Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
There’s no love lost between Tim Floyd and USC, and most recently, between Andy Enfield and Floyd.
Tonight, ahead of a Thanksgiving tip-off of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas, the current USC and UTEP coaching staffs were involved in what CBS Sports’ Seth Davis is calling an ugly heated argument.
Ugly incident at reception for Battle 4 Atlantis. Andy Enfield & Tim Floyd got into heated argument. USC & UTEP assts had to be separated.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 28, 2013
USC asst Tony Bland had to be restrained from going after UTEP asst Bob Cantu. USC asst Jason Hart also in the mix.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 28, 2013
Enfield's wife Amanda was standing next to him as Floyd was jabbing his finger towards Enfield's chest. Big crowd watched it happen.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) November 28, 2013
The root of the feud is believed to pertain to Floyd’s accusations that USC tampered with the recruitment and transfer of ex-UTEP signee Isaac Hamilton.
Hamilton, who had signed a letter of intent with UTEP as part of the Miner’s Class of 2013, was originally recruited by USC and had cold feet about enrolling at UTEP.
USC immediately became the front-runners for Hamilton, though he ultimately enrolled at UCLA, where he has to sit out the season due to the NCAA denying an immediate eligibility waiver.
As for the timing of the incident, this isn’t exactly random.
Just last week, Enfield was featured in a controversial Men’s Journal profile that featured quotes from a booster event, in which Enfield had off-color remarks for both Floyd and UCLA head coach Steve Alford.
Of Floyd, Enfield quipped, “Tim Floyd shows up every day at work and realizes he lives in El Paso, Texas. And he’s pissed off that he didn’t get the USC job two months ago.”
As for Bob Cantu, he was hired by UTEP before the season, after not being kept on the USC staff following a somewhat successful stint as the Trojans’ interim-head coach last season.
USC and UTEP could meet in the Battle 4 Atlantis’s 7th place game over the weekend. The Trojans begin the tournament on Thanksgiving Day against the Villanova Wildcats.