The USC men’s basketball program has elevated Desmon Farmer and Kurt Karis to assistant coaches, it was announced by head coach Andy Enfield. In January this year, the Division I Council moved forward to modernize rules for coaching limits across several sports. In men’s and women’s basketball, the Council supported an increase of two coaches, effective July 1. Per the NCAA, these additional coaches may engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus.
Farmer has spent the last two seasons as Director of Scouting for USC, after serving as a graduate assistant for one season. In the nine years prior to joining the USC staff, Farmer worked with professional and elite youth athletes on skill development training. Farmer played for USC from 2001-04, scoring 1,606 points which still ranks fifth on the Trojans’ all-time scoring list. In his freshman season of 2001, the Trojans went 24-10 and reached the Elite Eight, beating Oklahoma State, Boston College and Kentucky, before falling to Duke in the Regional final. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team in 2001, was All-Conference from 2002-04 and honorable mention All-America in 2004. He averaged 13.3 points per game during his career, including a 19.4 average as a senior which is the 13th-best single-season scoring average by a Trojan.
Karis has spent the last three seasons as Director of Scouting, following two seasons as a graduate assistant with the USC men’s basketball program. Karis played the 2017 and 2018 seasons for the Trojans after beginning his career at Chicago State. He earned his undergraduate degree from USC in Communication, then earned a Master’s in Communication Management in 2020.
