USC basketball head coach Kevin O’Neill told Yahoo!’s Jason King that he was sorry for getting into an argument with a University of Arizona booster Thursday night.
“”I apologize to the university,”” O’Neill said in a phone interview with Yahoo! Sports. “”The last thing I’d ever want to do is cause anyone any embarrassment. I’m confident our team won’t let this become a distraction.””
The former Wildcat interim coach also said that reports by PointGuardU.com were inaccurate. The fan website said that unnamed sources saw O’Neill’s wife, Roberta, in a physical altercation. It also said both were “”visibly intoxicated,”” and O’Neill told King that was untrue as well.
King and other sources say the involved Arizona booster was Paul Weitman, a friend of former Arizona head coach Lute Olson.
“”I just want to make it clear that this was someone I had a personal history with and not just some random Arizona fan off the street,”” said O’Neill, who did not name the person to King.
As of 11:45 a.m. PT, USC had not released a statement regarding O’Neill’s status for the Trojans’ game against Arizona at 6 p.m. PT.