LOS ANGELES (AP) -Tim Floyd will stay on as Southern California coach, spurning an offer Thursday to become the basketball coach at Arizona.
He was offered the job Wednesday to replace Arizona interim coach Russ Pennell, who took over when Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson retired for health reasons before the start of the season.
“I listened, I heard what they had to say,” Floyd said at a campus news conference. “But there is something really special about building your own traditions and your own history.”
Floyd visited Tucson on Wednesday and returned the same night to discuss the offer with his wife and a couple of USC players and recruits.
The 55-year-old coach has led the Trojans to the NCAA tournament three consecutive seasons, a first in the program’s history, and this year he coached them to the Pac-10 tournament title.
, who told Garrett he wanted to hear what the school had to say.
“I viewed it as an elite program in this country and I was really interested in what constituted it as an elite program,” Floyd said about the Wildcats, who just made their 25th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament.
“This will be the last time I look unless the administration gets tired of me.”
Garrett called Floyd a “tremendous asset” to USC’s basketball program at a school where the nationally ranked football team is a perennial power.
“The future is very bright here under Tim’s direction,” he said in a statement. “We talked today and we expressed our commitment to each other. We are both excited about our prospects for next season, especially if we have the team we think we’ll have.”
Floyd was offered the Louisiana State job a year ago. He turned it down, saying at the time, “This is my last job at SC.”
He confirmed that Thursday, saying, “This is still my last job.”
Floyd has three years remaining on his USC contract.
“Hopefully, they’ll add a year or two. That would be great,” he said.
He said Memphis wanted to discuss its current coaching opening with him, but added that the school never made him an offer.
Floyd’s previous college stints were at Iowa State, New Orleans and Memphis. He coached the NBA’s Chicago Bulls from 1999-2002 and the New Orleans Hornets in 2004.
Add A Comment