The Great Debate |
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Who had better coaching hire: USC or UCLA? |
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UCLA’s Steve Alford better qualified |
Alan Enfield’s talent will improve USC |
 Two of the biggest coaching hires so far in this college basketball offseason have occurred in the same city, as both UCLA and USC have brought in big names. The Bruins hired Steve Alford while the Trojans nabbed the former coach of Florida Gulf Coast — otherwise known as “Dunk City” — Andy Enfield. Both programs are clearly headed in new directions, but it is obvious UCLA made the better move. These hires could not have been more opposing, as the Bruins got the better coach while USC settled for a one-hit wonder. Everyone loves a Cinderella team — myself included. While Florida Gulf Coast was running teams off the court and throwing down alley-oops like they were the Clippers during the NCAA Tournament, I was hoping the Eagles would make it as far as they possibly could. The 15th-seeded FGCU made it to the Sweet 16, which was impressive. But did this run warrant a big time contract for Enfield? Is he going to turn around a program that has long struggled? Keep in mind, this is the same coach who lost to Maine, Mercer and Lipscomb — to name a few. In my opinion, USC just fell in love with all the glamour Enfield and FGCU has brought, and the Trojans tied the knot before they really got to know who they were getting involved with. Alford, on the other hand, is a proven head coach. For starters, he was taught by the best. As the point guard at Indiana in the 1980s, he played for legendary coach Bob Knight. As a player under Knight, Alford learned at least one thing from him: discipline. While Alford might not be throwing chairs on the court and might even crack a few smiles here and there, he has an attitude that screams no-nonsense. Discipline is something UCLA has lacked in recent years, and Alford will provide that discipline and demand respect from his players. You can just look at the Bruins football program and head coach Jim Mora to see how much of an affect demanding respect from your players will have. Another reason Alford will have success in Westwood is because he is a recruiting machine. He was able to convince players such as Kendall Williams and Tony Snell to move away from Southern California to play for New Mexico — his former job. Now that Alford has all the perks that come with coaching at UCLA at his disposal in the recruiting race, he will dominate the Southern California recruiting scene. Having coached in different parts of the country, he also has connections that will allow him to get the players he needs to put the best team he can on the court. Lastly, Alford wins games. During his tenure at New Mexico, the Lobos won two Mountain West Conference tournament championships, and Alford boasts a career 385-206 record in 18 seasons as a Division I coach. Obviously coaching at UCLA in the Pac-12 is a much more highly acclaimed job than New Mexico, and Alford will be under major pressure to win, but he was built for it. Alford is the perfect guy to save this program and bring UCLA back to its former glory. |
 USC and UCLA have had different histories on the basketball court. The Bruins hold the records for most NCAA title wins, Final Four appearances, consecutive tournament wins and even had 54 consecutive winning seasons from 1949-2002. The Trojans, on the other hand, have never won an NCAA championship. They have only been to the Final Four twice — the last appearance being in 1954 — and have won exactly one conference tournament championship. But the teams now have something in common. Each recently made a coaching change. We know what school has had the more impressive past, but which will have the brighter future? It would be easy to say UCLA. The Bruins hired Steve Alford, who coached New Mexico to four Mountain West Conference regular season titles and led the Lobos to a No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. But how are we defining a bright future? I would definitely place a high value on postseason success, and Alford hasn’t had much of it. He won at least 22 games every season during his run at New Mexico and only had double-digit losses twice, but he has never won more than two games in either the NIT or the NCAA Tournaments. This year, his Lobos lost to the 14th-seeded Harvard Crimson in one of the biggest tournament upsets in years. USC’s new head coach, Andy Enfield, was also part of a shocking upset this year as No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast beat No. 2 Georgetown. But Enfield was on the winning side. In his second year with the program, Enfield took a 15-seed to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in tournament history with a thrilling show observers dubbed “Dunk City.” But don’t let the run-and-gun style fool you. Enfield is a shooting specialist who marketed himself as “The Shot Doctor,” which helped him land the job of shooting coach with the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics. Enfield also had success as a head coach prior to this year’s magical run. In his first season as a head coach last year, he took the Eagles to the title game of the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, where they lost to Belmont. Before this year’s NCAA Tournament, FGCU garnered attention when it beat eventual No. 2 seed Miami. The Eagles beat Mercer in the ASC title game before stunning the world in the NCAA Tournament. Enfield had all of this success in two years at Florida Gulf Coast before he had a chance to make much of an impact on recruiting or build relationships with his players. But he was able to take the players he had and teach them how to win games. More than that, he was able to teach them they could beat the big-name, blue-chip programs for which they were supposed to be fodder. Imagine what Enfield can do with a roster of more talented players. Recruiting will likely come easier now that he is at a big-time Pac-12 program instead of a school that’s only been in existence for about 20 years. What high school prospect who witnessed what the Eagles did in the tournament would not want to play for a coach like Enfield? Alford has been a head coach for quite a while, and we’ve seen what he can do. He’s a good coach. But Enfield is also a good coach, and he’s only been around the block twice. With time to grow as a coach and recruit some top-tier talent, he should have USC looking down on UCLA for the foreseeable future. |
The Great Debate: Who had better coaching hire: USC or UCLA?
April 10, 2013