So Far, Sneed Era Is Nothing to Sneeze At

Well, I can see where the Cal State Fullerton basketball team is taking Coach George McQuarn’s resignation awfully hard. The Titans have won 3 of their first 4 games, with another victory expected this evening against winless University of Portland. Many more resignations like this and Fullerton might make it to the Final Four.

This was a team that Big West coaches picked to finish ninth in the conference--10th, had it not been for kindly University of the Pacific, known nationwide for its 0-18 conference record last season and 23-game losing streak. And even before McQuarn resigned in early November, national basketball types were predicting a long and dreadful season for the Titans.

No experience. No height. No way.

Fullerton still might finish down in the depths with Pacific (the Titans’ conference schedule doesn’t begin until Jan. 3), but I doubt it. Teams destined for ninth place don’t trail Utah by double digits at Utah and end up winning by 2 points. They don’t come within 4 points of upsetting Pepperdine, after falling behind by 15. They don’t recover from 14-point deficits and beat the University of San Diego on a last-second shot by a guy who spent a considerable part of 1988 undergoing rehabilitation for gunshot wounds. They don’t turn an 8-point lead over Sonoma State into a 26-point victory--in just 6 minutes.

The Titans have done this and more. Best of all, they’ve survived, though nobody is entirely sure how.

How do you figure that a team could lose its head coach and three players before mid-December and win? How do explain the success of a cornball coaching tactic that stresses a “10 warriors” mentality?

But here the Titans are, down to just 10 players, one interim coach, one full-time assistant coach and a lot of hope.

Strange how this worked out. Last season, Fullerton couldn’t win a game on the road until February. This time it wins on its first try.

Last year, Fullerton couldn’t win many close games. This time, the Titans are 2 for 2.

Maybe the difference is that last season, Fullerton had McQuarn--blue-flame intense, a stickler for defense, a coach who liked to control all facets of his team. This time, it has career college assistant John Sneed, who wouldn’t raise his voice if it were a choir practice. Calm, thoughtful and occasionally defensive, Sneed somehow has turned chaos and confusion into a nice early-season record.

First, he told the Titans that they had nothing to lose by playing hard and nothing to gain by feeling sorry for themselves. Even more surprising, they listened.

Next, Sneed got rid of those odd-looking pregame drills McQuarn used to adore. Now the Titans shoot layups and jump shots like their opponents.

Sneed sticks with a lineup, too. And he doesn’t treat basketball as if it were heart surgery, which helps. Just ask the Titans.

“I think the players, now that Coach Sneed has taken over, kind of enjoy coming to practice,” said Derek Jones, who returned to Fullerton this season after taking more than a year off to recover from wounds suffered from a random drive-by shooting in Long Beach in 1987. “Before, it was like a job. It’s like you would get up in the morning and never want to come to practice.

“But Coach Sneed has made basketball a game again. We’re not afraid to try new things and experiment, whereas before we were scared to move, scared to be creative. And that’s what basketball’s all about, being creative and relaxed out there on the court. I think Coach Sneed has brought a calmness to the team.”

Sneed isn’t big on complimenting himself. He said he identified a problem--a divided and wary team--and then tried to find a solution. Winning has helped. It always does. But so did his little heart-to-heart chats with his players, his “10 warriors,” as he calls them.

“I think I’ve done a good job of bringing about a spirited ballclub,” Sneed said.

And just how do you do that?

“Let’s put it this way: You don’t do it in a drill,” he said. “It takes a lot of soul-searching and a lot of talking.”

And a certain degree of luck.

The Titans got Jones, 23, for another year thanks to an NCAA hardship ruling. They got Cedric Ceballos, one of the nation’s best community-college players last season, partly because his brother once played at Fullerton and partly because his Ventura Junior College coach was once an assistant at Fullerton. And they got Wayne Williams, the state’s most valuable high school player, because he signed in the fall of 1987 rather than wait until the spring to commit. But by the time his senior season at Manual Arts had ended, Georgetown, Temple and Arizona had contacted him. Too late.

“I never quit on anybody,” Williams said. “I signed.”

So far, there have been few complaints on the Titans’ part. Their record is attractive enough and bound to look prettier after tonight’s game. They’re playing hard for their new coach. And ninth place looks less and less likely.

“A lot of people misjudged us, saying we weren’t going to be any good,” Williams said. “I’m very excited about the season. I want to prove a lot of people wrong.”

Hey, Wayne. You already have.