OCCIDENTAL PREVIEW : First-Year Coach Breathes Life Into Occidental

Brian Newhall hails from Oregon, but his voice is tinged with a slight Southern drawl. His facial expressions are relaxed, his demeanor patient.

Judging by his mild disposition, Newhall, who became Occidental College’s basketball coach last spring, isn’t the type of guy who inspires great play from a mediocre team. In fact, he bears a closer resemblance to Mr. Rogers than Bobby Knight.

So many of the Occidental players were taken aback when Newhall released some pent-up emotion Saturday when the Tigers played Point Loma.

“I liked it. I was laughing,” said point guard Ethan Caldwell of Newhall’s passionate display. “He’d grab players and say ‘Come on, get intense.’ He did it just to make sure we didn’t get down. He wanted that victory bad.”

And he got it. For the first time in 9 years, Occidental won the annual meeting, 74-68.

“It’s kind of embarrassing to act crazy but I don’t care,” Newhall said. “If the players aren’t used to winning they’re apt to say, ‘Oh, forget it,’ and just give up to protect themselves. We’ve got to put everything on the line emotionally and physically.”

And Newhall’s new rage is drawing rave reviews from his players.

“I self-destructed under previous coaches here whose ideas of a winning attitude didn’t parallel mine,” said Jason Greenstein, the Tigers’ starting off-guard. Greenstein added that Newhall’s enthusiasm Saturday helped the players who were coming off the bench as well as the starters.

“It was like a gun,” he said. “We had the high power and the bullets and (the bench players) were like the trigger.”

Occidental (2-1) has some heavy artillery, too. Senior John Keister led the Tigers in the first 3 games by scoring 24, 23 and 27 points.

Keister, who started at small forward, remains tight-lipped about his role as a scorer, however.

“It’s my third year and someone’s got to do it,” he said. “I try to de-emphasize it and don’t try to make it a focal point. Jealousies and bad feelings develop when you score a lot and talk about it. I just go out and do it.”

Chris Anderson, a 6-foot, 9-inch center, also has made sizable contributions. Against Point Loma, he tossed in 20 points and had 11 rebounds.

Forward Jon Crawley (6-8, 225) did not play because he missed the team shoot-around Saturday morning.

“That really jeopardized our chances of winning,” Newhall said. “We might have murdered them with Crawley.”

Mental lapses such as missing practice, Newhall says, still plague some players.

“They still have to learn to be players on and off the court,” he said.

Sophomore Brett Dennis, though considerably smaller than Crawley at 6-feet, 2-inches and 180 pounds, grabbed 9 rebounds as a stand-in at forward. But Despite Dennis’ contributions, Newhall said he was most impressed with his reserves.

“(Stephen) Bertz played a huge role off the bench,” Newhall said.

Bertz, a guard, scored 2 points and had 3 assists, but made his most pronounced impact on defense. And that, Bertz says, suits him just fine.

“If I can just come in and play hard defense, that will be my role on the team,” he said.

Guard Jay Caba and freshman forward Jeff Muir (6 points, 5 rebounds) also played well, according to Newhall.

Still, the first-year coach says the Tigers have miles to go.

“We’re playing against ourselves,” he said. “Against our own attitudes.”