What had been buzzed about and reported for the last week became official Monday as SMU announced the hiring of basketball coach Andy Enfield, ending his 11-year run with the USC that saw his teams make five NCAA tournament appearances and a run to the Elite Eight in 2021.

SMU Announces Hiring of Basketball Coach Andy Enfield

USC athletic director Jen Cohen and university president Carol Folt both released statements, thanking Enfield for his contributions to the program, which included a 220-146 career record with the Trojans. The Elite Eight appearance in 2021 was the program's first since 2001, and Enfield's teams set the school wins record with 26 in both the 2016-17 seasons and the 2021-22 seasons.

Enfield's Impact at USC

Enfield and his staff helped bring a degree of stability to a USC basketball program that had just one winning season in the four years prior to his arrival and that was struggling to resonate with top local recruits.

Recruiting Success

Enfield deserves credit, along with his staff, for significantly boosting recruiting, as the Trojans routinely sent players into the NBA draft during his tenure and landed a string of five-star recruits in recent years from Kevin Porter Jr. to Onyeka Okongwu, Isaiah Mobley, Evan Mobley, Vince Iwuchukwu and Collier. Porter, Okongwu and Evan Mobley were all first-round NBA draft picks.

Looking Ahead

Enfield's move to SMU marks the end of an era at USC, but his legacy of success and recruiting prowess will likely make this a more attractive job than the one he took more than a decade ago.