Kevin Norris is definitely an East Coast guy. Before ending up at USC, the furthest west the Baltimore (Md.) native traveled for a coaching job was Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. So when he had the opportunity to follow Andy Enfield from Florida Gulf Coast University to a Pac-12 school, Norris took the opportunity to make his name out West.

"I love the West Coast," Norris said. "It was the best move for me. It's a BCS school and what more can I say about LA? It's an easy sell, it won't be hard for me at all. It's easy to sell Andy because he just lets you play and lets you be yourself. What you do in high school, you'll be able to do at USC."

He also believes USC's commitment to basketball will be an easy sell.

"When I got here and saw the facilities all I could say was wow," he said. "That was the first words out of my mouth. We don't have to share the court or adjust practice because we have our own practice facility. It seemed like the AD made it easy for me. He's a sports guy, he wanted this thing to work. It was easy."

Haden's commitment meant spending the money to surround Enfield and Norris with quality assistants.

"I know Jason and Tony," Norris said. "I played against Jason and I had heard a lot of nice things about Tony before I got here. They make it really easy for me by being themselves. You have a lot of different personalities in the business. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde thing. There isn't a Jekyll or Hyde thing with them. What you see is what you get with and I respect that."

Although he's an East Coast guy, Norris has always been familiar with the basketball tradition out west. Back in his high school days, he was recruited by the Trojans and always had respect for the school.

"I was recruited by USC and Cal and I always knew about the Pac-10," he said. "I knew it was an up and down league and USC as a whole is a household name. East, west, it doesn't matter. Obviously they say it's a football school, but I went to a football school at the University of Miami. It turned into a basketball school and a football school real quick. I know that coach (Tim) Floyd, coach (Henry) Bibby and coach (George) Raveling all had it going here. It's a school that people are going to want to come to, we just have to get that pop back."

Norris is the type of person that enjoys the challenge of rebuilding. When he shunned teams like USC and Cal for Miami, it was because he saw the chance to rebuild a program and make a name for himself.

"I went to Miami because they were 0-18 and they were in the Big East the year before I got there," Norris said. "My coach was in his fifth year of his contract. I thought that no matter where I went, we were going to win some games and someone had to get some credit for the wins and I figured I would. It happened and in the process my coach got national coach of the year my freshman year. I was a part of rebuilding a program and it's the type of challenge I like. I like to be remembered as a guy who was the cornerstone for something and not a part of something that was already built. There's nothing wrong with doing that, it just isn't me."

While he enjoys those challenges, he doesn't expect to rebuild at USC for long.

"Our expectations are to go to the NCAA tournament every year," he said. "We're trying to cut nets down, that's what this is about. We're not trying to play second fiddle to anybody. We want this to work and to work fast."

That high flying pace that the coaches demand might just make USC relevant in basketball again.

"I think we can get there because of the type of basketball we play," Norris said. "People don't want to watch a slow down game, it's boring. No one wants to watch someone score 50 points a game. It's not what we're about. High 70's to 80's is what it's about and having fun. Kids want to come and enjoy themselves. You don't want to come and watch the fans fall asleep, you want some excitement.

"Once we get it going, we'll be alright. I also think we have a lot more fans than people think. I think we'll do a lot better than people expect us to be, just like the Florida Gulf Coast thing.

"The goal is to get it back. You always had your great players here, we're just trying to build something and keep it consistent. One of my buddies went to school here. Gary Johnson. He had a nice career here."