USC Trojans basketball: Tim Floyd stays with USC

Tim Floyd will not be leaving USC to become the head basketball coach at the University of Arizona.

Floyd, who has coached the Trojans for the past four seasons, held a news conference Thursday at the Galen Center at USC to announce his decision to turn down an offer from Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood to coach the Wildcats.

A videotaped interview with Floyd was posted Thursday afternoon on the USC athletics Web site, usctrojans.cstv.com. The following is a transcript of that interview.

Question : Coach, what do you want USC fans to know about what happened the last few days and why you decided to come back?

Tim Floyd : “I just want them to know that I looked at an elite-level basketball school and that I came back and decided that, you know what, I’m at an elite place right now. Why leave? This place can be as special as any basketball-playing school in the United States. And if you already have all that in place -- you have a commitment from your president, your athletic director, you’ve got a great talent base here, you’ve got a great group of players already in your program, a tremendous facility -- there’s no need to be anything other than being a Trojan.”

Floyd : “I told them exactly what I just said and just was very candid with them and told them that coaches maybe get one mulligan in their career when they take a look at another place. And I wasn’t going to fool around with just any school. I wanted to look at a great place, and that was the University of Arizona. They’re going to hire a great coach. They’re going to have a great program for many, many years to come, regardless of who they bring in, because of their tradition and history. But it was more important to me to build our own tradition and history right here at USC.”

Question : Should USC fans feel comfortable that you’re going to be here for as long as USC keeps you?

Floyd : “Unless Mike (USC athletic director Mike Garrett) gets tired of me. If they get tired of me, then I’ll look someplace else. And I don’t envision that happening.”

Floyd, 55, has a career record of 328-180 in 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

In his four seasons at USC, Floyd has compiled an overall record of 85-50 and a Pac-10 regular-season mark of 39-33. He has led the Trojans to three consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, including this season when they advanced to the second round.

USC finished with a 22-13 record this season under Floyd’s direction. After ending the regular season at 18-12 overall and 9-9 in the Pac-10 (tied for fourth place with Arizona), the Trojans swept California, UCLA and Arizona State to win the Pac-10 Tournament. As the No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament, USC defeated seventh-seeded Boston College in the first round and lost to second-seeded Michigan State in the second round.

Arizona finished this season with a record of 21-14, advancing to the Sweet 16 under the direction of Russ Pennell, who was named interim head coach on Oct. 24 following Lute Olson’s unexpected retirement.

Pennell, who apparently has not been considered by Livengood for the permanent head-coaching job, cleared out his McKale Center office on Monday and met with the media for a season-concluding, farewell press conference on Tuesday.

Tim Floyd decides to stay with USC