| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- Henry Bibby is out of his perceived, self-protective, aloof shell and he's got something to say: He's not going anywhere after figuring this college coaching thing out.
USC is like him. He is like USC. They are becoming one in the same in basketball and he's not about to let a good thing go.
Signed to a contract extension in August that will take him through the 2004-05 season, Bibby is no longer on loan until a pro job comes calling. And he's not at all under fire after a 57-57 record in four years. Bibby is at the opposite spectrum to where football coach Paul Hackett is standing.
|  | | Henry Bibby has put his stamp of approval on the USC program. |
Football fans booed Hackett's decision to punt on a critical fouth-down play late in the Trojans' loss to Oregon Saturday. Every move Hackett makes is scrutinized, and he gets no relief in the fall like Bob Toledo does at UCLA when basketball practice begins.
But that might change. Bibby is giving Trojan fans reason to think twice about football if given the choice.
Bibby is opening up like never before at USC, holding a Midnight Madness for the first time and shedding any perception that he shied away from attention. He's welcoming, offering up an honest, outspoken confidence on his coaching abilities, his players and the state of the Trojan program as it enters the season as a likely consensus top 25 program (No. 19 in ESPN.com's preseason poll).
The Trojans expect to make the NCAA Tournament, challenge for the Pac-10 title and compete for every top L.A. player with UCLA and anyone else who tries to come into the area.
But Bibby gets away without having to face the same kind of attention that shadows Hackett in football or UCLA's Steve Lavin in hoops.
"There's no pressure on me here," said Bibby, who started as an assistant to Charlie Parker in May, 1995, only to replace him as head coach 10 months later in the middle of the '95-96 season.
"We started what Bob Boyd and coach (George) Raveling did and are trying to take it to another level," Bibby said during ESPN.com's preseason tour Saturday. "I don't plan on leaving USC. I've been very happy. I'm not like some of the other people. I'm not looking at my job here as a way to surface at another university. This is it for me. I love USC.
"Is it a tough job? Well, I love the challenge of building a program."
Bibby came to USC with a pro background, coaching a team in Venezuela and spending eight seasons in the Continental Basketball Association with stints in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Savannah and Baltimore. His substitution patterns and business-like approach caused some attrition with the departures of Shannon Swillis (Fresno State), Kevin Augustine (Nebraska), Greg Lakey (Loyola Marymount) and Quincy Wilder and Danny Walker.
But none of the disgruntled players would be starting on this squad. Bibby has put together a feared five with an unheralded point (Brandon Granville); an athletic wing who was hardly recruited (Jeff Trepagnier); a rugged scorer (Sam Clancy); a blue-collar power forward (David Bluthenthal); and a pro-style, perimeter shooting center (Brian Scalabrine).
Players who couldn't hang in Bibby's system left when the previous system was shelved. In Bibby's world, those who could contribute played. Bibby's no-nonsense, pro-style approach of playing the players who can make plays left him with little depth when injuries befell the Trojans after a 6-1 Pac-10 start last year. The Trojans finished 9-9 and out of the postseason.
But the return of Clancy, reserve Jarvis Turner, and the additions of guards Desmon Farmer and Robert Hutchinson, give Bibby his first team in five years that is finally molded after him.
"I'm more comfortable where we are and I think it's been a win-win situation for me and the administration," Bibby said. "I'm having an impact with the young people and that's the enjoyable part. I'm going to win basketball games. I've always been in winning situations.
"But now I'm seeing a team grow. I'm seeing a Brandon Granville who nobody wanted and I've molded him into a little Henry Bibby of years ago. That's the satisfaction I'm getting that I didn't get in the pros."
Bibby said he would "take a bullet for Mike Garrett," the USC athletics director who hired him. The two are similar, running their programs/departments with the utmost confidence that their way is the right way, and at times, the only way.
"This school is like me because it's a school that was a sub, a school that was never a star (in basketball) and all of a sudden we have a chance to be in the ballgame with the big boys," Bibby said. "I've got a chance to start. I got a chance to start in the NBA and made it worthwhile. I've got a chance to start, get this program in with the elite schools. I enjoy the thrill of being in the ballgame with those guys."
Bibby has a grasp on recruiting now, making a dent in Southern California the past few years with recruiting classes that rival every school in the Pac-10. The Trojans have four commitments for the November signing period, including one of the top points in Errick Craven (Bishop Montgomery H.S./Torrance, Calif.). And he's finally got something other than his coaching to sell.
The Trojans are on line to build a new on-campus arena in 2002, getting them out of the antiquated Los Angeles Sports Arena, a building even the L.A. Clippers abandoned for the luxurious Staples Center.
After four years, the CBA coach is making good on his move as he tries to mimic former minor league castaways Phil Jackson, George Karl and Flip Saunders, albeit in college.
"We want to be where our program recruits itself," Bibby said. "We're not there yet. But we're not too far away."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
| |
ALSO SEE
Rare Air: Trepagnier soars where few have gone
Bilas Breakdown: USC
ESPN.com Preseason Top 25
|
