As fans we live and die with our teams, I suppose that's obvious or we wouldn't read sites like these. But there are times that we sometimes miss the bigger picture. We have enjoyed a great season of USC basketball and we have Tim Floyd to thank for it. Coach Floyd came in and took over a program and turned it around, now lets not get crazy, we still have a long way to go but Coach Floyd has made it fun again to root for USC basketball. Tim Floyd has overcome some obstacles here at SC and working through those has made this team stronger.
Coach Floyd has also had to overcome some personal obstacles that has made him who he is today.
... Floyd has even enthused a USC student body that became accustomed to worshipping the one and only true Trojan god -- football. He has signed what some basketball experts deem the No. 2 recruiting class in the country.
All that pales in comparison, though, to what happened to Floyd on Feb. 25.
On that day, Floyd turned 53. For a male in his family, that was a record.
His father, former Southern Mississippi basketball coach Lee Floyd, died at 51.
His grandfather, uncles, great-uncles, even his great-grandfather ... none made it to 53.
"Heart attacks," Floyd says. "All of 'em."
I have been lucky to have not lost a parent so I couldn't possibly understand what this was like to go through.
He is passionate that's for sure, as we have seen on the sidelines and maybe that comes from knowing just how good you have it.
No one knows what the future holds but Floyd has brought a sense of stability to this program. That stability needs to produce some wins in the upcoming tournament but regardless sometimes that's half the battle. We have all heard the stories about NEXT YEAR being the year. So this new resurgence came a little early fine, this is by no means a free ride SC has high hopes and Floyd's record is a bit suspect as time goes on but I like what I see and expect that he will continue to get this team to improve. This is a great first step but we need to keep it up and not rest on our laurels as next year may be even a tougher challenge.
But let's worry about that next season