Former UCI Assistant Livsey Named to Arizona State Post

Former UC Irvine assistant basketball coach Herb Livsey has been named to a similar position at Arizona State.

Livsey, an associate professor of English at Orange Coast College, was granted a one-year sabbatical from the Coast Community College District and will begin his new job on Sept. 9.

Livsey joins interim head coach Steve Patterson, the former UCLA player, who was earlier named to replace Bop Weinhauer, who was fired. Patterson, who has worked as an instructor at Livsey’s Snow Valley Basketball Camp the past three years, has a one-year contract.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to work in a big-time basketball program,” Livsey said. “Money is no object at Arizona State. I’ve met the athletic director and the other coaches, and they’re a great group.

“Stephen has only a one-year contract, and the bottom line is wins and losses. If he wins 15 games, he’s out. But this is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’d always wonder what might have been if I didn’t take the job.”

Livsey, considered one of the top instructors of fundamentals on the West Coast, will serve as a part-time assistant, the same position he held for five seasons at UCI under Coach Bill Mulligan.

Livsey was the head coach at three high schools--Del Oro in Loomis and Costa Mesa and Western in Orange County--and was the head coach at Orange Coast College from 1969-76.

“The job at Arizona State is strictly coaching which will allow me time to work on my thesis for my Ph.D.,” Livsey said.