Raveling, USC Working Out Final Details

Iowa basketball Coach George Raveling is reportedly working out final details of a contract to become the new USC coach, it was learned Wednesday.

Raveling is expected to be in Los Angeles today to confer with USC Athletic Director Mike McGee, and there is a possibility that an announcement concerning Raveling’s hiring will be made today or Friday.

Iowa officials confirmed that Raveling is talking with USC officials about the job and announced that Raveling had withdrawn his name as a coaching candidate at the University of Houston.

McGee has had no comment on prospective coaching candidates.

Raveling, 48, was unavailable for comment, but he told the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette there is a “99% chance” that he is leaving Iowa and will be coaching elsewhere next season.

McGee has interviewed numerous prospects for the job since Coach Stan Morrison resigned March 11 to become an associate athletic director at the school. The most prominent names mentioned were Pepperdine’s Jim Harrick, Navy’s Paul Evans, SMU’s Davis Bliss, Alabama Birmingham’s Gene Bartow and UC Irvine’s Bill Mulligan.

Evans has accepted the coaching job at Pittsburgh, and Harrick is rumored to have the inside track to become coach at Nebraska, where Moe Iba resigned after his team lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Raveling was Washington State’s coach for 11 years before moving on to Iowa at the start of the 1983-84 season.

After a 13-15 record in his first season with the Hawkeyes, his teams posted records of 21-11 and 20-12, including appearances in the NCAA tournament the last two seasons. Iowa finished sixth in the Big Ten this season with a 10-8 record, giving Raveling an overall head coaching mark of 221-74.

It is believed that Raveling is attracted to USC because he would like to coach in an urban area. He has spent 14 seasons as a coach in the rural areas of Pullman, Wash., and Iowa City, Iowa.

USC’s four freshman players-- Tom Lewis, Rich Grande, Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers--met with McGee last Friday and told him that they would prefer he hire a local coach such as Harrick, Mulligan or Loyola Marymount’s Paul Westhead.

The freshmen said it would be an easier transition with a local coach because he wouldn’t have to adjust to the area. They also said they would possibly transfer to another school as a unit if the new USC coach is an outsider.

Raveling obviously isn’t a local coach, but he’s familiar with the Pacific 10 and has recruited in Southern California.

McGee said Wednesday in a prepared statement that there has been a misrepresentation about demands the freshmen supposedly made on him. McGee said the four were merely eager to convey their thoughts about the coaching situation.

If Raveling is hired, and it’s a strong possibility, he would become the first black coach of a major sport in USC history. He became the Pac-10’s first black coach when he took the Washington State job in 1972.

In his earlier years as a coach, Raveling, an extrovert, had the reputation of being a skilled recruiter but not one of being a basketball strategist. But that image changed as he grew on the job at Washington State. His teams had winning records in seven of his last eight seasons at the school.

His best conference finish was second place in 1982-83 with a 14-4 record, one game behind champion UCLA. Washington State was 23-7 overall that season.

Recruiting has always been a problem at Washington State. Some athletes, used to a big-city environment, have been turned off by the small town in Eastern Washington. But Raveling still prevailed. He usually got along well with his athletes and was in high demand as a public speaker on the banquet circuit.