College Notebook : Coaches Flock to Final 4 Market

Call it a rite of spring.

Swallows fly to San Juan Capistrano. Basketball coaches flock to the Final Four. No biological explanations, that’s just the way it is, year after year.

This weekend, Lexington, Ky., is the target for the thousands of college, community college and high school coaches who annually converge on the NCAA’s best basketball show.

They come to observe equipment demonstrations and attend coaching clinics, or to renew friendships with coaches across the country. Strategy is discussed. Players are shopped around. Jobs are won and lost. Sometimes, the coaches even attend the games.

Moorpark Coach Al Nordquist is a regular at the Final Four and he says the action is as fast and furious away from the basketball floor as on it.

Said Nordquist: “(Oklahoma City Coach) Abe Lemons once said that all the coaches tape their ankles and stand in the hotel lobbies looking for something to do. That about describes it. It’s a madhouse, but it’s fun.”

Nordquist is one of at least three coaches from Valley-area community colleges who will attend the Final Four. The others are Valley College Coach Bobby Castagna, who be there for the first time, and College of the Canyons Coach Lee Smelser, who goes every year.

Castagna, who grew up in Brooklyn, will be rooting for St. John’s University. “I’m going to see the basketball games,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to go, but never could afford to until this year. I understand there are a lot of meetings and clinics to go to, but to me they are secondary to the games.”

Smelser says he likes to sit back and marvel at the athletic ability of the players.

“It’s the greatest show on earth as far as I’m concerned,” Smelser said. “The ability of those players and the intensity with which they play is something else. The Final Four is an example of what basketball was meant to be.”

It also, he says, challenges a coach’s stamina.

“Coaches for the most part are a pretty excitable group,” Smelser said. “By the second day, we’re usually all bushed. You don’t get a lot of sleep. You just gotta try and sneak in a few naps.”

According to Smelser, a typical day at the Final Four goes something like this:

Wake up early for breakfast, then check out a few of the displays of new equipment. Go to coaching clinics that begin about 9 a.m. and run into the late afternoon. Then grab a quick dinner before the games.

And afterward?

“Who knows?” he said.

All three area coaches will probably have to find time to answer inquiries about some of their players, as well.

Nordquist has a small forward, Kip Brown, who is being recruited by several Division I schools. He also has a guard, Woody Jones, who will be recruited heavily next season.

Jones, a transfer from Oral Roberts University, has expressed interest in playing for Eddie Sutton at Arkansas. Nordquist said he will talk to Sutton on Jones’ behalf at the tournament.

Castagna also has a player drawing attention from a slew of major college coaches. Guard Larry Middleton, an all-state selection, is being courted by Clemson, Fresno State and the University of San Francisco, among others.

“I’m sure quite a few coaches will be talking to me about Larry,” Castagna said. “Whether I’ll listen will depend on a number of things. Larry has to go some place where he’ll improve as a basketball player. He’s good, but he has a lot to learn.

“He’s still very green and we’re not looking to place him somewhere where everything is run and gun. He needs to have a total concept for the game. If he receives the right kind of attention, we feel he may have pro potential. That’s why it’s so important for him to go to the right school.”

Smelser is expecting to be approached about the availability of forwards Karl Thomkins and Don White. “Colleges are always looking for big, talented people, so I imagine a few coaches will be interested,” Smelser said.

Coaching positions are also expected to change hands.

“Every unemployed college basketball coach, whether he be a head coach or an assistant, can be found there,” Nordquist said. “I’m not job hunting, but it’s fun just to sit back and watch and listen to the rumors. Sometimes you hear one coach is definite for three different jobs.

“In a word, it’s insanity.”

He said it: Al Nordquist commenting on the success of the Moorpark College basketball team this year: “This says it all: I’ve been here 18 years and they finally built me an office. I had a closet before, but they finally took me out of it and filled it with brooms. After a 2-4 start, we went 19-6 to finish 21-10. I figure if we win 20 games a couple more times maybe they’ll put a jacuzzi in the office.”

The nation’s top two Division II hammer throws belong to members of the Cal State Northridge men’s track team.

Aaron Buckholtz holds the nation’s top mark with a 198-foot, 4-inch throw last week in the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. Buckholtz previously had the nation’s best throw at 193-4. At the same Santa Barbara meet, Rick Weyers threw 194-9 to take over the No. 2 spot nationally among Division II schools.

Notes

Cal State Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy has been selected the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches Division II Coach of the Year in the West District. The national Coach of the Year will be announced Saturday. . . . Lori Costello joined the Northridge women’s track team only three weeks ago, but she has already set a school record in the triple jump. In a dual meet against UC Irvine last week, Costello jumped 37-11, bettering the old CSUN record of 37-1 1/2 held by teammate Kim Turner. Turner had a best of 34-11 3/4 Saturday. Costello played forward on the Lady Matadors’ basketball team this year.