USC coach appears to put down El Paso, UTEP coach Tim Floyd in magazine article

New USC basketball coach Andy Enfield, accused by UTEP coach Tim Floyd of tampering with a former Miner recruit, has fired back at Floyd in December’s edition of Men’s Journal.

And in doing so, Enfield appears to have insulted El Paso.

Following some unflattering tweets from USC football players about El Paso after they arrived in town for last year’s Sun Bowl, Enfield is now getting in on the act.

According to the Men’s Journal article, written by Stephen Rodrick, he told a group of boosters at a recent luncheon: “Tim Floyd shows up every day at work and realizes he lives in El Paso, Texas. And he’s pissed off that he didn’t get the USC job two months ago.”

The comment in Men’s Journal came after a USC booster asked Enfield, who led Florida Gulf Coast to the Final Four last season before landing the USC job, about a disagreement with Floyd over former UTEP prized-recruit Isaac Hamilton. Hamilton was a McDonald’s All-American, who ended up at UCLA, and is sitting out this season after losing an appeal with the NCAA.

Floyd had previously accused Enfield of tampering with Hamilton after he signed a letter of intent to attend UTEP. Floyd, who coached previously at USC, was interviewed for the Trojan’s job last spring, although it was never clear whether he was offered the job or not.

UTEP Associate Athletic Director Jeff Darby said he read the article to Floyd on Friday. But he said rather than commenting, Floyd chose to concentrate on Saturday night’s rematch of the Battle of I-10 with New Mexico State at the Don Haskins Center.

Floyd and Enfield’s teams will both be in the Bahamas for a tournament next week but would only meet if they both make it to the championship game.

ABC-7 also contacted USC Sports Information Director David Tuttle Friday afternoon to see if Enfield was interested in issuing any kind of apology for his comments about El Paso.

“Coach Enfield doesn’t have any comments on that story at all,” Tuttle said.

Read the full article at http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/print-view/andy-enfields-california-dream-20131122