UCI Now Eyeing Realistic Targets

The old coach who couldn’t quite win enough called it quits and within hours, Tom Ford was calling all the big names in his little black book.

He called Mike Krzyzewski.

He called Tom Davis.

He called Gene Keady.

He called Jim Harrick.

Ford was hung up on big names, which, in turn, was what the big names did to him, one after another after another.

Finally, Ford dialed local and made a connection. He got his man, a not-so-big name from a not-so-big program not so far away.

That was in 1986. Then, dialing local for Ford meant ringing Beaumont, Tex., from Houston, where Ford was the athletic director in charge of finding a replacement for retiring basketball Coach Guy Lewis. Ford had to settle for Pat Foster of Lamar--and have you noticed Houston lately? Foster has the Cougars settled into a nice, 20-win-per-season kind of groove.

Old habits die hard, though, which is why Ford, from his new office at UC Irvine, can’t resist the big-time tilt at the big-time jilt.

P.J. Carlesimo.

Gary Williams.

And what about this Rick Majerus rumor?

Raycom Management Group, the head-hunting organization employed by Ford, couldn’t get through to Carlesimo because it couldn’t get past the Seton Hall athletic director, who couldn’t stop laughing. Maryland granted Irvine permission to talk to Williams, only Williams wouldn’t grant it. Majerus would be a perfect fit--he loves California and Bill Mulligan, plus he’s sunnier than the first and funnier than the second--and didn’t Jerry Pimm once make the move from Utah to the Big West? But Majerus’ recent tournament success has moved him into a different constellation altogether.

One scenario has Digger Phelps leaving Notre Dame to become athletic director at Indiana, leaving Majerus and Xavier’s Pete Gillen to wrestle for Digger’s old seat on the Fighting Irish bench.

South Bend or south Bren? I know, it’s a tough call.

A familiar pattern is shaking down into place for Ford. Aim high, misfire. Reload, zero in on more reliable, realistic targets.

Give or take a Kelvin Sampson and a Walt Hazzard, Ford’s look list is heavy where it should be--successful Division I assistants who are young enough and hungry enough for the rigors of getting basketball to fly once more at Irvine.

Matt Kilcullen. The big name isn’t the coach, but the school: Notre Dame. Kilcullen’s head-coaching experience is limited to Division III--Castleton State College in Vermont--but six years alongside Digger has to count for something. Kilcullen is also a veteran West Coast recruiter, so he knows that a Laguna Beach Artist is a prospect, not a profession.

John Olive. Was out here recruiting for Villanova in February and got together with Ford for a different kind of recruiting. While in the neighborhood, Olive interviewed for the head-coaching vacancy at St. Mary’s, which went to former Stanford assistant Ernie Kent. Kent would have figured as a major player in the Irvine search as well, but when the offer came from St. Mary’s, Kent decided he couldn’t wait. Olive, however, has time to burn.

Bruce Weber. If Ford called Keady this time around, it must have been for reference. Weber has been a Keady steady since 1979-80, when Keady was coaching at Western Kentucky and Weber was a graduate assistant. Weber knows the Big 10 like the back of his hand. The Big West offers new reading material.

Phil Mathews. A former Irvine and Fullerton assistant who is now head coach at Ventura College. At Ventura, Mathews coached Cedric Ceballos and helped direct him to Fullerton. Too bad he didn’t have Ceballos this season.

Ernie Carr. The in-house candidate of choice received his interview Thursday. A courtesy interview? Carr knew Ford recently held a “casual” chat with Mater Dei High School Coach Gary McKnight, where he basically informed McKnight that he would not consider high school coaches. Ford insisted that Carr would be interviewed as a serious candidate. Carr’s reference list is certainly serious--a Big West coaches Who’s Who that includes Jerry Tarkanian, Gary Colson, Pimm and Stan Morrison. Question: When that many coaches want you to join their conference, does that mean they like you . . . or that they think they can beat you?

The names of Sampson and Hazzard are still out there, floating, but appear unlikely to land, for different reasons.

Sampson seems set at Washington State, where he turned the Cougars from 7-22 dead weights in 1990 into Pac-10 contenders for much of the 1991 season before going 1-6 down the stretch. Sampson also has a year left on his contract and is negotiating a new one. The only potential sticking point would be the departure of Washington State Athletic Director Jim Livengood, who is reportedly a candidate for vacancies at Indiana and Iowa.

Hazzard won at Chapman and UCLA, but did so with renegade swagger--and, at Chapman, at least, left school officials wondering about image and priorities. Ford knows what he wants in those departments--Orange County conservative in demeanor, UC-system tolerant while recruiting.

Clean-cut is what cuts it with Ford.

April 1 is the deadline-in-the-sand Ford has drawn for himself. He wants a coach in place by Final Four time, so he can attend the Final Four without feeling like a slab of prime rib in a pool of piranha.

Finally, Ford is on the right track. It may take awhile, but sooner or later, he does get around to it.

It’s a shame, though, that Red Auerbach never returned his call.