Is 1991-92 Raveling’s Last Season at USC? : Trojan basketball: He has been offered National Assn. of Basketball Coaches position, but he says he hasn’t decided yet.

USC’s basketball team opened practice Tuesday amid speculation that Coach George Raveling will resign at the end of the season to take a job as executive director of the the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches.

Raveling, who signed a one-year contract extension after guiding the Trojans into the NCAA tournament last season, acknowledged that the NABC has approached him with a job offer but said he hasn’t accepted it.

“I told them that I would think about it,� Raveling said, adding that the job will be held open until he reaches a decision. “I’ll decide after the season’s over.�

Asked what he would do if he had to make an immediate decision, Raveling said he would remain at USC.

Since Raveling is in the midst of recruiting for the early letter-of-intent signing period, it would be bad timing for him to make an announcement now.

Raveling said it’s not the first time he has been approached with a job offer while under contract.

“Being a business student in college, one thing I learned was that when someone comes to you with an offer, the intelligent thing to do is to listen to them,� Raveling said. “Any time somebody comes to me, I’m going to listen to what they say and I’m going to take it under advisement. But what I can tell you now is that I have not accepted any offer at any other place despite what people would like to suggest.

“My sense of things is that USC wants me to stay here, and when the appropriate time comes, we’ll talk about those things. But right now it’s certainly premature to suggest that I’m not going to be back next year.�

USC guard Harold Miner, for one, hopes Raveling stays.

“That’s not really something you can concern yourself with,� Miner said. “It’s his decision, and you just have to be prepared for whether or not he comes back. It’s something that he has to decide for himself, but it would be kind of strange not to be playing for him.�

Raveling has a 278-262 record in 19 seasons as a coach at Washington State, Iowa and USC, where he has compiled a 57-88 mark in five seasons.

After finishing last or tied for last in the Pacific 10 in Raveling’s first three seasons, USC finished seventh in 1989-90, then improved to 19-10 last season, finishing in a third-place tie with Arizona State and gaining a bid to the NCAA tournament.