Chapman Gives the Right Man the Wrong Job

So all’s well that ends well at Chapman College these days. Chapman got the medium-name, somewhat visible basketball coach it really wanted--Bob Boyd--and Rich Prospero, the interim coach, got the ax and then a bone.

It’s not a bad bone, mind you. Chapman offered Prospero, only 25, an assistant coaching position for more money. Prospero, who never wanted to leave the program in the first place, accepted.

Prospero’s boss will be Boyd, a man with credentials and, by the looks of it, a sweetheart deal with the heretofore miserly Chapman athletic administration.

Boyd will do a fine job, no doubt. His resume probably ensures Chapman of that much. What we’ll never know is if Prospero, given a proper chance, could have done an even better job.

Youth wasn’t served this week. For that matter, it wasn’t even waited on. That formal interview Prospero had with the Chapman selection committee? It was just that, a formality.

Prospero could have said he had been Dr. James Naismith in another life, shown splinters marks from the original peach basket and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Chapman--meaning its athletic director, Walt Bowman--had made up its mind long ago. Needless to say, Prospero never was considered seriously once Boyd became available.

“In one of our meetings about a month ago, I said, “I guess the coach is going to be Boyd, that’s what I’m anticipating.’ And (Bowman) said, ‘Yeah, that’s a good assumption,’ ” Prospero said.

Prospero is bright, honest, dedicated and perhaps a tiny bit naive. He was silly enough to think that if you made a commitment to Chapman, Chapman would make a commitment back. Well, it did; the only problem being is that the commitment came in the form of an assistant’s job.

In fact, Bowman didn’t contact Prospero about his decision to hire Boyd until only hours before a scheduled news conference Tuesday. Not exactly the way they draw it up in those management seminars, is it, Walt?

Chapman had a chance to do something the right way, mainly reward Prospero for a job well done. Instead, it handed him his old duties back. How convenient, considering that several players were reportedly thinking about transferring should Prospero not return.

If you’re Bowman, you can make a case for Boyd’s hiring. Experienced. Knows the area. A “name” coach--whatever that means.

Meanwhile, Prospero is apparently a victim of his age.

About this age thing. Prospero may have inherited the job as a young man, but he said he felt 150 years old by season’s end.

“I got a little bit on edge toward the end of the year,” he said. “People were always asking the same questions: ‘What’s going on with the job? . . . Is Boyd going to get it? . . . What are you going to do next year?’ During the last two weeks of the season, I started to feel real uncomfortable. My bench decorum and demeanor weren’t what it used to be. I almost became a perfectionist. I was thinking, ‘Hey, if I win all these games, maybe I’ll be the coach.’ I was on the guys, on the officials a little more. Maybe that was due to the pressure.

“It was a long year for me. I didn’t see my wife very much, I’ll tell you that. There were a lot of trials and tribulations. And then it’s over. Let’s say I’ve had a tough last few days.”

Can’t understand why. All Prospero did was salvage a basketball program from disarray. Already, one starter from the team has credited Prospero with saving the team from “disintegrating.”

Apparently, this slipped Bowman’s mind when discarding Prospero from coaching consideration. Rather than recall the extenuating conditions under which Prospero was given the interim title, Bowman was felled by a bad case of selective memory.

A refresher course:

First, Bowman fired head coach Kevin Wilson because Wilson said what everyone already knew: that it was difficult to succeed at Chapman as a coach because of the financial restraints.

Next came the appointment of Lindsay Strothers, a selection so well received by the usually docile Chapman players that they threatened Bowman with a walkout. One day later, Prospero was presented the job, thanks, in part, to a heavy lobbying job by that same Chapman team.

As a final adversity bonus, there was news that Chapman’s basketball program might be reduced to Division III status, meaning the end of athletic scholarships beginning in the 1990-91 school year. Just the pick-me-upper Chapman players needed.

So what happens? Chapman ends the season with a 17-12 record (16-12 under Prospero) and comes this close to an NCAA tournament appearance. They play hard. They also play well enough to earn Prospero more than the cursory look he got from Bowman.

“I think 16-12 wasn’t as good as we should have been,” Prospero said. “But I think what was impressive about (the season) was the way we finished. If you look back at the (California Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament) championship game, we were one execution of a possession away from the championship. Also, all the guys were together, all the guys were one. You might say it was attributed to me and you might say it was the guys themselves. I think it was a little bit of both.”

Whatever or whoever it was, it worked. And even a modest Prospero admits that much.

“I think I did a lot for Chapman basketball,” he said.

Chapman thought otherwise.

On the day that Prospero cleared out his desk, he had an athletic department secretary pry his name tag off his office door. What he should have done was leave with one other memento--the small sign right below that name tag. After all, he earned it.

The sign? It read, Head Coach .