USC hires Eric Mobley, father of two high-profile recruits, as assistant coach
USChas hired Eric Mobley, the father of two high-profile recruits, as an assistant basketball coach.
Mobley, an AAU coach for the past 11 years, will fill the void left by Tony Bland, who was fired in January in the wake of his September arrest in connection to the FBI investigation centered on bribery within college basketball.
"We are excited to add Eric to our coaching staff," Trojans coach Andy Enfield said in a statement. "He brings to our program a wealth of playing and coaching experience at a variety of levels. He is an outstanding coach and a terrific person."
Most recently, Mobley coached the Compton Magic 16-and-under AAU team. He played collegiately at Portland and Cal Poly Pomona but never has coached at that level.
His oldest son, Isaiah, is a 6-foot-10 high school junior and the No. 44-ranked prospect in the Class of 2019. His youngest son, Evan, is 6-10 and considered one of the top players in the country in the Class of 2020.
Martin Bahar, who was promoted to assistant coach when Bland was initially put on administrative leave, will remain with the program as its director of scouting.
Mobley is not the first assistant to be hired with a relationship to a high-profile recruit, and such hirings do not violate NCAA rules.
Last year, Missouri hired Michael Porter Sr., the father of highly regarded player Michael Porter Jr., as an assistant, and Michael Jr. followed his father to Mizzou. Another of Porter's sons, Jontay, also joined the Tigers.
Before joining the program at Mizzou, Porter had been an assistant at Washington to then-coach Lorenzo Romar. After his father was hired, Michael Porter Jr. signed a national letter of intent to go to Washington.
In 1983, then-Kansas coach Larry Brown hired Ed Manning as an assistant. Manning had no coaching experience, but his son Danny was one of the hottest recruits in the country. Ed Manning had played for Brown in the ABA and was driving a truck when Brown hired him. Danny Manning signed with Kansas and went on to lead the Jayhawks to the national title in 1988.
