UPDATE: Kevin O'Neill, Arizona booster get into a scuffle at a hotel bar

UPDATE III: Kevin O'Neill has been suspended for the remainder of the Pac-10 tournament:

"We have met with various parties who have knowledge of the incident," USC athletic director Pat Haden said Friday in a statement. "Based on the information we have gathered, I am immediately suspending Coach O'Neill for the balance of the Pac-10 Conference Tournament. We also have set forth additional discipline that will remain private."

What an idiot.

Kevin O'Neill may have just cost his team the NCAA Tournament. Believe it or not, the Trojans are in the conversation for the bubble, and with a game tonight against Arizona, their argument becomes just that much stronger.

And now, instead of coaching his team in their biggest game of the season, O'Neill will be sitting at home watching the game from his couch.

All those people that ripped the hiring of O'Neill by USC? Yeah, they look like geniuses now.


UPDATE II: O'Neill spoke with Yahoo's Jason King to clarify reports. He said he went out to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant with some friends, and upon returning to the JW Marriott to retrieve some things before heading home, he ran into a booster that he is on bad terms with:

O’Neill said he and the booster got into a verbal confrontation in the lobby and that his wife also became involved. He stressed that there was no physical contact and that the argument ended as soon as a security guard approached.

“My wife and I walked away on our own, we got into a cab and went home,” said O’Neill, adding that he wasn’t intoxicated. “It shouldn’t have happened and I’m sorry that it did.

“I just want to make it clear that this was someone I had a personal history with and not just some random Arizona fan off the street.”

Take that as you will. From what I've heard, O'Neill was, at the very least, quite profane.

UPDATE: News is still breaking in this story. It appears that O'Neill's wife had an altercation with a prominent Arizona booster that O'Neill believes was a factor in why he never got hired at the school. O'Neill was also apparently jawing with Arizona players. There may have been an assault (The Big Lead spoke with the booster that was assaulted) and there is also a rumor that the entire incident has been caught on camera. Stay tuned.

Kevin O'Neill isn't exactly the most well-liked coach.

He's a guy with a love-him-or-hate-him reputation, and, generally speaking, former players and former assistants tend to be of the hate-him variety.

"He's a great guy off the court, but he's bipolar or something. On the court, he's a madman."

That's a quote that a former player gave Jeff Goodman after O'Neill was hired at USC. He wasn't exactly loved. He also spent a year as an interim coach with Arizona, where he thought he was destined to be the permanent replacement for Lute Olson.

All of probably sheds some light on what happened last night. Again, according to Goodman:

According to sources, O’Neill and his wife were involved in a verbal altercation with an Arizona donor. They were kicked out of the hotel, just hours after USC’s win over Cal.

This report is confirmed by PointGuardU (and may have been scooped), an Arizona hoops website, has even more information, including a picture from the bar last night where O'Neill is wearing the same clothes as he was at USC's game last night against Cal:

O'Neill and his wife were in a hotel lobby of the JW Marriott and visibly intoxicated when they exchanged words with a group of Arizona fans. O'Neill reportedly threatened the fan that USC was going to “beat the hell out of Arizona.” Words were exchanged and our sources say that O'Neill's wife struck one of the Arizona fans. O'Neill and his wife were escorted out of the hotel, and Arizona fans were left wondering what just happened.

Chaos and confusion ensued. The craziness of what occurred led to a scuffle between O'Neill and Arizona fans.

USC's athletic director Pat Haden released the following statement:

We have received some information tonight about an incident involving coach Kevin O'Neill, his wife and a fan from another school that occurred following our men's basketball game today. We are looking into this and gathering facts. We will determine what appropriate action is necessary.

I would say it should be a hell of an atmosphere tonight when USC plays Arizona in the Staples Center, but its Pac-10 hoops, so you never really know.
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Kevin O'Neill is the early favorite for Coach of the Year, right?

He has to be.

When you consider where USC started this season and where they are right now, the turnaround has been nothing short of amazing.

Think about it.

In the preseason, USC was supposed to be an embarrassment. Tim Floyd was run out of town. Taj Gibson, Daniel Hackett, and Demar Derozan all jumped ship. A talented recruiting class bailed.

It wasn't that crazy to think the Trojans would go winless during Pac-10 play.

