A Short Stay : Diminutive CLU Coach Makes Most of Big Chance to Run a College Team

When Larry Lopez played basketball at Cal State Northridge, he was always referred to as pint-sized Larry Lopez, or hustling Larry Lopez, the 5-5 1/2 play-making guard. That was back in the late 1960s, when CSUN was called San Fernando Valley State College and Lopez was setting his sights on becoming the world’s shortest head coach.

Still 5-5 1/2, Lopez has achieved his goal, but now he’s got more adjectives in front of his name than ever. At Cal Lutheran University, he’s called part-time, interim head basketball Coach Larry Lopez.

Lopez had been part-time assistant coach at Cal Lutheran for two years, but head Coach Ed Anderson unexpectedly took a year’s leave of absence last March because of his wife’s illness, and Lopez was asked to fill in.

“It’s extremely tough to break in on the college level, and this gives me a chance to get experience as a head coach,” said Lopez, 40. “There are no guarantees, but I like being flexible. Even if the job were offered on a permanent basis, I may not want it.”

Although basketball “has been my passion since I was a kid,” Lopez said, coaching at Cal Lutheran, which was 5-23 last season, can take the fun out of the game.

It is really a full-time job, and Lopez’s responsibilities are the same as UCLA’s Walt Hazzard’s, but Hazzard doesn’t have to get up at 6 a.m. in order to teach science at Frontier High in Camarillo.

Lopez even has more to do than Hazzard once he gets to Cal Lutheran at 2 in the afternoon. Aside from conducting practice, Lopez has to raise funds in order to help pay his players’ room and board, which isn’t included in basketball scholarships.

Raising money takes time and effort. In the summer, Lopez puts on basketball clinics; in the winter, he holds banquets. When he goes home to Oxnard about 7 p.m., he calls prospective benefactors.

“I’m always a week behind in my paper work,” he said. “If this was a full-time job I wouldn’t have such a pressurized situation. There never seems to be enough time in the day.”

His wife of 15 years, Lupe, knew what Lopez was getting into when he accepted the interim position. “She wasn’t too thrilled,” he said. “But she’s been great. She runs our concessions at halftime and goes to most of the games. But she knew I had to take the job. It was what I was shooting for all my life.”

Lopez, who grew up in Burbank, has been a head coach only once before, at Hueneme High for four years. But he quit in 1982 to become an assistant at Ventura College.

“I’m at the crossroads of my career,” Lopez said, explaining that he may have to choose between the demands of coaching and the needs of his family. He misses not being with his sons, aged 12 and 8. “I usually feel that I don’t have enough time to spend with my family,” he said.

When Lopez has a problem, he considers himself fortunate to be able to turn to former UCLA Coach John Wooden. For the last 15 years, Lopez has been involved with Wooden’s summer basketball camps, and the legendary coach has become an unofficial adviser. After he became head coach at Cal Lutheran, Lopez asked Wooden how to juggle a career with a family.

“His philosophy is God first, family second and career third,” Lopez said, “but it’s not as easy as it sounds.”

Wooden has a deep influence on Lopez. On a wall in his small, cluttered office, Lopez has hung Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success,” a prescription for personal and professional realization. And on the court, Lopez runs UCLA’s high-post offense.

Assisted by Ray Tejada and Ed Gibbons, both of whom have been with him for nine years, Lopez holds practice in the small gym at Cal Lutheran. Even though the tallest player is 6-7, everyone towers above the coach. But despite his diminutive stature, Lopez has an imposing presence.

“No socializing, no talking,” he barked before a drill. “I want all the details executed on the fast break. I want you cutting quickly to get open.”

The players listen intently. “I really enjoy playing for him,” said Steve deLaveaga, a 6-4 sophomore, “and I’m hoping he’ll be around for a while. If you saw us last year and then this year, you can tell there’s a difference in attitude and performance.

“In our 104-94 victory over West Coast Christian last week,” deLaveaga said, “we had the lead late in the game and then lost it, but we had the poise to come back. We didn’t do that last year. Coach Lopez is so much more intense than what we were used to. I’m excited to play for him.”