College Notes / Alan Drooz : Ex-Star Westphal Breaks the Rule, Scores High as a Coach, Too

As a rule, star athletes don’t make good coaches. Paul Westphal is proving the exception.

The former Aviation High, USC and pro basketball star is making his name as a coach at little Grand Canyon College in Phoenix, where he was an all-star guard for several seasons with the NBA Suns.

Last week, Westphal’s team won the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship with a squad that was considered a heavy underdog to Auburn-Montgomery, 88-86.

The NAIA title is not quite the NCAA Final Four or the height of March Madness, but it will do for a 37-year-old coach in only his second year there and third year coaching anywhere. His first job was at Southwest Baptist Bible College, also in Phoenix.

Westphal played for a variety of coaches in his 12-year NBA career, from excitable Tom Heinsohn with the Boston Celtics to low-key John McLeod with the Suns to high-pressure Hubie Brown with the New York Knicks. But he says the biggest influences in his basketball philosophy date back to his early playing days: older brother Bill, now head coach at Occidental College, and Ken Brown, his coach at Aviation High.

Westphal says others he didn’t play for directly but whose contact was influential were Celtics general manager Red Auerbach and former UCLA Coach John Wooden--the extreme compliment from a former Trojan.

“The people I admired the most have been the people who are not as famous, like my brother Bill and my high school coach, Ken Brown,” Westphal said. “Those are the (coaches) I got the most from. But you’d have to have something wrong with you to be around people like Red Auerbach and John Wooden and not have something rub off.”

Westphal said his ideal system would be similar to Paul Westhead’s at Loyola--”I like to run, press and play wide-open,” he said. But at the NAIA level, the recruits are often those passed over by the big NCAA Division I schools for lacking either height or some key physical skill, or else they are late bloomers.

So recruiting is hit-and-miss at that level, and a good coach has to make do with whatever talent shows up. “You go after the players you want, then you go with whoever shows up,” Westphal said. “I think it’s very important to tailor what you do to the players you have.”

Westphal’s mettle was tested when he dismissed two front-court starters--two of the team’s top scorers--from the team for repeated violations of team rules. With much of his inside strength gone, Westphal made use of the talent available, getting an MVP performance from guard Rodney Johns in the tournament.

Also having a strong playoffs was guard Craig Johnson, the Mary Star and Harbor College graduate and younger brother of Boston Celtic star Dennis Johnson. Johnson scored 80 points in the tournament semifinals and final. Johnson, at 5-foot-7, hit several key free throws and blocked a shot near the end of the game that probably won the game.

Westphal said the major difference between Division I players and those in NAIA is “Division I has the big guys. (But) I think anybody close to the NAIA knows it’s a good level of basketball. As far as level of intensity, a good player is a good player. Every year somebody (from NAIA) will go to the NBA, and he’s usually not even from the best team.”

Westphal won’t elaborate about the suspended players other than to say: “They’re just college kids. Mainly they broke team rules too many times and ran out of chances. It was not something I liked to do, but it was time.

“I don’t think I’m a disciplinarian, if that implies that the players don’t think for themselves. I think it’s more important for them to learn to act by the rules for the right reasons.”

Westphal’s rapid off-Broadway success--and name recognition--could make him an attractive candidate for bigger jobs. Westphal has decided he has found his life’s calling and said he’ll listen to offers but isn’t soliciting them.

“I told the people at Grand Canyon when I was hired I might be here 20 years or I might be here a year but I wouldn’t go scrounging around using this job as a stepping stone. I’m very happy here and I’ll be very happy to stay here.”

Loyola Marymount infielder Bobby DeJardin said he has “fooled around” with switch-hitting for several summers and in practice but never tried it in college competition until this season. The switch has payed off for the natural right-hander.

DeJardin, a senior playing both shortstop and second base for the Lions, is hitting .360 and showing some pop. After last weekend DeJardin had seven doubles, a home run and 23 runs batted in--fifth-best on the team. Last Saturday against fourth-ranked UC Berkeley, DeJardin went 4 for 4, including two doubles and a

perfect left-handed drag bunt between the pitcher and first baseman to pace a 13-10 victory.

DeJardin usually bats ninth, often in front of leadoff man Carl Fraticelli, and Coach Dave Snow considers him a second leadoff batter of sorts. DeJardin said batting ninth “doesn’t really bother me.”

“He could be hitting first or second in any other lineup,” Snow said.

DeJardin has been experimenting with switch hitting “ever since he’s been here,” Snow said. DeJardin added, “I’ve done it over the summers. I decided this year to stick with it.”

WCAC Notes: Loyola Marymount is dominating most of the hitting statistics in the West Coast Athletic Conference. Through last weekend’s games, the Lions lead the eight conference teams in batting, pitching and fielding. Individually, Don Sparks leads in runs, Travis Tarchione leads in at-bats and hits and Brian Turang leads in runs batted in. Pitcher Steve Surico leads in victories and winning percentage and Darryl Scott leads in saves.

Most of the offensive categories that aren’t led by Loyola belong to St. Mary’s outfielder Jim Mouton. The Gaels’ leadoff man had a 20-game hitting streak stopped Tuesday, but he leads the conference in batting at .450, triples with five and stolen bases with 22. Mouton is a bit of a surprise because he didn’t play fall baseball. The freshman from Sacramento was busy as a starting wide receiver on St. Mary’s football team.

College Notes

Loyola freshman Chuck Donlon was named Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. co-player of the week after leading Loyola to two straight WIVA victories last week, over San Diego State and fifth-ranked UC Santa Barbara. Donlon, a middle blocker, had 19 kills, 8 blocks, 10 digs and a .341 hitting percentage against Santa Barbara and 10 kills against San Diego. The award put Donlon in good company. Hawaii All-American Allen Allen was the other co-player of the week. . . . Dominguez Hills designated hitter Lenny Hokanson continues to lead the CCAA in triples with six. Closest competitor has three. . . . Toros catcher Mike McCarthy is hitting .516 in CCAA play, with two four-hit games.