Mike Gerrity, who joined the team after the first semester, might be the Trojans MVP.
(photo credit: LA Times)

Early in the season, USC did nothing to dispel that line of thinking. They started out the season 2-4, including home losses to Nebraska and Loyola Marymount, and lost Kasey Cunningham to a season-ending knee injruy. As of December 6th, I, as well as just about every other college hoops fan, had all but written off the Trojans.

But then something strange happened.

USC started winning.

And after last night's win over UNLV, USC had now won six straight games, which includes victories over UNLV, St. Mary's, and Tennessee by 22.

A lot of people are going to point to the addition of Mike Gerrity as the reason for their recent success. And he has been a big factor, as he is averaging 14.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg, and 4.3 apg through four games. Gerrity has stabilized the Trojans at the point, which is as important as any position on the floor.

But perhaps more importantly, the Trojans have started to really buckle down defensively. In their six game winning streak, the Trojans are giving up just 50 ppg while allowing their opponents to shoot just 34% from the floor. They don't allow penetration, forcing teams to hoist up tough jumpers from the perimeter.

They have also seemed to buy into Kevin O'Neill's system. You aren't going to see a lot of quick shots from the Trojans. They use the entire shot clock, forcing you to play 35 seconds of defense and completely taking control of the tempo of the game.

Playing this style - controlling the pace, getting good shots, playing staunch defense - USC has managed to rack up the only two wins against a ranked team (Tennessee, UNLV) for the Pac-10.

Could it be?

Could this team be the favorite to win the Pac-10?

While the Trojans do have their issues - after their top seven or eight the talent level really drops off and they lack players that can create their own shots - is their any team in the conference with a front line that can match-up to theirs? Alex Stephenson is a load on the block, Nikola Vucevic is a skilled big man that is effective inside and out, and Leonard Washington is a strong combo-forward that will create a lot of match-up problems.

Combine that front line with a quality point guard, a shooter and an athletic scorer on the wing, and ability to defend, and is it that incomprehensible that USC could compete for a PAC-10?

A month ago, yes.

But today?

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More response to the Kevin O'Neill hiring

Before we get into it, one of the knocks on O'Neill has been that he is a bit of an a-hole. He has had 15 jobs in 30 years, and has not left many admirers in his wake. Check out this article from the Memphis Commerical-Appeal for some background.

The bottom line is this: it is clear why USC went this direction with the hiring. O'Neill is a no-nonsense guy who will clean up this program. The last thing USC wants right now is to have some young gun head coach come in here, skirt the lines of recruiting legalities, and get their athletics program in even deeper with the NCAA infractions committee.

I really doubt O'Neill is Garrett's long-term solution (hell, he had the Arizona job handed to him on a silver platter and he managed to botch that). Instead, he seems to be more of a band-aid, a temporary answer that will keep the ship afloat while the Trojans weather the storm brewing with the impending NCAA investigation.

After the jump, some of the biggest names give their take on the hiring.

- Gregg Doyel, CBSSports: "By hiring O'Neill, USC also is dropping to its knees in remorse before the NCAA, which still is looking into the only sport on campus that matters to USC athletics director Mike Garrett, the USC football program. See, Kevin O'Neill is clean. He's not a cheater. Say what you want about Kevin O'Neill -- but don't say that only a stupid dead man could like him; that's piling on -- but you can't say he's dirty. You know what he is? He's Bob Knight Lite. Big jerk. But a big, clean jerk. Hiring O'Neill lets the NCAA know that your school is serious (finally) about having a clean basketball program."

- Andy Katz, ESPN.com: "Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill walked off USC's Galen Center floor with the Wildcats leading at the half. He was extremely irritated with assistant Miles Simon, who had stood up to question the officials. O'Neill lit into Simon in the hallway, making sure he knew who was in charge. Arizona won the game. Two days later, the Wildcats were getting blitzed by UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. O'Neill went into the locker room at halftime and ripped into Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger and crew for essentially being soft. O'Neill was so upset, he broke a chalkboard into pieces. Arizona didn't come back and win the game. But it was clear who was in control: O'Neill. Love him or hate him, one thing is certain: Few coaches are as intense as O'Neill."

- Gary Parrish, CBSSports: "I know USC athletic director Mike Garrett loves defense (you saw the quote, right?). But hiring a "defensive" coach to work in Los Angeles and across town from Ben Howland is incredibly shortsighted. Understand, the only knock on Howland is that he's a "defensive" coach who doesn't offer his players enough offensive freedom; that's what those who recruit against him try to sell to recruits. Does it work? Not terribly well, it seems. But still, that's the perception and the knock. And rather than try to take advantage of it, USC hired a "defensive" coach who has a history of butting heads with pretty much everybody he coaches or works with. Honestly, does that make any sense?"

