It didn’t take long for USC to capitalize on the “Dunk City” phenomenon, and that’s rubbing some of the term’s originators the wrong way.
The USC athletic department announced via Twitter late Monday night that former Florida Gulf Coast head coach Andy Enfield had agreed to become the next coach of the Trojans, concluding the tweet — and several others thereafter — with the hashtag “DunkCityUSC.”
Dunk City is, of course, the moniker that was given to the high-flying FGCU squad that became the first No. 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 before being ousted by Florida last Friday. Enfield may have been the architect behind the offense, but people in Fort Myers argue the nickname belongs to the school, not the coach.
“There’s only one Dunk City USA. It’s here in Southwest Florida,” FGCU athletic director Ken Kavanagh told reporters Tuesday. “I think it’s totally inappropriate for USC to do that. We would not copy somebody else’s well-earned scenario, and I will be sure to let USC know that.”
The team seemed to share these sentiments, agreeing that Dunk City does not belong on the West Coast.
“That was kind of bad on their part,” FGCU sophomore Bernard Thompson said. “They didn’t earn the right to have that type of label, try to trademark that for themselves. Coach Enfield is not really Dunk City. It’s the whole team. I figure it should go to the school. FGCU is Dunk City.”
“We understand what we’ve done. But everybody else sees it now as we don’t have a coach anymore and he just kind of left for USC,” said FGCU sophomore point guard Brett Comer, who racked up a good chunk of his 31 tournament assists on alley oops.
“They’re claiming dunk city. But he didn’t make a play. He gave us the blueprint for it. But we made every single play. We had the athletes to do it. I made the passes to the guys that do it. I feel like we are still dunk city. Nobody will ever take that away from us.”
