Wednesday, January 1, 2014

From Men's Journal's lengthy profile of USC's new basketball coach Andy Enfield:
hanging from the rafters are giant photos of USC players having moments of severely limited glory – three tournament wins in 11 years, one more than Enfield won last year with Florida Gulf Coast University. One picture stands out: a Gollum-pale Brian Scalabrine bulling his way to the basket as a cheerleader stares into the void. 
... 
After getting form rejection letters from every NBA team, Enfield signed his first major client, an NBA guy named Walt Williams. Enfield knew what time Williams got to the Cole Field House at the University of Maryland, his alma mater. So one day he set about draining shots at the far end of the court. Williams eventually ambled over, and Enfield told him he was a shooting consultant, which wasn't technically true until Williams hired him. He eventually worked with 100 NBA players and got hired by the Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant at 25, then switched to Rick Pitino's Boston Celtic staff. He made instructional videos and a contraption called the Shooting Strap that went over your hands and demanded perfect form on every shot. 
Then, at 31, Enfield walked away from pro ball to make a fortune on a medical start-up and have kids with a former Maxim cover girl he took to Taco Bell on their first date.