Chad Baker-Mazara's departure from the Auburn Tigers was tied to money and Bruce Pearl's retirement as the head coach. It was fairly cut-and-dried, though fans were heartbroken after watching a Final Four starting lineup completely disappear. CBM has nothing but love for the Plains after contributing to two historic seasons from 2023 to 2025.
Things were a bit more complicated upon Baker-Mazara's exit from the USC Trojans. CBM's final moment happened seemingly on camera, with him refusing to go back into the game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, an eventual 82-67 loss in LA, and sitting with fans instead. There seemed to be other resentment from both sides bubbling to the surface before that incident. That was the tipping point at the Galen Center.
CBM has finally broken his silence on the incident with Eric Musselman in a recent tell-all interview. As Baker-Mazara says, he still hasn't heard from Musselman to this day, nearly four months after the incident. CBM claims he was too hurt to play that day, but he's more hurt now.
Chad Baker-Mazara revels radio silence from USC's Eric Musselman
“It’s really hurtful. Because I thought I had a strong enough relationship that we could just sit down and talk about anything. At least that’s what it was throughout the whole year," Baker-Mazara told USA Today Sports.
“… Me and him didn’t see eye to eye on everything but at the end of the day, I feel like we had a strong enough relationship, or nothing bad enough happened, to where I should’ve been dismissed from the team.”
From the sounds of it, Musselman didn't appreciate CBM's vocal leadership. Baker-Mazara repeatedly got on teammates who weren't giving their all, which was something Musselman objected to. There were power dynamic issues on the Trojans that was never evident on the Tigers.
Chad Baker-Mazara could've helped keep Auburn in line last season
That attitude from CBM was something Bruce Pearl clearly was able to manage. Baker-Mazara is fiery by nature and grew up without much financial fortune, and he seemingly fit better in a room of blue-collar players on the Plains than the type of pedigree that was present in USC's locker room.
CBM had very frustrating moments in orange and blue, but before he left, he was beloved by Tiger fans. The teams he was on saw most players play their best ball. Baker-Mazara was a net positive in Lee County, Alabama.
It makes you wonder what impact he could've had in Steven Pearl's locker room. Steven taking over helped lead CBM away, but he could've kept guys like Keyshawn Hall, who was benched for disciplinary issues behind the scenes, and KeShawn Murphy, who quit on the team before an NIT championship run, in line. Who knows what the 2025-26 team could've done with a unified locker room.
Auburn wasn't that far away from being a tournament team. CBM, in theory, could've gotten them over the top. Or perhaps he wouldn't have meshed, and the situation would've been worse.
This writer wishes we got the chance to see that reality. Oh well.
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