Former Loyola Guard Will Coach at Crespi

Chris Nikchevich, a former Loyola Marymount point guard, has been named to replace Ed Marek as the Crespi High basketball coach.

Marek, 31, led Crespi to an 11-12 record and a second-place finish in the Del Rey League in his rookie season but resigned two weeks ago to spend more time at his job with a real estate company in Encino.

“There’s nothing I’d rather do than coach but I can’t make a living coaching, so I made this decision with my head, not my heart,” Marek said Tuesday. “I’d be at work thinking about the team and then I’d be at practice thinking about work.

“But knowing Chris would take over made my decision easier. He has real good rapport with the players and brought good ideas to the program.”

Nikchevich, 26, is a Crespi graduate who worked as an assistant coach for the past three seasons at his alma mater. After his graduation in 1982 and three seasons on the Celts varsity, he attended Brigham Young on scholarship for three seasons. He then transferred and used his final year of eligibility as the point guard in Paul Westhead’s fast-paced offense at Loyola. He also played for one season in the World Basketball League.

Nikchevich has retained assistants Jeff Snyder and Bobby Matthews and has added Dave Immel, another former collegiate player from Southern California.

Immel was a guard at UCLA from 1984-88.

Crespi fans can expect an up-tempo style patterned after the Loyola Marymount program, Nikchevich said.

“Like it? I love it,” he said of Westhead’s offense. “Easily the best year I had in college as far as learning was my year at Loyola. Westhead allows a lot of freedom.

“To the untrained eye it doesn’t look structured, but players have a lot of responsibility.”

Nikchevich concedes that he might have to modify that style for the high school game but said that Crespi will rise or fall with it.

“We won’t be as relentless as Loyola and it will be kind of experimental,” he said. “If everybody is happy and smiling at the end of next season, then it worked out. If Crespi is looking for a new coach, then maybe it didn’t.”

Like Marek, Nikchevich will serve as a walk-on coach. He works as an actor in television commercials and has started a business in sports fashion.

Frustrated with Crespi’s fall from the basketball elite in the region, he has set high standards for the program but insists that his players will enjoy themselves.

“Our goal is to win a (Southern Section) title,” he said. “That may be a high goal, but Crespi has lost some of its luster and we’ve talked extensively about bringing it back.

“Coaching wasn’t really a career goal of mine and when I first started out I was kind of skeptical. But I’ve coached how I wanted to be coached as a player. The game is supposed to be enjoyable, not a job.”

Crespi will compete next season in the newly formed Mission League, which includes Alemany, Chaminade and Notre Dame.