Enfield: Wouldn’t be SMU’s coach if not in ACC
DALLAS– Andy Enfield went from Florida Gulf Coast’s “Dunk City” and the Sweet 16 to Los Angeles and now to Dallas to take over the SMU program that is headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 36-year dry spell because winning an NCAA competition game.Enfield stated he wouldn’t remain in Huge D if the Mustangs weren’t ready to move into that basketball-rich league.”Uh, no, “Enfield said when asked simply that.”We were very delighted at USC, and I had an extraordinary staff, players, terrific support from the administration, and we lived at the beach. So not bad at all. “Editor’s Picks
Enfield was officially introduced on the SMU campus on Tuesday, a day after being formally employed and about 10 days after school officials went to California to consult with the then-Trojans coach who was at the top of their list to lead them into major conference play. The relocate to the ACC ends up being main July 1.
“He shared the high expectations we have for our program, and he accepts that,” SMU athletic director Rick Hart said. “He’s done it at a school like ours, in a city like ours, and in a conference like the one we’re headed to.”
After taking No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 in 2013, in only the 2nd season that school was eligible for the NCAA tournament, Enfield invested the previous 11 years at USC, where he went 220-147 with five NCAA competition bids, consisting of an Elite Eight appearance in 2021. The Trojans were 15-18 this season with Bronny James as a freshman, ending a run of four successive campaigns winning more than 20 games.SMU hasn’t
been to the NCAA tournament since 2017 with coach Larry Brown in what was only its 3rd appearance considering that last winning a tourney game in 1988. The Mustangs last made the nationwide quarterfinals in 1957, when they had to win only as soon as to get that far in a 23-team field. They were 20-13 this season, and coach Rob Lanier was fired a day after a loss to Indiana State in the preliminary of the National Invitation Competition.
“Structure anything is tough, and we know the obstacles,” Enfield said. “We’re here as a training staff to establish the players that are here, fill in the roster with some transfers and after that recruit high school players along with transfers in the future. And, I think, if you do that over a course of time, you can build an effective program. And what a great location to do it.”
SMU is moving this summertime with Pac-12 groups Cal and Stanford to the ACC, considering that league 18 basketball teams. USC is leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten.Three ACC teams
made this year’s Elite Eight. That consisted of NC State beating Duke in the South Area last on Sunday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, which is just over five miles from SMU’s campus.The last time the Mustangs won in the NCAA tourney was a first-round game versus Notre Dame in March 1988, right in the middle of SMU’s football program being closed down because of recruiting infractions. SMU didn’t field a football team in 1987 or 1988 after being the only school ever offered the so-called capital punishment by the NCAA.That was in the old Southwest Conference, the league SMU was a member of since 1918 before being neglected when 4 SWC teams from Texas signed up with the Huge 8 Conference to start play as the Huge 12 in 1996. SMU then went to the Western Athletic Conference for nine seasons and Conference U.S.A. for eight campaigns before signing up with the American Athletic Conference in 2013. SMU’s approval into the ACC was revealed in September, and school authorities said that $100 million was raised within just a week after that to support the transition into the brand-new league. The enthusiasm is still at a fever pitch, with boosters filling the room for Enfield’s introduction along with the pep band and cheerleaders.”Can’t return 40 years, however definitely can’t picture it’s been higher than it is right now, in at least a generation,”stated Hart, who has actually been at SMU considering that 2012. “Significant momentum.”Got to benefit from that.”