USC coach Andy Enfield addresses speculation over open Maryland job
For months, Andy Enfield’s name has been associated with the open Maryland head coaching position over on the East Coast.
Enfield, 52, has been at USC since 2013. He spent two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast, leading an Atlantic Sun Conference championship charge a Cinderella run to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament his final year. Hired to take over the Trojan program after, Enfield has elevated the team under his leadership. He’s 178-114 as the USC head coach, with this year’s squad looking assured of earning a fourth NCAA tourney bid. Enfield and the Trojans went to the Elite Eight last season and began this year 13-0.
But speculation that Enfield could look at Maryland—which parted ways with its head coach in early December—as a step up has been nonstop. He addressed those rumors in an interview this week on Sirius XM:
There's been a ton of speculation surrounding Andy Enfield and the vacant job at Maryland.
The @USC_Hoops HC addressed the rumors when he joined @SeanFarnham and @ESPNRittenberg.#FightOn pic.twitter.com/2XC6WoRMlP
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) February 16, 2022
“That’s part of the business,” Enfield said. “It’s an honor to be mentioned at other places. It’s not the schools. It’s just people on message boards, the media, etc. because you’re doing well at wherever you are. That’s a credit to our coaching staff and to our players because we’ve built something here (at USC) that’s hard to do. Same thing at Florida Gulf Coast. Those players were special. A head coach is only as good as (the) staff you hire and work with every day and then your players.
“We don’t look at the distractions. It’s flattering at times, but at the same time, it can be distracting if you let it. We’re so focused on what we do. I don’t read message boards. I’m not on social media, and I’m not even on Twitter. I’m very secluded from some of the things that you might think. I came in this morning and I watched three hours of Washington video. What’s going on in the outside world, I don’t see it like most people. We just try to stay focused and do what we need to do to try to win games here at USC.”
USC is 21-4 so far this season and coming off its biggest win of the year last Saturday, a 67-64 win over crosstown rival UCLA.
The Trojans host Washington Thursday evening at 8:30 p.m. PT.