Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Report: USC interviewed former coach Tim Floyd. Seriously.

UTEP Southern Miss Basketball

UTEP head coach Tim Floyd calls to his players during an NCAA college basketball game against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Hattiesburg American, Ryan Moore) NO SALES

AP

To follow along with the 2013 Coaching Carousel, click here.

Tim Floyd coached at USC from 2006-2009 before resigning amid a scandal that included both the football and basketball programs. The questions surrounding Floyd involved his recruitment of OJ Mayo -- and a crumpled envelope full of cash -- but he was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and took a job at UTEP.

Which is where he currently works.

And his season is not yet over, as evidenced by the fact that the Miners host No. 25 Memphis tonight.

Yet, Floyd is not only talking to USC about their current head coaching vacancy, he’s also talking to the press about it.

Floyd told the LA Times that the interview “went well” and that he believes people “should know that USC reached out, that no violations were found by the NCAA with USC basketball.”

“I felt like I got my name back when I got offered a number of jobs when I left USC. Pat and I talked at length,” Floyd said. The Times also reported that USC has interviewed Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins, who is the coach-in-waiting for the Orange that apparently doesn’t feel like waiting out Jim Boeheim’s retirement, which could take a while.

Who knows if Floyd will end up being the next head coach at USC. At this point, it’s tough to tell given that the coaching carousel hasn’t even begun to start yet. That said, the fact that Pat Haden reached back out to Floyd, who isn’t exactly the most savory character in the coaching business, is a bit surprising.

It will be interesting to see how the USC coaching search plays out.

And it will be interesting to see how his players react to their head coach publicly discussing that he’s interviewing for another job before the season is over.

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.