Valley’s Jim Stephens Leaves Women’s Team to Become Men’s Coach

Jim Stephens, who announced two months ago that he would not return as women’s basketball coach at Valley College, will coach the men’s team at the Van Nuys school next season, Valley Athletic Director George Goff said Friday.

Stephens replaces Virgil Watson, who will not be rehired, in part because he is not a full-time instructor in the Los Angeles Community College District.

Goff said the change was mandated because of hiring restrictions within the district brought on by faculty layoffs last June. As a result of the layoffs, only full-time instructors are allowed to coach athletic teams.

Watson was able to coach this season because Richard Clement, a full-time instructor at Valley, agreed to take the job when no other coaches were available. Officially, Clement was the men’s coach, but Watson was in charge on the court.

“We were able to patch it up that way this year,” Goff said. “Clement was gracious enough to work with Virgil, so we could have the program, but we couldn’t do that again this year.”

Goff said Watson’s record--Valley was 10-17 last season and 6-17 overall, 5-5 in conference heading into Friday night’s season-ending game--had no influence on his decision.

“Absolutely not,” Goff said. “Wins and losses are important to any athletic program, but they are not my No. 1 concern. Virgil was in a tough spot. He couldn’t choose any assistant coach he wanted and the district had done away with off-campus coaches. I wish him all the best.”

In Stephens, Goff gets the full-time instructor he needs and a coach who has proven capable of rebuilding.

Three years ago, Stephens took over a Valley women’s program that hadn’t won more than two games in a season in six years. His first team went 13-15, and last season’s team went 19-11 and earned a berth in the Southern California regional playoffs.

This season, Valley women shared the Southern California Conference title with Trade-Tech. The Monarchs are ranked No. 5 in the state and should be among the top-seeded teams when the regional playoff field is announced Sunday.

Said Goff: “Jim is the only person on campus who can handle the men’s program at this school. Based on his past performance, I think he’ll be successful.”

Stephens coached the Valley men’s team for five season after leaving Marina High in 1976. He then went to Pierce for two seasons and produced Metro Conference men’s champions in 1983 and 1984.

Stephens quit at Pierce when he couldn’t get transferred from Valley to a teaching position at the Woodland Hills school. But he wasn’t ready to give up basketball, he said, and took on the rebuilding of the Valley women’s program.

“I thought coaching the women would be less pressure, but it turned out to be exactly the same,” Stephens said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself. It’s your own pride, nothing else.

“Because the pressure is all the same, I’d rather be coaching the men. I missed the camaraderie with the guys I used to coach against and I want to get back to that.”

Stephens, who last month withdrew from consideration as a candidate for the vacant Pierce men’s basketball coaching position, said he has been scouting high school boys basketball games all season, anticipating a returning to men’s basketball next season.

He first was approached about coaching the Valley men at midseason by Goff, who hadn’t yet made a decision on Watson’s future.

“It was just a passing comment,” Goff said of the encounter.

But two things were obvious to Goff-- Watson wasn’t going to be hired as an instructor before next season, and Pierce was making overtures to Stephens about getting him back as a coach.

So, after a series of meetings with Valley President Mary Lee, Goff offered the position to Stephens.

For the moment, Stephens is a coach with two teams. But he said there has been no conflict of time or interest.

“It has taken a lot of time, but it hasn’t taken away from my responsibilities with the women’s team,” Stephens said.

Stephens and assistant Joe Jackson have continued their recruiting and preparations for next season’s women’s team. Stephens said he would like to help select his successor.

Diedra Stark, women’s athletic director at Valley, would just as soon have Stephens back.

“He’s built a very nice program here, and it’s tough to make a change now,” Stark said. “Jim does what he does well and he has put in a lot of time and effort.”

Stephens said he gets friendly pressure to continue to coach the women almost every day.

“The girls are constantly talking to me, dropping hints,” he said. “Coming back from a game the other night, Joe was driving the other van, and he said all that the girls talked about was me coming back.

“That makes it a little harder. And I know I’m taking on a lot more headaches because things won’t go as smooth at first with the men. But it’s something I want to do.”

Stark said she began a search for Stephens’ successor last week. Valley will return eight freshman from this year’s conference co-championship women’s team.