Chapman Will Name Boyd Basketball Coach Today

Former USC Coach Bob Boyd will be named basketball coach at Chapman College today, athletic department sources said Monday.

A press conference has been scheduled for 1 p.m. today.

Boyd, who was interim coach at Riverside College this season, will replace Rich Prospero, the Panthers’ interim coach. Prospero replaced Kevin Wilson, who was fired in November.

“We should have it locked up Tuesday,” Athletic Director Walt Bowman said. “All we need to do is contact the candidate today (Monday) to finalize it.”

Bowman declined to comment on whether Boyd was the candidate.

However, an athletic department official said Boyd and school officials had reached an agreement.

Boyd, 58, was one of five candidates interviewed for the job. Dave Holmquist of Biola College, Bob Schermerhorn of Arizona State, Tim Sweeney of Lakewood High School and Prospero also were interviewed.

Boyd would not comment on the situation Monday night, but he said last week that if he were named, he would ask Prospero to remain as assistant coach. Prospero, 25, guided the Panthers to a 17-12 record last season, which ended with an 86-83 loss to UC Riverside in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament championship game.

Prospero said he would be interested in remaining at Chapman as an assistant.

Last season, Boyd replaced Riverside Coach Dave Waxman, who took a one-year sabbatical. Under Boyd, the Tigers (27-9) finished first in the Orange Empire Conference and reached the third round of the state playoffs before losing to El Camino.

Boyd coached at USC from 1966-79, compiling a 216-107 record. However, most of Boyd’s career at USC coincided with John Wooden’s at UCLA. The Bruins won 10 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles in 12 years.

Although Boyd never won a conference championship at USC, he did guide the Trojans to the NCAA tournament in 1979 and the National Invitation Tournament in 1973.

In the 1970-71 season, the Trojans finished 24-2 and were ranked No. 1 in the nation for part of the season. However, USC lost twice to UCLA and finished second in the Pacific 8 Conference.

Only conference champions qualified for the NCAA tournament until 1975.

Boyd has also coached at Santa Ana College, now Rancho Santiago, Seattle University and Mississippi State. He has a 462-307 record in 27 years of coaching.

BOYD’S RECORD

Year College W L ‘57-58 Santa Ana 15 16 ‘58-59 Santa Ana 26 7 ‘59-60 Santa Ana 16 13 ‘60-61 Santa Ana 26 5 ‘61-62 Santa Ana 16 14 ‘62-63 Santa Ana 24 12 Six seasons 123 67 ‘63-64 Seattle 22 6 ‘64-65 Seattle 19 7 Two seasons 41 13 ‘66-67 USC 13 12 ‘67-68 USC 18 8 ‘68-69 USC 15 11 ‘69-70 USC 18 8 ‘70-71 USC 24 2 ‘71-72 USC 16 10 ‘72-73 USC 18 10 ‘73-74 USC 24 5 ‘74-75 USC 18 8 ‘75-76 USC 12 15 ‘76-77 USC 6 20 ‘77-78 USC 14 13 ‘78-79 USC 20 9 13 seasons 216 131 ‘81-82 Miss. State 8 19 ‘82-83 Miss. State 17 12 ‘83-84 Miss. State 9 19 ‘84-85 Miss. State 13 15 ‘85-86 Miss. State 8 22 Five seasons 55 87 ‘88-89 Riverside 27 9 One season 27 9 Total: 27 seasons 462 307