Following-up on reports from last week…SMU has officially named Andy Enfield as their new head basketball coach. A press conference to introduce the former USC head coach is scheduled for tomorrow at 4pm. Here’s the official release from SMU announcing the hiring:
Andy Enfield has been named Head Men’s Basketball Coach at SMU, Director of Athletics Rick Hart announced today.
A proven winner, Enfield burst onto the coaching scene in 2013 when, in his second year as a head coach, he guided Florida Gulf Coast to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Following that success, he was hired by Southern Cal, where he has led the Trojans to five of the last eight NCAA Tournaments, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2021.
“We are excited to announce Andy Enfield as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at SMU,” said Hart. “Coach Enfield is enthusiastic about joining the Mustang family and the ACC. He has a strong track record of building winning teams on the court and in the classroom and pursuing championships with integrity. We believe he is a game changer for SMU Men’s Basketball.”
Enfield arrives on the Hilltop just three months before the University joins the Atlantic Coast Conference.
He comes to SMU after 11 seasons at USC, where he compiled a 220-147 record and led the Trojans into the postseason six times in 10 possible seasons (the 2019-20 postseason was canceled due to COVID), including five NCAA Tournament berths and one NIT appearance. Enfield quickly brought success to the basketball program upon his arrival, as the Trojans set a school single-season win record and posted the most wins in program history over two-year, three-year, four-year, five-year, six-year, seven-year and eight-year periods. Enfield’s 220 wins ranks third on USC’s all-time wins list, trailing only Sam Barry (260) and Forrest Twogood (251). In 13 seasons as a head coach Enfield has a 261-175 mark.
His teams also excelled in the classroom by setting the program’s top team GPAs for the Spring, Fall and Summer sessions. Enfield brought in eight consecutive Top-30 recruiting classes, with the 2022 class ranking No. 7 and the 2023 class ranking No. 4.
“With the investments the University and its donors have made in support of SMU Basketball, we are charging confidently into the ACC,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “With all that our campus and community have to offer, we believe we are well-positioned to compete alongside the nation’s best programs.”
“As I have said before, SMU’s entrance into the ACC is the culmination of the collective investments made by many over a long period of time,” said SMU Board Chair David B. Miller ’72,’73. “We were singularly focused on Coach Enfield from the beginning of this process and I am thrilled that we have been able to attract one of the very finest coaches in America to lead SMU Basketball.”
I am so excited to join the SMU family,” said Enfield. “It is an incredible time for the university as we enter the ACC. The investments SMU has made in athletics, the support and alignment from leadership – President Turner, Rick Hart, David Miller and others – as well as the passion of the SMU fan base and community made this an incredibly attractive opportunity. We will make Mustang fans and the city of Dallas proud and cannot wait to get started.”
Over his final six seasons at USC, the Trojans had six players selected in the NBA Draft, tied for the 13th-most by any program in the country, with Evan Mobley going No. 3 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft and Onyeka Okongwu being selected No. 6 in the 2020 Draft. USC was one of seven teams to have had at least one player selected in five of the last six NBA Drafts.
Enfield captivated the nation in 2013 as the head coach at FGCU, as he guided the first No. 15 seed into the NCAA Sweet Sixteen with impressive wins over second-seeded Georgetown and seventh-seeded San Diego State and introduced the world to “Dunk City,” FGCU’s high-flying and high-speed offense which often ended with thunderous dunks. Enfield led the Eagles to a school-record 26 wins that season, including a victory over then-No. 5 Miami. The Eagles won the Atlantic Sun Tournament in resounding fashion in just the school’s second season of NCAA Division I postseason eligibility and became the first team since Florida in 1987 to win the first two NCAA Tournament games it ever played. In his first year at FGCU (2011-12), he led the team to the Atlantic Sun Tournament Championship game.
Prior to FGCU, Enfield spent five years (2006-07 through 2010-11) as an assistant coach at Florida State, helping the Seminoles to three consecutive NCAA Tournament berths (2009-11), including the Sweet 16 in 2011. He helped the Seminoles sign three straight Top-25 classes, with the 2008 class ranking in the Top 10, and build a 2011 FSU roster that featured 11 top-100 recruits and a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans.
Enfield began his coaching career in the NBA, serving as the shooting coach for the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons (1994-95 and 1995-96). He then was an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics for two seasons (1998-99 and 1999-2000).
Enfield played four seasons (1987-88 through 1990-91) at Johns Hopkins, scoring a program-record 2,025 career points. He set the NCAA all-divisions career free throw percentage record (92.5, hitting 431-of-466 shots). He was a Division III All-America third-team selection in 1991 and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. He was a GTE Academic All-America first-team selection as a senior and second-teamer as a junior. He was the first basketball player at Johns Hopkins to earn an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was named the NABC Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1991.
Enfield prepped at Shippensburg (Penn.) High, earned his economics degree from Johns Hopkins and has an MBA from Maryland.
Enfield and his wife Amanda are parents to two daughters, Aila and Lily, and a son, Marcum.
SMU will introduce Enfield on Tuesday, April 2, at a 4 p.m. press conference in the Miller Event Center. Media and fans are welcome to attend.