- Jeff Goodman, FOXSports: " 'He's a great guy off the court, but he's bipolar or something,' said one of his former players. 'On the court, he's a madman.' I don't doubt that USC is in desperate need of a disciplinarian — and O'Neill fits the bill. But he's also far from the model of stability. Here's a guy who actually admitted to a throng of media that he didn't even talk to his assistant coaches — now Memphis head coach Josh Pastner and former Wildcats assistant Miles Simon — during the games. That's arrogance. O'Neill basically had the Arizona job handed to him on a silver platter. All he had to do was keep his mouth quiet and wait until Lute Olson called it a career. But O'Neill couldn't do it — and instead of being the head coach in Tucson right now, he was run out of town by Olson."

- Scott Wolf, LA Daily News: "O'Neill has developed a reputation as a love-him-or- hate-him coach with an attention to detail that sometimes became overshadowed by his fiery personality. During a game when he coached at Tennessee, O'Neill sent reserve Jason Moore into a game against Arkansas. After Moore made some errors and Tennessee lost its lead, O'Neill screamed at Moore, "You better hope you die before halftime!" Another time, O'Neill became so frustrated with a player during practice he sat in the stands for 15 minutes and booed him."

- Chris Foster, LA Times: "Reached by cellphone, O'Neill declined to comment, but in his statement he addressed the task at hand, saying, "I recognize that USC basketball has been through a tough time lately," and, "One thing I expect people might second-guess me on is whether I made the right call in taking this job." O'Neill, who is to be introduced at a news conference Monday, said he had been following the situation in media reports and hinted that he may have had as many questions for school officials as they did for him during the search process. "USC could not have been more forthcoming and honest answering my questions," he said. As to whether the NCAA investigation would hamper recruiting, he said, ". . . If I thought I wouldn't be able to do my job -- do the job that the university expects of me and equally important that I expect of myself -- I wouldn't have taken the job."

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USC hires former Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill

USC could not have expected much out of their coaching search. Coaching in the shadow of Pete Carroll's football program and waging recruiting wars with cross-town rival UCLA is not an enviable task.

Now throw into the mix the an NCAA investigation and possible NCAA sanctions. You think the school is going to allow any "pushing of the envelope" when it comes to recruiting?

Don't expect USC to be hosting too many Elite Camps in the coming years or offering AAU coaches any package deals to land a recruit. The typical runners and NBA agents you find on any major college campus? Fat chance any USC official allows them within sight of the Troy campus.

Can you say competitive disadvantage?

USC could not have been expecting to hire a big name coach. They tried, however, and failed. Jamie Dixon. Reggie Theus. Lon Kruger. Jamie Dixon again. To his credit, Mike Garrett did his due diligence, flirting with seemingly every big name out there. But the fact of the matter was that no coach that was even remotely happy with their job was going to take this job.

Garrett had to cut his list to three kinds of candidates. Those currently unemployed, those currently coaching a low-major/low-profile high-major, and assistants (NBA or college) looking to bump their pay.

This list included quite a few quality names, and even more quality coaches: Seth Greenburg, Craig Robinson, Bobby Braswell, PJ Carlesimo.

So who did they settle on?

Kevin O'Neill, the first Arizona interim coach.

The guy that wasn't good enough to get the Arizona job permanently.

The guy that was, well, disliked by Jerryd Bayless and the rest of the '08 Wildcats.

The guy that Gary Parrish has said "almost never leaves admirers in his trail."

A lot of people dislike this hiring (here is Parrish's reaction, here is Goodman's), but I think it is great. O'Neill is really known for two things: he is a disciplinarian, and he is a tireless worker. For a program like USC, that is basically starting over from scratch (yes, you are starting from scratch when Lil' Bow Wow Lil' Mama Lil' Romeo has a chance to start) with the dark cloud of the NCAA hanging over their head, what you need is someone who will take control of the program.

And that is exactly what USC hopes O'Neill will do.

Don't forget, we are also talking about a guy who has a vendetta against Arizona, and to a certain extent UCLA as well. You don't think O'Neill would love to come in here and build a program that will steal recruits, fans, and Pac-10 titles from the Wildcats and the Bruins?

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