UTEP’s Tim Floyd and USC’s Andy Enfield Get into Heated Argument at the Bahamas

Although the Battle 4 Atlantis basketball tournament does not begin until tomorrow, the fireworks started this evening. Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis reported that UTEP head coach Tim Floyd confronted USC head coach Andy Enfield, and both teams' assistant coaches soon became involved in a heated argument at the tournament's team reception. No punches were thrown but eyewitnesses said things still got ugly between both basketball coaching staffs.

Both Floyd and Enfield have had bad blood between the two since this summer, when UTEP prized recruit Isaac Hamilton decommited from the university so he could be closer to his ailing grandmother. Floyd claimed that USC tampered with Hamilton, who eventually signed with UCLA but will not be eligible until the 2014-15 season. In an article writen last week in Men's Journal Magazine, Enfield took some cheap shots at Floyd over the incident and also said the Miners head coach was upset that he did not get the USC head coaching job.

After the incident, Davis spoke with Enfield and asked him why he approached Floyd in the first place? "Because I've always liked Tim," Enfield answered. "He's always been a good guy to me. I wanted to let him know that I was upset that this whole ordeal happened. I wanted to let him know that I respect him."

I wonder why the new USC head coach would publicly criticize a fellow head coach that he likes and respects? Or why he just did not call Floyd last week when the Men's Journal Magazine article was released and apologize to him then. Unfortunately, both UTEP and USC are on opposite sides of the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament and will only play each other in the championship game or the 7th vs. 8th consolation game (if both teams lost their first two games). UTEP and Tennessee will tip off tomorrow night at 7:30pm and the game will be nationally televised by the NBC Sports Network.