A New Coach, but the Old Intensity : CS Long Beach: Greenberg takes over for Harrington and vows to maintain fast-paced attack.

With his intense nature, run-and-press philosophy and fondness for fluorescent uniforms, Seth Greenberg, the new basketball coach at Cal State Long Beach, is similar to his predecessor.

“But I can’t be Joe Harrington,” he said. “Joe is such a handsome guy that when he walked into a room, every one would kind of turn. I’m just a bald-headed Jewish kid from New York trying to coach a little basketball in Southern California.”

Greenberg, 34, is a head coach for the first time in a 12-year career that began at Columbia University when his hairline had yet to recede. He got the 49er job last March when Harrington left after a 23-9 season for the University of Colorado, and the team Greenberg has inherited is receiving more national attention than any at Long Beach since the late 1970s.

Long Beach has been rated as high as 20th in preseason publications and is picked to finish third behind Nevada Las Vegas and New Mexico State in the Big West Conference.

“I think they have more good players than Vegas,” UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said. “But Vegas has a more talented starting five.”

Greenberg, who was an assistant at Pittsburgh, Virginia and Miami of Florida, knows that because his reputation is mainly that of a relentless recruiter, skeptics will question whether he can actually coach.

“I haven’t just concentrated on recruiting for 12 years,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of time learning how to teach the game and developing a philosophy.

“I know people are going to say, ‘Maybe they could have been a little better if he had more experience.’ It’s almost like if we win this year, we’re going to win because of good players and if we lose it’s because we’re not well-coached. That’s fine, I can’t concern myself with that.”

As a 49er assistant the last three years, Greenberg would throw his coat and become even more inflamed than Harrington. He intends to be less hyper, though at a practice in the little university gym he seemed the same, reprimanding his players profanely if they didn’t respond to his shouts of “Quick, quick . . . run hard, run the floor . . . push it . . . pressure.”

He wondered recently how personally his players take those tirades, and center Frankie Edwards told him, “It makes us feel like you care about us.”

That pleased Greenberg, who describes his program as people-oriented.

“That’s what makes us successful,” he said. “That’s what enables us to drive kids hard. Yet when practice is over, we have a different relationship with them. Some people think you can’t, as a head coach, have a relationship with your kids off the court. But I want them to feel free to come over to my house. I want them in my office.”

In Long Beach’s recruiting brochure, the father of a former 49er player calls Greenberg the “best coach from the standpoint of dealing with the human side of things.”

That theme pervades the brochure, which includes two pages of laudatory comments about Greenberg from former players and coaches Lute Olson, Mike Schuler and Rick Pitino; a photo taken last spring of Greenberg with two players wearing graduation robes, and a list of players he has recruited since his days at Columbia and the type of degrees they attained.

The brochure, Greenberg insists, is a reflection of his sincerity.

“I coach because of the relationships you have with kids, going through the good times and bad times with them,” he said. “If you’re just coaching for the good times, when the cameras are on, you’re in it for the wrong reason.”

All of the 49ers were recruited by Greenberg. They average 6 feet 7 and fit the pressing system that Harrington installed in 1987, when he took over a losing program, and which the new coach plans to make even faster.

“We want to be an aggressor,” Greenberg said. “Because we have tremendous depth, we have the opportunity to play with fresh legs for 40 minutes. We can wear people down.”

He plans to use 10 players, the best of whom is guard Lucious Harris, last year’s Big West freshman of the year. The 6-5 Harris likes to swoop down the baseline for dunks, but can also shoot from outside--a talent few 49ers have shown in recent seasons.

“He’s got a chance to be as good a guard as there is in the country,” Greenberg said.

Long Beach also has strong inside players, among them 6-8, 250-pound Edwards and 6-9, 220-pound Kevin Cutler.

The big question is how the team will perform in close games without the fierce spirit of graduated point guard Tyrone Mitchell.

But for the first time in more than a decade, Long Beach appears to be starting a season with respect.

“We’re getting there,” Greenberg said. “ We’re not feared, but I think people around the country know that this team is going to fight, that it’s going to compete.

“Who would have thought three years ago that we would be in our position now with our preseason rankings and our talent base and expectations? Last year, I thought we made our greatest stride when we were playing Vegas in the Long Beach Arena and people were there to see Long Beach State. To me, that was progress.”

Last season’s team received nationwide sympathy when, despite a 22-8 record, it wasn’t selected for the NCAA tournament. The 49ers instead went to the NIT and lost in the second round to Hawaii.

They will continue to wear glow-in-the-dark lime uniforms that caused almost as much of a stir last year as their record.

“That ‘California gold’ kind of reflects the beach and our style of play--free-flowing, fast, sharp,” Greenberg said. “It’s an easy way to make the kids feel good about themselves.”

He wants happy players: “Happy players work hard at practice. Happy players go to class. Happy players are a positive reflection on the university because they end up as graduates.”

One player was not happy Thursday night. Harris was not allowed to practice because he had missed a class. Afterward, Greenberg met with him for a quiet talk.

“He’s a really good kid,” Greenberg said after Harris had left. “But he has to realize he’s not invincible. When we recruit them, we tell them this is the way we are.”

Later, the coach sat behind his desk and, noting the nearness of his debut, said, “We’ll see if I know what I’m doing.”

He ran his hands over his forehead and, after a moment’s thought, decided that he does.