What made Tim Floyd stay at USC?
You could point to any number of things...Money, stature, respect. Any of these or a combination of the three could be the tipping point of a coach looking elsewhere. I doubt we will never know but there is enough out there to make one speculate.
I think Money had a lot to do with it. It has been reported that Floyd is making 800-900K a year. I have heard other numbers thrown out there like 1.1 million. Wolf has quoted Floyd saying that he had three years left on his deal while Chris Foster at the LAT says he is in the last year of his contract. Floyd wants an extension that seems pretty obvious the question is can USC deliver?
This is another issue surrounding the Pac-10 and its poor TV deals. It all comes down to money, more exposure means more dollars and you can bet that the new Pac-10 Commissioner already has that as one of his top priorities.
Floyd made some interesting comments at his press conference that showed how much he labored over this decision.
From The OCR...This pretty much says it all.
“I’m so glad I went (to Tucson) because it reinforced to me what a special situation I have. This is a great place to coach basketball. I’ve never had more fun in my career than I’ve had the last three years.
“There’s something really special about building your own tradition, your own history. I’ve never been more excited to be a Trojan.”
I don't think anyone would begrudge Floyd exploring other opportunities. I think what Shocked so many people was the speed at which this all went down catching everyone by surprise. It was also surprising to read that Floyd spoke to Memphis, but I can se how he was juts covering all the bases.
I would not be surprised if there were some friction between Floyd and Garrett. Both have big egos both are competitive and both want to win (read having the last word). I mean its not like Garrett put a whole lot of effort into hiring Floyd. Garrett lucked out and as the old saying goes "sometimes its better to be lucky than good."
I still believe that Floyd wants to see SC put more effort into marketing his product. Like it or not, warts and all, Tim Floyd has increased the visibility of USC basketball...not all for the right reasons but never the less he has found a way put a competitive program together.
Here is Mike Garrett's statement on Floyd's decision to stay.
“We’re obviously delighted that Coach Floyd is staying. He’s such a tremendous asset to our program. He has done historic things at USC in his short time, getting us to three consecutive NCAA playoffs, winning 20 games for three straight years and capturing the Pac-10 Tournament title this year. And the future is very bright here under Tim’s direction.
“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.
“It’s a show of respect that other teams come after our coaches and present them with intriguing opportunities. We expect that here.
“But Coach Floyd’s decision today reaffirms what we’ve always believed: that USC is a special place.”
Pretty much boiler plate stuff. Garrett needs to back up that statement by putting it in Floyd's check.
Here is Floyd on PMS today.
It's sounds almost like he never was leaving...
So we put this whole situation to bed, I am happy that he is staying but I wouldn't have lost any sleep if had decided to move on.