Lynam Is Back at Work--as Loyola Coach

Jim Lynam, fired recently as coach of the Clippers, has been named basketball coach at Loyola Marymount University, The Times learned Wednesday.

Lynam will replace Ed Goorjian, who was fired March 15 after six seasons at the school, five as head coach. The new coach will be formally introduced at a press conference today.

It is believed that Lynam, who met with the team Wednesday, received a multiyear contract, probably for three seasons. He is taking over a team that last reached .500 five years ago.

Lynam, 43, was dismissed about a month ago as he neared the end of his second season with the Clippers. Last season, in San Diego, the Clippers finished with a 30-52 record, and they were 22-39 this season when Lynam was abruptly replaced by assistant coach Don Chaney on March 6.

As a college coach, however, Lynam’s record is more impressive. He was 158-118 at three universities--Fairfield, American and St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia, where he had played when Jack Ramsay was the coach there.

In his last two years of coaching at St. Joseph’s, his teams were 21-9 and 25-8. In three of Lynam’s seasons at his alma mater, St. Joseph’s played twice in the National Invitation Tournament and once in the NCAA tournament. His winning percentage of .699 there is second only to Ramsay’s.

Lynam lives in Manhattan Beach, near Loyola’s Westchester campus, and his son, Jim Jr., was a starting guard as a junior at Mira Costa High School. That is one reason Lynam wanted to find local employment. He also likes living in Southern California.

He’ll be taking over a team that is coming off an 11-16 record in 1984-85 and five straight losing seasons.

On paper, though, the Lions appear to have a returning lineup capable of contending for the West Coast Athletic Conference title. Back will be the last two WCAC scoring leaders--forward Forrest McKenzie and guard Keith Smith--three other starters and 6-9 Vic Lazzaretti, a transfer from Marquette who had to sit out last season.

Loyola also played the season without McKenzie, who sat out after a dispute with the NCAA over grades.

At Loyola, Lynam will be facing the same problem that contributed to Goorjian’s dismissal--trying to keep Division I basketball players eligible, or in school. Loyola players have led the WCAC in scoring the last three seasons, but Goorjian lost more stars, after getting them into the school, than he kept.

Goorjian’s dismissal was part of a shakeup in the athletic department by Father James N. Loughran, who took over as president of the Jesuit school last fall. Besides firing Goorjian, Loughran reassigned Athletic Director Robert Arias to a position as head of athletic promotion and fund-raising.

“I wanted to bring in my own team in athletics,” Loughran said last month.