, people were talking about the game that night. It was almost like a college town atmosphere. There was so much enthusiasm. There has been no place before or after that I've been that got as loud as the civic center."

The team ultimately left following the 1994-1995 season, packing its bags for Florida. Musselman remained with the organization for a couple more seasons, before going on to work in various capacities for the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks. Musselman eventually became the head coach of the Golden State Warriors in 2002, where he stayed for two years. He then was named the head coach of the Kings in 2006 but his stay in Sacramento lasted just a year.

But Musselman said his time in Rapid City prepared him for life as an NBA head coach.

"Every time a dilemma came up, I always reverted back to my time as a head coach in Rapid City," Musselman said. "My time in Rapid City played a huge role in my becoming an NBA head coach."