At Westmont, Winning Makes Fears Disappear

Chet Kammerer, longtime athletic director and men’s basketball coach at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, says he was a little concerned about the prospects of the school’s fall sports teams this season.

It wasn’t simply because he had to fill coaching vacancies in men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball--traditionally three of the best programs at the school.

He was also concerned because only one of the three coaches he hired had any experience at the college level, men’s soccer coach, Dave Wolf, who had been an assistant at Wheaton College in Illinois.

But if Kammerer was worried, his fears seem to have been unfounded.

It has been business as usual for the Westmont athletic program.

The men’s soccer team is 4-1, having lost only by a 3-2 score to NCAA Division I power UCLA, and is ranked No. 11 in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics; the women’s volleyball team is 7-2 under Coach Cathy Rex, and the women’s soccer team is 1-0 under Harald Heinrich.

“I don’t want to sound too overconfident about it, but I certainly have less doubt and I have more confidence that they can get the job done,” Kammerer said.

After last season, Kammerer said he was already reconciled to the probability that the women’s volleyball and soccer coaches would not be returning.

Ken Preston had guided the Warriors’ volleyball team to a 44-17 record the past two seasons and a fifth-place finish in the NAIA last year. But he is also the longtime men’s volleyball coach at UC Santa Barbara and wanted to focus on that position.

The resignation of women’s soccer Coach Graham West was also not a surprise because his team had struggled to a 3-14 record last season.

The only surprise was that Bob Fortosis, coach of men’s soccer team, a perennial NAIA power, was leaving to become director of special projects for the 1994 World Cup. Fortosis coached Westmont for eight years, had a 114-45-7 record and his teams were consistently listed in the NAIA’s top 25.

“Bob . . . just had an excellent opportunity that he felt he couldn’t pass up,” Kammerer said.

Kammerer, though, appears satisfied with the replacements.

“You’re always going to miss people that you’ve had before and have done a quality job for you, but I’m happy with the people I hired and I think they’re going to do a very good job,” he said.

Although neither Wolf nor Heinrich has much experience at the college level, Kammerer said each has an impressive soccer background. Before becoming an assistant at Wheaton, Wolf was a professional player for eight years.

“Obviously, he’s gotten the team off to a tremendous start, but we felt like we had some good people coming back,” Kammerer said. “Bob left, but he didn’t leave the cupboard bare. So we feel like we’re going to have an outstanding team.”

Kammerer is also well aware of Heinrich’s talents, having watched him earn All-American soccer honors at Westmont in 1979 and 1981.

“He’s been a good player in Germany, an All-American at Westmont and has taught at a lot of camps,” he said. “We’ve been up and down in women’s soccer and now we’re hoping to be up again.”

Rex coached at a small school in South Carolina, Ben Lippen High of Columbia, but has the most victories of the three newcomers.

“When I first hired these people, I didn’t even realize that none of them had ever coached a college team before,” Kammerer said. “That might not be an ideal situation, and it’s not like we tried to do that. We were just looking for quality people with enthusiasm and not only do they have that, they also have good character.”

Besides, Kammerer can relate to his new coaches personally. He started his career as a college basketball coach at Grace College in Indiana with no college experience. He has since coached at the college level for 26 years and has been athletic director at Westmont for 14.

The new Westmont coaches may not match Kammerer’s longevity but they are off to a good start.

The Azusa Pacific University football program might have taken a giant step forward with its 21-19 victory over Austin College of Texas last week.

The Cougars defeated a team that has been a perennial NAIA power and was ranked No. 16 in Division II.

The victory was even more impressive, considering that Azusa was outgained in total yards, 402-48.

“Statistically, they should have beaten us on paper, but defensively we didn’t break,” assistant coach Tom Mitchell said.

The Cougar defense benefited from the play of safety Dusty Bach, who returned a fumble 54 yards for a touchdown and took an interception 38 yards for another score. Bach, who also intercepted another pass and made eight unassisted tackles, was selected NAIA Division II defensive player of the week.

The victory has also taken Azusa to new heights in the Division II rankings. The Cougars are No. 13 after having been No. 23 the previous week.

“We beat the 16th-ranked team in the nation and they were ranked No. 8 the week before,” Mitchell said. “So right now people can look at us and say Azusa’s a pretty good team.”

Mitchell doesn’t want the Cougars to get carried away with their early success, though. Not with a game against Humboldt State, an NCAA Division II team with a 2-1 record on Saturday.

“We’re not going to look back at it too long,” Mitchell said. “We’re going to say we beat them and look forward to Humboldt.”

College Division Notes

The Whittier football team went 0-9 last season, but the Poets posted a 15-3 victory over Claremont-Mudd last week in their first game under Coach Ken Visser, who was an assistant at Cal State Long Beach the past 10 years.

Redlands, the defending champion in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, had to struggle to a 27-20 victory over La Verne in its season and conference opener last week. Redlands can expect another strong test when it plays host to the University of San Diego (1-0) Saturday.

Cal State San Bernardino is off to a fast start in men’s and women’s soccer in its first year in NCAA Division II. The Coyotes improved to 4-1 in women’s play with a 2-0 victory Monday over UC Santa Cruz, and the men defeated Cal State Hayward, 4-0, improving their record to 3-1-1.