NOTEBOOK / Ray Ripton : West L.A. College Grid Coach Quits--Even Before He Takes Over

West Los Angeles College, which announced in April that it was reviving its football program after two seasons without a team, has announced that its recently appointed head coach, Steve Bresnahan, has resigned before his appointment became official.

Bresnahan, scheduled to take over in July but working part time in his new post, told Jim Raack, WLAC athletic director, that family commitments would keep him from assuming the post.

Raack said that Bresnahan, who spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Cal State Long Beach, felt that “commitments to his family” and to a newly purchased home in Mission Viejo “would prevent him from devoting full time to the program. He didn’t feel he could do a good job because of living that far away.”

The college and Raack wasted little time in appointing a successor to Bresnahan. The new head coach is Richard Jones, a former Cal State Long Beach assistant, and the first assistant that Bresnahan had hired for WLAC football.

Raack said that Jones had already begun efforts to recruit football players when Bresnahan resigned but that the new head coach still must hire two or three assistants.

The athletic director said the school is proceeding with plans to have a football team next fall even though the plans will be “delayed a short period of time. I have all the confidence that Dick Jones will put it together.”

A 1968 graduate of Oregon State, Jones was an assistant coach at Cal State Long Beach for eight years and an assistant for one year each at Weber State and Cal State Chico. From 1970 to 1977, he taught and coached football at Corvallis High School in Oregon.

Raack said that about a dozen current WLAC students “have indicated they are willing to play” next fall and that Jones is recruiting high school seniors for next fall. “He’s out banging the streets for the rest of them,” he said.

Jones could not be reached for comment. Probably too busy recruiting.

Neither UCLA, which won last year’s NCAA men’s volleyball championship, nor Pepperdine, the 1986 national champion, will be going to this year’s NCAA tournament.

Both lost in last week’s Western Selection Tournament at UC Irvine, the Bruins falling to second-seeded UC Santa Barbara and the Waves to top-seeded Hawaii in the first round. UC Santa Barbara defeated the Rainbows in the final to gain an at-large berth in the NCAA finals Friday and Saturday at Fort Wayne, Ind. USC, regular-season champion in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., had already won an automatic berth in the finals.

UCLA senior middle blocker Don Dendinger and Pepperdine senior setter Doug Rigg were among players named to the All-WIVA first team. Second-team selections included Bruin junior setter Matt Sonnichsen and Pepperdine freshman outside hitter Geoff Hart.

The Santa Monica College baseball team, which finished its season this week with a 23-20 overall record, broke several team hitting records and a couple of individual marks.

Team records (with the old mark in parentheses) were for at-bats, 1,416 (1,207); runs, 284 (244); hits, 465 (396); runs batted in, 255 (196); doubles, 58 (54), and home runs, 27 (18). The Corsairs’ .328 batting average tied the school record.

Jordan Matter finished with 62 hits to break Darren Payne’s record of 59. Matter also had a .434 batting average, breaking Joe Giarraputo’s mark of .421. Howard Pechter had 44 RBI, surpassing Giarraputo’s 38.

The Palisades Monday Night Softball League, a slow-pitch league of mostly B-level men, is seeking more teams for its weekly games in Pacific Palisades as well as team entries for a Memorial Day tournament. Team fee for the tourney is $150. Call Tim Bearer at (818) 990-1255 or Pat McIntyre at (213) 392-6514.