Bibby’s Firing Has an Impact on New Guys

USC’s heralded newcomers -- freshman guards Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young, freshman forward Emanuel Willis and junior college transfer Dwayne Shackleford -- were perhaps most affected by Athletic Director Mike Garrett’s decision to fire Henry Bibby as coach on Monday.

After all, the Trojans are a senior-laden team and the quartet’s respective USC careers are only four games old.

“I came to play for Coach Bibby but I’ve met some good coaches here,” said Shackleford, an All-American point guard at Allegany College in Cumberland, Md.

“I learned some things from Bibby. I’ve just got to stay focused and as a team keep rolling. This is life, you go through things. We’ll overcome it.”

Perhaps, but playing for an interim coach in Jim Saia, who came to USC as an administrative assistant in the summer, is not what they signed up for, even if they respect Saia.

“Oh yeah, we’ve got that respect for him,” Willis said. “All he wants is respect and as coach, he should get that. I was the first one to meet him -- when I flew out, he picked me up at the airport.”

Other names being floated for the permanent job include former Utah coach Rick Majerus, current Pepperdine Coach and USC alumnus Paul Westphal, Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon and St. Mary’s Coach Randy Bennett.

“It’s going to be hard, but whoever they bring in, we’ve got to play for him,” Pruitt said. “Being a point guard, it’s [especially] hard. I was learning a lot from Coach Bibby. I mean, he played nine years in the NBA.

“It just seems fake, like we’re going to wake up from this.”

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Saia said the transition should be seamless as far as strategy, since he will continue to coach the passing-heavy offensive system he brought with him.

“The beauty of Coach Bibby was that he allowed his assistants to have a lot of input,” Saia said. “It’s a 1-4 system, a passing system by Ralph Miller that Oregon State used to run in the early 1990s.... I want USC to be a great passing team.”

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Former Trojans Rodrick Rhodes and Jarvis Turner stopped by practice to show their support to Saia. Turner said he called Bibby to wish him well and had a personal favorite to get the full-time job.

“Being an alum and a loyalist to my university, I think Westphal’s style of play is more suitable to the school,” Turner said. “But Majerus has a winning percentage close to .800. You can’t fight numbers.

“But I’m partial to Westphal because he would bring the tradition and he has that NBA connection having been a former NBA coach.”