UCLA Coaches Come and Go at Pauley, but . . . : The Digger Comes Back for More

And now, appearing on stage at Pauley Pavilion for the first time in two years:

H-e-e-r-e’-s Digger!

“Super,” says Notre Dame Coach Richard (Digger) Phelps, laughing, preparing for today’s rematch with his arch-nemesis, the UCLA student body. “We didn’t come out last year, since we’re only playing once. I missed ‘em last year. Really upset me.

“I think it’s great. It’s something I learned from (Al) McGuire, playing to the crowd. It’s all in fun. They’re a good student body. I love the band, the cheerleaders. It’s good for college basketball.”

That’s one more bone of contention in this rivalry--they’re only playing once. They used to play twice a season, which was ducky for Notre Dame, an independent with a schedule to fill. Also, the Irish recruit nationally and could tell California prospects such as Bill Laimbeer, Rich Branning and Matt Beeuwsaert that they’d be home every year.

It was less ducky for the Bruins, who have eight nonconference games and teams still lined up waiting to play them.

Bones of contention are good for college basketball, too, or at least for rivalries. And, since Phelps’ arrival in South Bend, this series has had enough to rebuild Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Of course, the series has also become more of a rivalry, in that now the Irish get to win sometimes.

In the beginning, Phelps lost his first four games to John Wooden by an average of 32 points, including a 114-58 bombing in their first meeting. Welcome to the rivalry, Dig.

Then Phelps split his last four games with Wooden. Included was the 71-70 game that ended the longest winning streak in NCAA history at 88 games.

Then Phelps won his first game at Pauley Pavilion, in Gene Bar tow’s rookie season.

Then he won his next three in a row at Pauley, one against Bartow and two against Gary Cunningham. It took the Bruins 14 seasons at Pauley to lose seven games. The Irish won four of those.

Phelps: “I used to tell Sam Gilbert, ‘All those pennants they’ve got in Pauley Pavilion, how about a big shamrock for our four straight wins?’ Sam didn’t like that.”

So much for the boosters. Then there were Phelps’ dealings with the Bruin coaches.

“Which one?” he asks, laughing. “They’ve had six in my 14 years. . . .

“It started with Wooden. It was more like father and son, with me being the young brat, knowing it all. He was older, with his own philosophy, doing it his way. . . . “

His way?

“It was just like that 88-game winning streak. And like last year, not going to the NIT. Like UCLA was better than everybody else. I don’t think that was good for college basketball. I think they got a lot of flak about that last year, snubbing the NIT. If it wasn’t for the NIT, there wouldn’t be an NCAA tournament. I’m just one person who believes in taking care of those who took care of you when.”

What was it about the 88-game winning streak? Did Phelps think Wooden ran scores up?

“Yeah,” Phelps says. “My first year. He beats us by 61 (only 58, actually) and I’ve got walk-ons. He’s pressing full-court. I just couldn’t believe he was doing that. It really upset me. I looked down during the game. Gary Cunningham (then an assistant) saw me and told Wooden to take off the press. If he was angry because Austin Carr had beaten them the year before, don’t take it out on my kids. Tom Hansen threw the ball away three straight times. I felt sorry for him. I just looked down at them and said, ‘I’ll get you.’ ”

Phelps enjoyed what could be called competitive relationships with Bartow and Cunningham and an incendiary one with Larry Brown. In their first meeting, in South Bend, during an on-court fight, Brown and Phelps traded insults at the mid-line.

“When they were UCLA coaches, I’d always be upset with them,” Phelps says. “Larry Brown and I did a clinic together in New Jersey. I put my arm around him and told him, ‘You’re a human being, now that you’ve left L.A.’

“(Larry) Farmer, I felt sorry for him. He was trying to do the best he could under a lot of pressure. Walt Hazzard, I don’t even know him. I’m beyond that.”

Phelps is beyond a lot of things, including a re-examination of his priorities. In 1978, after losing to Duke in the NCAA semifinal, and after having just recruited the Kelly Tripucka-Tracy Jackson-Orlando Woolridge freshman class, he started to broaden himself. He skied. He traveled. He read.

He lost.

Phelps had turned recruiting over to his assistants. When Tripucka et al . graduated, the Irish went 10-17.

While attending the Final Four in 1981, Phelps lambasted the buying of high-school players. Phelps’ detractors among his peers, of which there are one or two thousand, asked if it wasn’t ironic that Digger was going public the same season he’d gone 10-17?

(Whatever controversy swirls around Phelps at any time, his program is generally accorded high marks in recruiting and graduating players. Among his allies is Indiana’s Bob Knight, who is not an easy man to please. Knight was impressed when Digger rushed to his aid, after Knight’s problems in Puerto Rico. Knight once told a confidant that Digger may be a blarney-spreader, but the nice thing about him is that he knows he’s a blarney-spreader.)

Phelps, having finally decided that he wasn’t going to ABC or the Knicks, went back to work in South Bend. He went 19-10 and 21-12 in his last two seasons, and played in the NIT twice. Someone’s got to go, after all.

“I was offered this job,” he says, meaning, incredibly, UCLA’s. “Twice. After Bartow and after Cunningham. Indirectly through sources, although they would probably deny it. The people on top know.

“I turned it down. I didn’t need that in my life. . . .

“What’s happened this year, this could be the turning point. If they get in the NCAA this year, it’ll be an accomplishment. Now they’re starting to put things in perspective. . . . What John Wooden did is never going to happen again. The fans never understood that. They were spoiled by Wooden’s success. And they put all that pressure on those coaches.”

Well, here’s one coach they never got to, although they’ll get another chance today.

Bruin Notes The game will start at noon and will be televised nationally by NBC. . . . The Irish come into this game 11-5, including a victory at Indiana and two losses to DePaul, by 12 at the Rosemont Horizon and by five at South Bend. They’ll start Ken Barlow (6-10, 220), Tim Kempton (6-9, 237) and either Jim Dolan (6-8, 235) or Donald Royal (6-7, 200) across the front line. . . . The emerging Irish star is flashy freshman point guard David Rivers, who turned on Pauley in last spring’s McDonald’s prep all-star game. Walt Hazzard rates him right behind Pearl Washington. Hazzard said: “I met him (Rivers) at that all-star game. I think he signed early. He was very unhappy that he’d never had a chance to visit UCLA. He liked the school and he liked the area.” . . . Hazzard, asked about Digger Phelps at last week’s media breakfast: “He’s very visible. He and Coach Wooden had a few set-tos. That’s all I want to say.” . . . And Hazzard, asked about the set-tos: “It was when (Phelps) had John Shumate. Coach went down and told him that if Shumate didn’t stop throwing elbows, he’d put Swen Nater in the game.” . . . Between the 1973-74 and ‘79-80 seasons, Phelps’ teams won 9 of 14 from UCLA, making him 9-9 against the Bruins. The Bruins have won the last seven in a row, making him 9-16. . . . Absolutely the last thing Hazzard said on the subject: “We’re going to war Sunday. I’ll shake his hand and smile, but we won’t be kissing cousins.”