According to PointGuardU.com, an apparently drunken O'Neill and his wife got into it with an Arizona fan at a LA hotel.
O'Neill reportedly threatened the fan that USC was going to “beat the hell out of Arizona.” Words were exchanged and our sources say that O'Neill's wife struck one of the Arizona fans. O'Neill and his wife were escorted out of the hotel, and Arizona fans were left wondering what just happened.Since the alleged altercation, USC athletic director Pat Haden released a statement saying the school is looking into the incident.
It's unknown what might have started the fracas, but O'Neill and Wildcat fans don't have the greatest relationship. O'Neill was Arizona's head coach in 2007-08 in place of Lute Olson, who took a leave of absence. At the time, the university had announced that O'Neill would become the head coach when Olson retired and it appeared as though that moment had arrived. However Olson said he would return for the '08-09 season and reports began to surface of acrimony between the two coaches.
Eventually, O'Neill was let go, Olson abruptly retired and Russ Pennell was left to run the team on an interim basis. What exactly happened between Olson and O'Neill isn't fully known, but usually when you run up against a legend, you're going to lose in the court of public opinion. O'Neill is known to be a pretty fiery guy and if you add in a little liquor and some trash talking, it's easy to see how things can escalate.
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