NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Vols with head coaching hires from the year 2005

5. Tim Floyd (USC)

As football sat on top of the world of college athletics, USC’s basketball program was not in the best shape. Fresh off three straight seasons under .500, they were thrust into a coaching search. At a football school like USC, there was no guarantee that Trojans basketball would turn things around, especially with the attention on other programs. However, they managed to hire a pretty big-name head coach to undo some of the damage.

Tim Floyd was very experienced. He was an assistant under Don Haskins at UTEP, coached Idaho, took New Orleans to the NCAA Tournament, and Iowa State to the Sweet Sixteen. He succeeded Phil Jackson in a disappointing stint with the Chicago Bulls and also spent time coaching the New Orleans Hornets. Come 2005, it was time for him to return to the college game and a school like USC became a great match.

In Floyd’s four years, the Trojans played much better basketball. They made the NCAA Tournament in each of his final three seasons, including a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2007. Floyd recruited some impressive talent to the school and certainly got the Trojans headed in the right direction. Due to scandal and allegations, Floyd departed after those four years, but there’s no doubt it was a step forward and a thrill for the program, even if some of the wins were vacated.