Tim Floyd returns as college coach, focuses on future

He has been working to rebuild a struggling team.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tim Floyd is back coaching college basketball after a tough ride in the NBA. He's got work to do in his new job at Southern California -- reviving a program that is a mere footnote at a school dominated by its national championship football team.
The Trojans have never been consistent winners on the basketball court, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen this season.
"It's going to be a challenge this first year and maybe year two," Floyd said.
Only four scholarship players return from a team that finished last in the Pac-10 and 12-17 overall.
Henry Bibby was fired last December and replaced by Rick Majerus, who backed out of the job five days later to stay in television. That led the Trojans to Floyd, whom they hired in January. He attended one practice, then hit the road recruiting while Jim Saia coached the rest of the season.
"Everything has been centered around trying to put a team together for the future," Floyd said.
The good news for Floyd is that he can begin rebuilding almost immediately. Several players who stagnated under Bibby's restrictive approach are gone, giving the newcomers valuable playing time.
Career journey
Floyd has been away from college coaching for seven years. He was successful at Idaho, the University of New Orleans and Iowa State -- averaging 20.3 wins in 12 seasons combined -- before leaving in 1998 to try the NBA.
He replaced Phil Jackson as coach of the Chicago Bulls in the post-Michael Jordan era, winning just 49 games while losing 190 in less than four seasons before resigning.
"It might have been the most difficult job that anybody's ever walked into in pro sports," he said.
Floyd knew he could have played it safe and stayed in the college ranks the rest of his career, but it would have left him with regrets.
"I didn't want to look back when I was 70 and say, 'You were afraid to go,'" he said. "I knew it was going to be tough. I knew my family would be better off."
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