Why Majerus backed out of USC job

08:50 AM ET 11.26 | That the Billikens are 5-0 and on the verge of being nationally ranked recalls those days in the winter of 2004, when Rick Majerus accepted the job as coach at USC, and then handed it back four days later. "One of the hardest things I ever did in my life," he said Friday, "was walking out after that second press conference. I thought I could have won a national championship there." His decision was a health issue, but not his. "I was all set," he said. "I had a home picked out in Santa Monica, about 20th Street, just north of Montana. I wasn't in great shape health-wise, but I knew I could be when I'd take over in April. "And then, my mom called." Two days after Majerus took the USC job, his mother called. She had long ago beaten the breast cancer, after giving into her son's treatment demands, but years later was diagnosed with another form, small cell cancer. I don't want you to do this, she told her son. You are too far away. He offered to buy her a house in Los Angeles. A friend pointed out that her canasta club was not in Los Angeles. Nor were her friends, or her life.

Los Angeles Times