Andy Enfield, MBA ‘94

It was the Cinderella story of March Madness season when Andy Enfield, MBA ’94, coached Florida Gulf Coast University’s men’s basketball team to the NCAA Sweet 16. Enfield has always loved basketball, from his undergraduate days as an All-American for Johns Hopkins University through his stints as an NBA assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks (1994-1996) and Boston Celtics (1996-1998).

But Enfield also has an entrepreneurial spirit. During his time at the Smith School, Enfield started his own company with an assist from then-Dean Rudy Lamone and the Dingman Center’s Charlie Heller. Enfield, one of the best career free throw shooters in NCAA history, started All Net Shooting to teach shooting camps and clinics to kids and offer consulting “shot doctor” sessions for NBA players.

And in 2000 he left basketball for a different kind of challenge – working with TractManager, a start-up healthcare software firm. “At a certain point in everyone’s career, an opportunity presents itself,” says Enfield. “Working with TractManager made me a better basketball coach. It helped me become a more effective manager and made me much better at dealing with people.”

After his winning stint in Florida, Enfield became head coach of the University of Southern California’s men’s basketball team. That means another new venture is ahead. Being a coach is a lot like being CEO of a company, Enfield says. He spends his days strategizing how to make his players better on and off the court and recruit the best new talent. But the business aspect of his job is just as important. Enfield is keenly aware that to be successful he can’t just be great with players. He’s also got to market his program, brand it and sell it to recruits, the university, donors, and these days, the media.

And being a great business leader is a lot like coaching. “My players know I care about them, in their professional and personal lives,” says Enfield. “People will work harder for you if they know you care about them. In the business world it’s tough sometimes to develop a personal relationship outside the office, but your employees need to know that you want to help their career and that you care about their personal lives as well.”

Andy Enfield lives with “wife Amanda and three wonderful children” in southern California.