Pagett Revels In Monstrous Success

The monster Dana Pagett has created is out of control now, wreaking havoc inside his office at Rancho Santiago College, devouring it one wall at a time.

The west wall is almost a goner. Five years ago, Pagett began hanging huge team photos on the wall, photos of Rancho Santiago basketball teams that were ranked among the top 20 in the state. Two years ago, Pagett proudly hung No. 3, his 1988-89 squad that went 19-11. Since then, there have been two state champions, carrying records of 32-3 and 35-2.

“You look at that 19-11 now,” Pagett says, “and you think, ‘Oh, that must have been an off-year.’ ”

The south wall isn’t faring much better. That wall is the Pagett Hall of Fame--reserved for players who distinguished themselves at Rancho Santiago in one of three ways:

1) Making the all-state team.

2) Making the state tournament all-star team.

3) Winning a piece of Pagett’s heart.

“In eight years, we had six of them,” Pagett says. “But after this year, we have to put up four more.”

Suited to Pagett’s liking, suited to the rigors of successfully defending a state championship, they are now suitable for framing:

--Forward Erik Martin, all-state, the school’s all-time single-season scoring leader.

--Center Corey Blount, all-state, the school’s No. 3 career scoring leader.

--Guard Brett Pagett, all-tournament, which is fortunate for Brett, because he wasn’t going to make it on genes alone. “He’s gotta earn it,” Papa Pagett says.

--Guard LaVern Broadnax, not all-state, not all-tournament--simply the owner of “a heart this big,” says Pagett as he holds an imaginary basketball in front of his chest.

Pagett leaves his office every now and then, but he can’t escape the monster, which follows him wherever he may roam.

After winning the school’s first state championship in 1990, Pagett was told, “OK, but what about back-to-back?”

Before the 1990-91 season, Martin’s father walked up to Pagett and wondered, “Do you think we’re going to lose any games before the playoffs?”

And after title No. 2 was locked away last Saturday, John McMullen, a coaching friend at Santa Monica College, nudged Pagett and said, “So, what do you think--go for a third?”

Saturday, Pagett’s response to McMullen was: “We’ll be lucky just to finish third.”

Tuesday, Pagett laughs and says, “This probably would be a good time for me to retire.”

Twenty-five years have passed since a California community college repeated as state basketball champion. The last to do it was Riverside City College, which won three in a row from 1964-1966 for Coach Jerry Tarkanian, back when Tark had hair and thought the NCAA was run by a fine bunch of fellows.

Now, not only has Pagett won back-to-back titles, but he’s won 67 games in two years, 140 in five and an even 200 in nine years of coaching at Rancho Santiago.

“When you have the kind of success we’ve been fortunate to have here, people begin to think it just happens,” Pagett says. “They say, ‘Just roll (the championships) out.’ Let me tell you, the road’s not as smooth as everyone thinks . . .

“To me, winning one state title is fantastic. Winning two is mind-boggling.”

Three? Pagett can’t even think about it. Right now, his nucleus for the 1991-92 season stands at one returning starter (guard Glenn Greene) and two of the Dons’ top three reserves (guard Darryl Cole and forward Elton Moore). “Our work’s cut out for us,” Pagett says.

Recently, the rumor mill has latched onto Pagett’s name and thrown it into the UC Irvine coaching derby, an idea that isn’t so outlandish. Bill Mulligan cut his coaching teeth on the community college level--although he never won one state championship, much less two--and Pagett, a former USC player and Cal State Long Beach assistant, knows the area.

“I’d be interested if some of the numbers being thrown around are true,” Pagett says, bursting into laughter. “I mean, I heard $200,000. For that, I’d listen.

“But if they’re paying what they paid Mulligan (about $78,000 a year), a normal amount of money, it wouldn’t be worth my leaving.

“The key thing is, I’m happy here. I like coaching and teaching here. If I wasn’t happy, or if I was looking to move up the ladder, I’d make myself more available for these jobs. The real misconception is that most people think those are real glamorous jobs, because of ESPN and the coverage they get. But they don’t understand the pressure that goes with it.

“The great thing I have here is tenure. Someday, when they tell me I’m a lousy coach, I’m still going to have a job.”

For the record, Pagett says he hasn’t been contacted by Irvine and hasn’t applied for the job.

“I think for me to go to a Division I school,” he says, “it would have to be a place where I could win and where, money-wise, it would be worth the risk. To make only a little more money than I’m making now? I think I’ll stay here.”

At Rancho Santiago, Pagett has a tough act to follow, but at least it’s his own. He is the big man on campus, his office a magnet for old players, students, parents and alums poking their heads in to offer congratulations--and, of course, reminding him to keep up the good work.

All in all, life with the monster can be pretty decent.

Besides, Pagett has two more walls to play with.