Less than a month after he was accused of delivering an envelope of cash to the handler of a star player, USC basketball Coach Tim Floyd resigned Tuesday, abruptly ending a four-year tenure that saw him take a once-lackluster program to the cusp of national prominence.
Floyd, 55, only two months ago had USC basketball at its pinnacle. The Trojans had just made their third consecutive NCAA tournament -- a first in program history -- and had a strong nucleus of players who could return plus a recruiting class that was shaping up to be among the best in the nation.
The University of Arizona was so impressed that it courted him as its coach.
But then came the allegations last month from Louis Johnson, a man who had already accused USC's program of improprieties.
Floyd tendered his resignation in a one-paragraph letter to Athletic Director Mike Garrett, which read in part:
"I no longer feel I can offer the level of enthusiasm to my duties that is deserved by the university, my coaching staff, my players, their families, and the support of Southern Cal. I always promised myself and my family that if I ever felt I could no longer give my full enthusiasm to a job, that I should leave it to others who could."
Johnson, a onetime confidant of former Trojans basketball star O.J. Mayo, said Floyd had met Rodney Guillory, the man responsible for steering Mayo from a West Virginia high school to USC, outside a Beverly Hills cafe in February 2007, giving him at least $1,000 in $100 bills.
A year earlier, Johnson had said that Guillory had accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a sports agency and funneled some of it in cash and gifts to Mayo, another violation of college rules.
Mayo, who recently completed a standout rookie season with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, has denied Johnson's allegations.
Floyd's resignation comes as another haymaker to a USC athletic program already under NCAA examination because of allegations involving not only Mayo, but also Heisman Trophy-winning former football star Reggie Bush.
It was more than three years ago that Bush and his family were accused of accepting about $300,000 in cash and gifts, including free rent, by two would-be sports marketers trying to secure the running back as a client.
Bush has denied wrongdoing and the NCAA has yet to sanction USC, but the school could be penalized severely, including a loss of scholarships and a ban on appearances in football bowl games and television.
