Tonight he was hired away by USC's AD Pat Haden.
Spent 5 very interesting hours with Andy today! Awesome guy who has had much success in his life. Basketball will be fun at Galen! #FightOn
— Pat Haden (@ADHadenUSC) April 2, 2013
It's probably sexist to say this, but I'll say it anyway, because I'm not all that PC: USC will now host two of the most beautiful women on campus: Lane Kiffin's wife and Andy Enfield's wife. You judge:
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| Layla Kiffin |
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| Amanda Enfield |
And of course, we have the inevitable cross-town comparison. So, which hire do you think was bigger, better hire that generated more excitement for their respective schools: UCLA hiring Steve Alford, or USC hiring Andy Enfield?
Alford received about $1.1M last year, before another $100K in incentives kicked in. This year, his top-10 ranked Lobos got bounced out of the first round of March Madness thanks to Harvard. The Bruins signed him to a contract worth $2.6M a year, just weeks after he had signed a 10-year contract renewal with the Lobos.
In his first year as head coach in basketball, Enfield's FGCU ended with a 15-17 record as a first year, full Division-I member. In his second year, he took that team to the Sweet Sixteen -- the first 15th seeded team to do so, ever -- and he did it on a measly (by comparison) salary of $157K. The Trojans signed him for over $1M a year.
This is not to say that Alford hasn't been successful -- he's had just two losing seasons as head coach, which dates back to 1991 -- but Enfield got past the second round of March Madness in just his second year as a head coach, and did it at an obscure school that no one had previously heard of. It faintly echos of Pete Carroll's tenure as a college football coach, going from a 6-6 record in year 1 to an 11-2 record in year 2.
It also doesn't hurt that Enfield's brand of fast-paced, high-flying basketball is the direct opposite of Kevin O'Neill's defense-oriented, low-scoring teams.
Others seem to agree, too.
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