Occidental Basketball Job Taken by Newhall

Brian Newhall, interim basketball coach at Occidental College last season, confirmed Wednesday that he will accept an offer to coach the team on a permanent basis.

“I’m definitely going to take it. I just need to work out the details,” said Newhall, an Occidental graduate who took over for Bill Westphal last spring.

Newhall, 28, served as an assistant and junior varsity coach for two years under Westphal, who now coaches at Grand Canyon College in Phoenix.

Last season--Newhall’s first as a head coach--the Tigers (15-10,5-5) finished in a tie for third in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. In 1987-88, Occidental was 12-14 overall and 4-6 in conference play, and the previous year the team finished 13-13 and 5-5.

David Axeen, dean of students, said that the reaction from the Occidental community toward Newhall’s performance as coach was positive.

“He took over in a difficult situation and not only maintained the continuity of the team but actually made progress,” Axeen said.

“I was very pleased to give Brian the job. He was my student and I think very highly of him.”

Newhall said that recruiting in the midst of the search was difficult because he could not guarantee prospects that he would be coaching next season.

“You get hurt on recruiting because (the position is) being advertised all over,” he said. “It was really distracting.”

The search committee of 10 included administrators and coaches.

In addition, one combined vote was given to players Chris Anderson, Stephen Bertz, Nate Thompson and Brett Dennis.

Newhall’s most ardent backing might have come from the players.

Said Anderson: “We weren’t going to use it as a threat, but it was to the point where some of us were saying if he didn’t get the job we were going to go elsewhere.

“There’s no way, without Brian, that we would have a chance at winning. Not with someone we don’t even know and who doesn’t know us.”

Although seven players return for their senior season, Newhall will have to fill the void left by starting guard Jason Greenstein and all-conference forward John Keister, who averaged a team-high 23 points a game.

In the 1982-83 season, Newhall played point guard for the Tigers, averaged 15 points and six assists a game and was named Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

Occidental finished 10-2 in conference play that season--the last year it won a conference title.