College Hoops

Jennifer Cohen attempts to upgrade from Andy Enfield at USC

Jennifer Cohen attempts to upgrade from Andy Enfield at USC

So, here we go again. It’s time for a coaching search primer at USC. This time, the job opening is in the men’s basketball program. USC shocked everyone in college football when it hired Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma in November of 2021. Now let’s see what the Trojans, under athletic director Jennifer Cohen, can do with this golden opportunity to upgrade their head coaching position after Andy Enfield left for SMU on Monday. Enfield was and is a good coach, but he is not a great coach. USC will try to get a great coach who can do for men’s basketball what Lindsay Gottlieb is doing for the women’s basketball program. As in any coaching search, there are some unrealistic candidates a school should force to say no. There are the realistic high-end candidates who might consider the job. Then there are the fallback plans and backup options in case the various high-end candidates turn down USC. We’ll go through several examples of each and will walk you through this process:

Musselman has offered a firm indication he intends to stay at Arkansas, so realistically, he is already off the board. He would have made a great first choice, but he has made his own choice, by the looks of things.

Dutcher probably wouldn’t leave San Diego State, given his success there, but USC has to make a run at him and give him a call. Dutcher would be a very popular and well-received hire if USC can land him.

This is a moonshot candidate. It would be amazing if USC got him, but the odds of Wright unretiring to coach at USC are close to zero. Still, yes: Jen Cohen should place a call. She has nothing to lose here.

Would Beilein come to USC to coach? He is still close to the Michigan program. He has taken jobs in the Eastern time zone, so a move to the West…

Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Basketball | Trojans Wire…