What does a coach's record have to be for you to consider them a "proven winner?"
Lots of good coaches lose the interest of their fans after long tenures.
Bobby Cremins was 134-153 in the ACC with GT (.467). Was he a proven winner? Depends on how you are cherry picking your data. Cremins had a streak of nine consecutive NCAAT tournament births. That doesn't sound too middling, does it?
Before last season Enfield had three consecutive NCAAT bids including an elite 8 appearance. And the season prior to those years, USC cancelled it's post season due to COVID, and that year USC was 22-9, tied for third in the PAC10 (11-7) and would have been a 4th consecutive year in the NCAAT. How much proof do you need?
Your "narrative" (good lord, what a tiresome word) is unduly biased by his last season.
Trying to invoke Bobby Cremins' name into this doesn't really work.
Today's environment is not what Bobby coached in.
Looking back on his record, at a school with basketball ambitions, you could make the case in today's environment he gets let go 3-5 years earlier than he retired. We may never even see the Stephon Marbury year.
Paul Hewitt's contract aside, he maybe gets let go 4 years earlier than he did. He should have been let go a year earlier based on the underwhelming Derrick Favors years saved by an ACCT run.
Some who follow college basketball wondered if Enfield would have been fired for this year's results and he definitely would've made hot seat lists for next season.
If you're going to fire a 2nd year head coach who just won 20 games to make a splash heading into the ACC, strive to do better than a retread looking for a port in the storm.
Recency bias or not, Enfield brought a lot of high high end talent into USC and the results were fair to middling. Had the talent to do better.
Anyway, I know you always have to be right and get the last word in, so this will be my last response on the matter. You can declare victory in your next.
I have to go get ready to chuckle at USC getting ready to do the same thing SMU just did on the hiring front.