The writing was on the wall.

Andy Enfield, who was the USC men’s basketball head coach for 11 years, is leaving for the same role at Southern Methodist University, according to both SMU and USC on X, formerly known as Twitter. The Mustangs’ athletic director, Rick Hart, announced the hire in a press release Monday morning. 

“[Enfield] has a strong track record of building winning teams on the court and in the classroom and pursuing championships with integrity,” Hart said in the release. “We believe he is a game changer for SMU Men’s Basketball.”

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This announcement does not come as a surprise, as rumors milled around social media for the past week that the Mustangs had pinned Enfield as their new head coach. 

The coaching move comes during a transition period for both squads. The Trojans and the Mustangs are preparing for new conferences, with USC moving to the Big Ten and SMU heading to the ACC later this year.

Enfield leaves the Trojans as one of the most accomplished head coaches in program history. He led his team to five NCAA Tournaments, more than any other head coach at USC. Three of those tournament bids came in a row heading into the 2023-24 campaign, giving Enfield the chance to lead the Trojans to their fourth consecutive Big Dance for the first time in school history.

While Enfield and his team could not accomplish that — amassing a 15-18 record this past season despite high expectations — the new Mustang head coach will still be remembered for his 2021 tournament run with the Trojans, bringing them to the Elite Eight for the first time in 20 years. 

The Trojans will now have to begin the search for a new head coach with their program in disarray, already losing three players to the transfer portal and likely losing more players to graduation and the NBA Draft. 

Athletic Director Jennifer Cohen will have to find Enfield’s replacement, her first major coaching hire at USC. She will have to move quickly so the new coach can use the transfer portal to revamp the Trojan roster. 

“Our national search for a new head coach is underway and I am confident we will find the right person to lead our program,” Cohen wrote in a statement that was published on X. “There is no ceiling to what our program can achieve and I look forward to introducing our next head coach.”

Enfield closes out his tenure with 220 wins at USC’s helm, the third most in school history. He was one of the top recruiters in the country across his time, bringing in highly touted players like freshman guards Isaiah Collier and Bronny James currently on the roster and former players like Evan Mobley, Isaiah Mobley and Onyeka Okongwu.

This announcement comes 11 years to the day after Enfield first took the post at USC. Enfield got his coaching start at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he rose to coaching fame after leading the Eagles to an improbable Sweet 16 run after coming into March Madness as a No. 15 seed.

With Enfield out the door, USC Athletics will start its search for a new coach. Cohen has a solid track record for coaching hires from when she was at Washington, where she hired Kalen DeBoer to helm the Husky football program; DeBoer was able to lead his squad to a College Football Playoff berth this past season.

But Cohen also was the one who hired Mike Hopkins to lead Washington’s men’s basketball program; Hopkins was successful in his first two years with the Huskies but compiled a 70-84 record across his final five seasons.

Enfield brought the Trojans to the national spotlight in his time at Galen Center, even if his final season at the helm did not go as planned. Now, Cohen will be tasked with finding a coach for a program that has not had much success; USC has not made a single Final Four run since the NCAA Tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

The Mustangs have found their coach; now, the Trojans will have to wait and see whether they can find a coach who will elevate the program or one who will return the team to the depths of mediocrity.