USC Sunday Buzz

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The idea that shooting guard Isaac Hamilton, a top 15 player, wants out of his letter of intent with UTEP to be closer to home, possibly at USC, is rich on many levels.
Just a few months ago, UTEP coach Tim Floyd lobbied for the USC job. He got Hamilton’s high school coach, Derrick Taylor, to recommend him. Pat Haden flew to Phoenix to meet with Floyd, even though it was just a courtesy interview.
Floyd is no doubt upset with new USC coach Andy Enfield for his willingness to take Hamilton.
“We have made our schedule based on having Isaac,” Floyd told the El Paso Times. “People have bought season tickets based on our having Isaac. It’s too late. He can appeal and we’ll wait to see what happens. If he is allowed out, we might as well not even have letters of intent.”
The irony is that Floyd worried about none of that when he secretly flew to Arizona to interview for the Wildcats job the day after he stressed the importance of loyalty at a USC basketball banquet. Floyd does have a point about letters of intent. They increasingly seem to be worthless (see Eddie Vanderdoes to UCLA, Matthew Thomas almost going to USC).
As for USC, after years of letting athletes out of letters of intents (Derrick Williams, Seantrel Henderson), the Trojans now seem to be in the business of taking athletes instead.

2 thoughts on “USC Sunday Buzz”

  1. Why should Floyd be upset with Enfield, so long as Enfield hasn’t violated any tampering rules?

    This ain’t church…

  2. Greg Doyel wrote this on CBS Sports 25th Sept. 2005 just after Tim Floyd was hired by Mike Garrett:
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    Floyd hires staff members to get his hands on their players.

    Floyd will recruit players, then let them go once he has
    recruited over them. If this is in fact a trend, it dates to his
    days at Iowa State from 1995-98. When the NCAA enacted the
    eight-and-five scholarship rule in 2000 to stop schools from
    running off players, coaches all over the country referred to it
    as “the Tim Floyd rule.”

    Floyd will swipe recruits from other programs.

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    The problem for Tim Floyd is the same for any one coaching in a small isolated market trying to retain players – UTEP is truly a million miles from nowhere – coaching the Miners comes with the baggage of where it is sadly it is one of the main reasons UTEP was excluded by the Mountain West.

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