Kevin Norris has been hired as an assistant coach for the USC men’s basketball team, it was announced by head coach Andy Enfield today (April 18). Norris completes USC’s staff of assistant coaches as Tony Bland and Jason Hart were hired on April 12.
"Kevin has great experience as a successful player in the Big East," said Enfield. "He has a number of records at Miami, played professional ball for many years and has been an excellent assistant coach since his playing career ended. Kevin does a great job of relating to players and is a valuable addition to our program."
Norris, who coached the last two seasons for Enfield at Florida Gulf Coast University, was standout point guard at Miami where he played for then-Hurricane’s coach Leonard Hamilton. Norris was a four-year letterwinner (1995-98) and the only player history to lead Miami in assists for four straight seasons. Norris led the Hurricanes to their first NCAA Tournament since 1960 during his senior campaign. Norris earned Big East All-Rookie team honors as freshman and still holds the school record for steals (208) and is second with 493 assists. He finished his career with 108 consecutive starts.
Norris played professionally overseas in Italy, France and the Czech Republic, as well as in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Calgary Drillers.
He began his coaching career at Tallahassee Community College in 2007-08, then spent two seasons (2009-10) as an assistant coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi where the Islanders posted back-to-back winning seasons. Norris worked directly with the guards, including Kevin Palmer who led the team in scoring both seasons and was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year. He was also an integral part of recruiting and scouting of opponents.
Norris then spent a season as an assistant under head coach Buzz Peterson at UNC Wilmington of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Selected to finish 12th in the CAA, the Seahawks finished in eighth place, picking up the program’s second win over an ACC program during a 81-69 victory over Wake Forest. Norris helped UNCW senior point guard Chad Tomko earn All-CAA second team and NABC District 10 second team honors, as he averaged 18.7 points.
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