He Has Finally Found Right Place for a Man With a Sense of Humor

Sometimes you’ve got to make humor out of the ethnic stuff.

--GEORGE RAVELING

Well, there improves the neighborhood.

Sorry, George. You said it was OK.

USC’s basketball program was unraveling, so they definitely found the right guy. A guy who can coach basketball and a guy who can relax and be himself.

In Los Angeles, George Raveling will be invited to sit down on the bench and make himself comfortable. Wear as many of those California-chic jogging suits of his as he wants. No socks, even. At the best restaurant in town, he will still be overdressed.

At his last job, when the coach came dressed that way for work, some people looked at him as though he was on his way to Jane Fonda’s workout. A necktie was supposed to come with the job. Jerseys, jocks and socks for players, coats and ties for coaches.

Although it wasn’t just fashion that persuaded him to change scenery, Raveling does believe he has returned to a “comfort zone,” as he put it Thursday at USC’s press conference heralding his appointment as head coach. “I think I’m more compatible with an urban area. I feel like I’m coming home.”

Raveling, 48, actually was raised in Washington, D.C., but you get the drift. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago--those are his kinds of places. This guy needs traffic, not trees.

All that time he was working the sidelines of Pullman, Wash., or Iowa City, Iowa, all I could think of was that line from Mel Brooks’ “Blazing Saddles,” where the white deputy says to the black sheriff: “What’s a sophisticated urbanite like you doing in a rustic setting like this?”

Fifteen basketball seasons ago, when Raveling became the first black head coach the Pacific 10 Conference ever had, he was off in the veritable wilderness of Pullman, home of Washington State.

At an NCAA regional in Idaho one year, Raveling made a joke that to remember the way to class, Washington State students usually left a trail of bread crumbs.

Later, he was quoted as saying that while some colleges’ games are covered by Sports Illustrated, Washington State’s are covered by Field & Stream.

Thursday, upon his return to the Pac-10, he was at it again.

“I’m probably one of the few guys in the league who knows the best places to eat in Pullman,” Raveling said. “And I’m sure I’m the only guy in the league who knows how to get there at night.”

Raveling still has good feelings toward most of the folks he met at Washington State and Iowa. But he also wants to be able to make a joke now and then without somebody taking offense at it.

At USC, he’ll be able to.

It took him a while to loosen up at his news conference, but once he did, he got rolling.

Asked how long his contract was for, Raveling said: “Fifteen years.”

Asked if he was worried that players might transfer if they weren’t happy with the new coach, he said: “It’s like transferring those troops to Libya. There probably were a couple of guys that fell overboard.”

Asked if he had a timetable for turning around USC’s program, he said: “I’m too smart to answer that. I’m a product of busing. I’m smarter than the normal guy.”

Raveling already had a good job at a good basketball school, so he wasn’t exactly dying to leave. Iowa did win 20 games this season and qualified for the NCAA tournament, even if it didn’t win any championships.

In fact, there were only three or four schools worth leaving for, Raveling said Thursday.

Such as?

“Well, I suspect that if Notre Dame is good enough for Lou Holtz, it’d be good enough for me,” he said.

“And they say it’s pretty good down there in Kentucky. I like that Wildcat Lodge of theirs.”

The lodge, named after former Kentucky Coach Joe B. Hall, reminded Raveling of the new arena recently dedicated by the University of North Carolina and named after Dean Smith.

“If we get a couple of teams in the Final Four, maybe they’ll rename the Sports Arena,” Raveling said. “Rav’s Place, they can call it.

“It’s in the right neighborhood.”

That’s when Raveling, laughing, said: “Sometimes you’ve got to make humor out of the ethnic stuff.”

There probably should be a timeout taken here to assure USC basketball lovers that George Raveling takes his recruiting and coaching very seriously and that he considers the straightening out of the Trojan program no laughing matter. He wants no repeat of the 11-17 season that turned out to be Coach Stan Morrison’s last.

Some days, George Raveling is serious business. Other days, he is sheer fun. Depends on how his team is doing.

As Raveling himself said, an assistant of his once had him pegged correctly. “With George, the valleys are really low, and the mountains are really high,” the man said.

He just hopes to take USC to the top someday--maybe to a Final Four, like the one that starts here Saturday.

To do so, he will have to get some new talent to go along with the good freshmen the Trojans already have. After all, the new coach wants people to come to USC games to see the new players, not to see the new coach.

“If they come to the Sports Arena to see Raveling, that’s a sad commentary on their selection of sports events,” Raveling said. “I can’t shoot. I used to be able to dribble. But I can still jump.

“My attorney can attest to that.”

The coach has jumped to another new job, you see. Somebody tell Field & Stream.