If All Bruins Want Is a Coach, Look to UCI

Too bad UCLA just has to hire a big-time, big-name, big-salary head coach, someone whose initials include Inc., and whose resume features some serious network television hang time. Too bad UCLA is looking east rather than west, and too bad marquee value counts as much as it does.

Too bad because, well, Bill Mulligan is available.

Mulligan coaches at UC Irvine. He has yet to write a book, need a tax shelter, appear with Brent and Billy, introduce his own line of sportswear, make radio and TV commercials or earn some easy money on the motivational speaker tour. He did write a weekly column for one of the local papers this season, but that was about it for exposure. Needless to say, the Pulitzer committee didn’t ask for his phone number.

Neither has UCLA, which isn’t much of a surprise. The Bruins need instant credibility. They need high exposure. All Mulligan can do is coach basketball.

This year he took a team picked to finish near the bottom of the suddenly competitive Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. and squeezed 16 victories out it. Just think what he could have done in Westwood.

The beloved Fat Man--Wayne Engelstad--graced his Irvine roster this season, but otherwise, this was a team short on depth and low on talent. Not that it didn’t do what it could. Irvine arrived at the PCAA tournament and promptly disposed of favored Cal State Long Beach . . . and highly favored and seventh-ranked Nevada Las Vegas. Then Irvine lost to Utah State in the tournament final, ending its hopes of its first National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament appearance. Worse yet, the loss deprived Mulligan of some much-needed quality TV air time and America of a most unforgettable character.

Mulligan doesn’t wear $600 suits on the sidelines. He wears horrible-looking saddle shoes that belong in a sock hop, and pants that barely reach his ankles. Sweaters groan as they curl around his belly. It is a wardrobe that even Mr. Blackwell could despise.

But Mulligan is honest, and he recruits fairly and well, considering some of the inherent constraints at Irvine. He lured Eric Leckner to the school before poor grades sent the center packing to Wyoming and stardom. He signed Tom Tolbert, only to see him quit and enroll at Cerritos College for a chance to play tight end. “He used to come in all the time and say he was going to be a football player,” said Mulligan, who is in Kansas City for the Final Four. “We used to laugh at him.”

Tolbert returned to basketball, but not to Irvine. Instead, he chose Arizona. You know the rest of that story. “That would have been a hell of a front line,” Mulligan said of the never-to-be Engelstad, Leckner and Tolbert combination.

This is the Mulligan curse--always within viewing distance of fame. Think of the possibilities:

If he can keep Leckner and Tolbert . . .

If USC would have offered him a job two years ago . . .

If Irvine beats Utah State in the PCAA tournament final . . .

Mulligan isn’t too upset by this latest development. When he answered the phone at his hotel room, his first words were: “If you’re calling about the UCLA job, I’m not interested.” Then he laughed that sort of raspy laugh of his and talked about the nature of his business.

“My first thought is that I don’t think what’s happening to (Walt) Hazzard is right,” Mulligan said. “I’m in favor of Hazzard completing his contract. Look at what’s happening these days. The guy at Providence got booted after one year. The guy at New Orleans got booted after one year, and he made it to the NIT and won 20. But one of the things that hurt Walt the most was that there were players who were talking about leaving.”

With that said, Mulligan began considering the candidates. His favorite was Loyola Marymount’s Paul Westhead. “I thought the guy did a great job,” Mulligan said. “He was the talk of the town. The way he ran his offense . . . I liked it.”

As for Jim Valvano of North Carolina State, who withdrew from consideration Saturday, Mulligan said: “I saw Valvano play Santa Barbara this year and lose by 18, so I don’t know what the deal is.”

No one is asking, but Mulligan advises the new UCLA coach to learn quickly how to beat Arizona and win a Pacific 10 championship. A return to NCAA postseason glory is a requirement, as is a buffing of the Bruin image.

A favorite Mulligan story has a UCLA booster approaching John Wooden after his Bruin team finished third in the 1974 Final Four. “Coach,” the booster said, “you didn’t get it done for us this year, but we’ll be better next year.”

“Can you believe that?” Mulligan said.

Mulligan wishes the new UCLA coach well; it’s his nature. But had UCLA administrators requested an interview, Mulligan would have been there, saddle shoes and all. It would have been a sight, too: The plump, feisty Mulligan telling them exactly how to rebuild their sagging program. Funny thing is, they might have listened.