USC gives basketball coach Andy Enfield three-year contract extension
After winning Pac-12 coach-of-the-year honors and guiding USC on an unexpected run to the Elite Eight in his eighth season, Andy Enfield won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
Even before Enfield had the Trojans at 11-0 and ranked in the top 10 this season, USC already had locked up its coach with a three-year contract extension that now lasts through the 2025-26 season.
The extension was reached after the 2020-21 season, according to a USC official, but neither the university nor its coach had disclosed the deal until Friday. News of the extension was first reported by USCFootball.com.
In a statement, USC reminded that as a private institution, it “does not disclose details about university employee contracts” but noted that the new extension came in light of USC’s Elite Eight run.
Enfield’s contract previously ran through the 2022-23 season. According to the last available federal tax records, his salary was more than $3.1 million during fiscal year 2018, which already was believed to be among the highest salaries for a basketball coach in the conference.
Lincoln Riley didn’t pull off any surprises for USC on early national signing day, but there are some big-name players out there who could be swayed.
The extension presumably came with a raise but no other details were disclosed. Across town, UCLA’s Mick Cronin currently is believed to be the conference’s highest-paid coach at $4 million per year.
Enfield‘s contract was extended once before, but under far different circumstances. When former athletic director Lynn Swann extended Enfield‘s deal in April 2017, the coach had yet to finish better than fifth in the conference or lead USC to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. But after two down seasons to open his tenure, Enfield earned two straight tournament berths, leading Swann to greenlight the extension.
The program stands on much more solid ground now with Enfield’s contract again extended. USC won 25 games last season, led by a top-three NBA draft pick in Evan Mobley, and then rolled to its first Elite Eight since 2001. Few teams last March were hotter than the Trojans, who now seem to have carried that momentum over to a new season.
USC’s 2022 football schedule sets up nicely for new coach Lincoln Riley to make a statement in his introduction to the Pac-12.
Mobley is off to the NBA, along with another of the Trojans’ top scorers from last season, but USC is still rolling, ranked 10th overall after reeling off 11 straight victories to start the season. It’s the highest national ranking USC has received during the season under Enfield.
In his ninth season, Enfield is 168-110, giving him the most wins for a men’s basketball coach at USC since Bob Boyd. The Trojans have been to three NCAA tournaments during that time, and likely would’ve earned a bid in 2020 had the postseason not been canceled because of COVID-19.
It wasn’t until last season’s magical run that Enfield finally seemed to earn the wide respect he and USC had been seeking. As it turned out, it also came with a contract extension.
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