Andy Enfield says he wouldn't be SMU's coach if not in ACC - ESPN

DALLAS — Andy Enfield went from Florida Gulf Coast's «Dunk City» and the Sweet 16 to Los Angeles and now Dallas to take over the SMU program that is headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 36-year drought since winning an NCAA tournament game.

Enfield said he wouldn't be in Big D if the Mustangs weren't about to move into that basketball-rich league.

«Uh, no,» Enfield said when asked just that. «We were extremely happy at USC, and I had an incredible staff, players, great support from the administration, and we lived at the beach. So not bad at all.»

Enfield was formally introduced on the SMU campus on Tuesday, a day after being officially hired and about 10 days after school officials went to California to meet with the then-Trojans coach who was at the top of their list to lead them into major conference play. The move to the ACC becomes official July 1.

«He shared the high expectations we have for our program, and he embraces that,» SMU athletic director Rick Hart said. «He's done it at a school like ours, in a city like ours, and in a conference like the one we're headed to.»

After taking No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 in 2013, in only the second season that school was eligible for the tournament, Enfield spent the past 11 years at USC, where he went 220-147 with five NCAA tournament bids, including an Elite Eight appearance in 2021. The Trojans were 15-18 this season with Bronny James as a freshman, ending a run of four consecutive campaigns winning more than 20 games.

SMU hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2017 with coach Larry Brown in what was only its third appearance since last winning a tourney game in 1988. The Mustangs last made the national quarterfinals in 1957, when they had