It is remarkable that a good but not elite coach from a non-basketball school could set in motion a seismic series of events in major college basketball. Andy Enfield really did get the dominoes falling in a direction which led to John Calipari ending his decade-and-a-half run at Kentucky to move to Arkansas, which ushers in a new era in Lexington at one of college basketball’s blue-blood programs. Scott Drew appears to be the favorite for the job at UK, but regardless of whom the Wildcats select, the landscape of college hoops has changed in a big way. Andy Enfield got the ball rolling. It is fascinating to contemplate all the plot points that got us here, but let’s go over some of them. There are some interesting nuances, too, that you might not be aware of:
Trojans Wire attended the Final Four in Glendale, Arizona. Talking to college basketball people behind the scenes, it seems that Andy Enfield found coaching in suburban Dallas attractive. He might have been eyeing the SMU job for awhile, especially when his USC season went south.
Though this is not a confirmed fact, it is something everyone we talked to firmly believes about Enfield’s move to SMU: This was very likely not initiated by Jennifer Cohen. Nothing we have seen, heard, or read points to Cohen shoving Enfield out the door and encouraging him to look for other jobs. This appears to have been an Enfield-initiated move. Enfield wanted a career reset as opposed to USC pushing him out, kicking and screaming.
Enfield did say, upon being welcomed to SMU, that coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference was a central reason he took the job. That can’t be ignored in all of this.
Enfield was paid handsomely at USC, but SMU — which helped cover the buyout (this is why Enfield waited until April 1 to officially sign the deal to become the Mustangs’ coach; the buyout number was lowered on April 1) — can pay Enfield even more. Enfield is not taking a pay cut. That had to sweeten the pot for him.
SMU joined the ACC knowing it would not get a significant share of ACC television revenue in its first few years in the conference. Why can the Mustangs still pay Enfield and, for that matter, other coaches? The boosters are well-heeled, much like Texas A&M. Oil isn’t called black gold for nothing.
You might be interested to know that Eric Musselman has a family connection to the Dallas area. It was felt by some in late March that Musselman might be contemplating a move to SMU, not USC.
Need proof of Musselman-SMU chatter? Here’s one link with other links tucked inside. While most of us were following March Madness, this story became a real thing.
Just how aware was Eric Musselman — with his Dallas-area family connections — of the possibility that Andy Enfield would not only consider, but take, the SMU job? It is one of the most fascinating questions in this larger story of how Musselman went to USC, not SMU, and Enfield became the new maestro of the Mustangs in suburban Dallas.