USC basketball fires Kevin O'Neill, a former Arizona Wildcat coach
Reporter: Jason Barr, Sports Director
LOS ANGELES (AP) USC has released basketball coach Kevin O'Neill. Associate head coach Bob Cantu, a member of USC's staff for the last 12 seasons, will take over in the interim as the coaching search begins, USC said.
The Trojans are coming off a 76-59 victory at Utah on Saturday. They are 7-10 overall with a 2-2 mark in the Pac-12.
"I would like to thank Kevin O'Neill for his four years of service to USC," athletic director Pat Haden said in a statement. "He took over a program under difficult circumstances because of our NCAA issues and, despite that, he was able to do some good things.
"It was hard for me to evaluate him as a head coach until this year when he had enough players and veterans to compete. As the season progressed, it became evident to me that we needed new leadership in our men's basketball program. Despite a nice road win in our last game, I felt it was best to make a change now, with most of the Pac-12 season still ahead of us, in order to re-energize our team."
O'Neill was 48-65 overall coaching the Trojans. Despite being under .500 at this point, USC won only six of its 32 games in an injury-plagued 2012 season.
O'Neill coched the Arizona Wildcats 2007-2008 team, and was previously an assistant under Lute Olson.
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