Report suggests USC targeting FGCU coach Andy Enfield

The FGCU Eagles were the darlings of the Sweet Sixteen this season. After becoming the first team in Tournament history to advance to the final 16 as a number 15 seed. Their historic run came to and end last night as the Florida Gators defeated them 62-50. In spite of the defeat, the Eagles and their coach remain hot items on the college basketball front.

FGCU administrators started scrambling hours after the Eagles defeated the Georgetown Hoyas in the first round of Tournament play. Enfield is vastly unpaid, earning just 157,000 annually and the upstart school. The advance of the Eagles to the Sweet 16 in just their second season of eligibility has caught the eye of some schools looking for new coaches. Yahoo! Sports reports this afternoon that USC has Enfield on the radar.While the media just learned who the FGCU Eagles are, the team nearly won their conference championship last year.

As soon as the Eagles advanced to the Sweet 16, speculation grew around Enfield as to his future with the small school. However, the speculation might just be that, speculation. Enfield has told local Southwest Florida media outlets that he came to FGCU to accomplish a job and he has no plans to go anywhere.

Many might thing that if USC offered up a significant pay raise from his current salary, he’d abandon the Eagles program in a heartbeat. I don’t believe that money is the driving force behind his decision making process. He was a very successful businessman. He told media outlets that he took a salary decrease when he jumped from the NBA to Florida State and took a further pay cut when he joined FGCU.

Enfield is a rock star in Southwest Florida. Yes, coaching in Southern California is glamorous, but living on the west coast of Florida isn’t too bad either. He’s two hours from South Beach and he gets to do his thing in Fort Myers without major media outlets scrutinizing his every move, something that wouldn’t happen at USC.

The majority of his team is retuning for next season and he has some interesting prospects coming in as well. He is only in his second full season as a coach, and perhaps he really wants to achieve something with the Eagles before spreading his wings and venturing elsewhere.

Enfield is a businessman and realizes the limitations that the university has when it comes to funding. He is in the second year of a five-year deal and he might want to build up a little more coaching capital before exploring other possible positions.

It’s nothing more than a hunch, but I believe Enfield will accept a small increase in pay and remain with the Eagles next season. He is a fiery competitor and I believe that he wants to take this team even further next season even if USC offers up a seven-figure salary offer.  If the Eagles have similar success in 2014, all bets are off.

Eric Schmidt is the owner/editor of thepigskinreport.com. You can follow Eric on Twitter @bucco40 and make sure to visit the pigskinreport FB page. Make sure to visit our other sites- hardballchat.com, roundballchat.com and centericechat.com for all of your sports needs.

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Tags: Andy Enfield, FGCU, NCAA Tournament, Sweet Sixteen, USC