Small Colleges : Newman Is Lame Duck at Cal State L.A.

The college basketball season is not even under way, but the first coaching casualty has apparently been registered.

Jim Newman, Cal State Los Angeles coach who has won 16 and 18 games the last two seasons, has been told that his contract will not be renewed next spring.

The opening has already been officially posted and sent to athletic departments in the Southland.

Listed duties, besides coaching, include “promotion of the program and . . . development and implementation of a short- and long-range plan for men’s basketball.”

Qualifications include a master’s degree, “demonstrated successful coaching experience in basketball at the secondary and/or collegiate level,” plus “communications skills and leadership ability.”

All of which means that Newman’s Golden Eagles may well be more like lame ducks this season.

Newman said he was given no reason for the nonrenewal. “I’m trying to find out myself,” he said. “I would like to know the official reason why. I’m very much in the dark on the whole thing. It’s quite surprising to me--we’ve done a tremendous job the last three years and turned it around.”

Newman wouldn’t address rumors that he and Athletic Director Dennis Keihn don’t get along. “I wouldn’t comment on that,” he said. “I’ve tried to be professional at all times.

“I’ve never, ever been dismissed from anything in my life. It doesn’t deflate me because I know what I’m all about. If somebody else doesn’t, that’s their problem. I’ve got a basketball team to coach. I’d rather not even comment about it because it’ll all come out in the wash.”

Keihn was away from school Monday and could not be reached for comment. A school spokesman gave the official statement: “Mr. Keihn has notified (Newman) his contract will not be renewed for next year. He has not been fired, simply notified. All of our coaches are on one-year contracts.”

The job-listing posts the starting date as spring quarter, 1987. Keihn will take applications through Jan. 2, “or until the position is filled.”

Newman, 52, began coaching at Compton High School in 1966, and won two state community college titles at Compton College in the early 1970s. He served as an assistant at New Mexico and Arizona State before coming to Cal State L.A. The last two seasons, his teams have gone to the final weekend of California Collegiate Athletic Assn. play before losing out in title bids.

Playoff roundup: Cal State Northridge will play at home Saturday night against defending national champion Seattle Pacific in a Division II second-round soccer game. The game will be played at North Campus Stadium at 7:30.

Biola University was selected as an at-large team for the national NAIA women’s volleyball tournament beginning Thursday at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth. Biola (25-10), will open pool play against Texas Wesleyan (31-4) Thursday morning. Also in Biola’s pool are Wisconsin Milwaukee, Missouri Western and High Point.

Biola’s soccer team was selected as an at-large entry for the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament being held Thanksgiving weekend in Texas. Biola will open against Bryant of Tennessee on Thanksgiving. Grand Rapids Baptist of Michigan is the top-seeded team.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will run for its fifth straight women’s cross-country title in a 12-team field Saturday in the Division II national meet at Lake Perris Recreational Area. San Luis Obispo, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona will compete in the 17-team men’s field.

Claremont-Mudd won its first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football title since 1979 but was passed over for the 16-team Division III playoffs. No West Coast team was selected.

Occidental’s men will compete in the Division III cross-country national meet at Fredonia State in New York. It will be their fifth trip in seven years. Occidental’s women didn’t qualify as a team, but Michele Trimble and Cresey Stewart qualified individually. Trimble placed 13th last year as a freshman.

UC Riverside’s women’s karate team won three titles at the International Shotokan Karate Federation’s national collegiate meet in New Orleans. The team of Sheila Reed, Won-yee Chang and Noel Hoeglan won the team sparing and placed third in team Kata. Reed won individual titles in Kata and sparing. Chang placed second in both, and Hoeglan took third in sparing.

Small College Notes UC Riverside will play at Cal State Northridge tonight in a match to determine the top ranking and CCAA championship in women’s volleyball. They’re 1-1 head-on this season. Northridge is 11-0 in CCAA play, Riverside is 10-1. . . . Cal Poly Pomona will open the basketball season with the second annual Lions Club tournament Friday and Saturday, with four games each day. The men’s games Friday are Pomona Pitzer vs. Augsburg College of Minnesota at 4 p.m. and Pomona vs. the College of Notre Dame at 8. Women’s games are Cal State Chico vs. Northridge at 2 and defending national champion Pomona vs. San Francisco State at 6. The women have a 23-game winning streak. . . . Northridge running back Mike Kane has set Western Football Conference rushing marks with 1,410 yards and 13 touchdowns. . . . Punter Kevin Emigh of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is battling for the national Division II lead, with an average of 42.3 after nine games. Going into last weekend, Tim Baer of Colorado Mines led with a 45.6 average, with Emigh second.

Northridge soccer star John Tronson finished the regular season with 109 points for his career, a school record. With 43 goals, he was two shy of that record. . . . Northridge’s Joey Kirk and Cal Poly Pomona’s Johnny Lima led CCAA soccer scoring with 38 points. Lima had 16 goals and 6 assists. Kirk had 13 and 12. . . . Junior Dan Campbell of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo set a school soccer record with 21 goals.