Landreaux Returns to the Scene of His Prime : El Camino: After an unsuccessful reign as coach at St. Mary’s, he returns to the school where he won three state championships.

After three seasons as an NCAA Division I basketball coach, Paul Landreaux is back at El Camino College.

Landreaux left El Camino after the 1987-88 season to become an assistant at UCLA. After a season at Westwood, he signed a three-year contract as coach at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. But he resigned in January before the end of his second season because of a personality conflict between himself and Athletic Director Rick Mazzuto. He left with an 11-29 record.

The El Camino board of directors had granted Landreaux a leave of absence that secured his full-time teaching job if he decided to return.

In his previous nine seasons as El Camino coach, Landreaux guided the Warriors to three state championships (1981, 1985, 1988) and a 248-49 record.

Landreaux says he is glad to be home in Gardena where he and his family have lived for more than 20 years. He believes El Camino is at least a season away from being a contender for the state championship.

“I really had no chance to recruit any players so I had to accept what was left here from the previous regime, and we managed to pick up some local kids late in the summer,” Landreaux said. “The problem is we just don’t have the tremendous amount of college experience. The returning guys didn’t play much last year. Lack of experience and lack of height are our greatest weakness.”

The Warriors don’t have much depth, either. Barring injuries, only seven players expect to play on a regular basis. Troy Williams, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, starts at point guard, and freshman Chris Hansen (El Segundo High) starts at off-guard. The 6-3 Hansen, a Times South Bay All-Star last year, is a good outside shooter.

Freshman Mark Johnson will start at guard and forward, and freshman Zelle Hudson starts at small forward. Sophomore Tyrone Paul, the team’s best rebounder and second-leading scorer, starts at power forward, although he may miss a couple of weeks because of an ankle injury. Paul was The Times South Bay player of the year at Morningside High in 1990. He played at Clemson as a freshman.

“Tyrone is someone who is very important to the overall success we’ve had so far,” Landreaux said. “We don’t have anyone with the experience and athletic ability to replace him.”

Sophomore Jack Karuletwa (6-10) will be a center, and freshman Ronnie Grim (Redondo High) a backup guard.

“Our offensive production is not very good so we have to rely quite a bit on our defense,” Landreaux said. “It’s just kind of, you do what you have to do. There’s nothing anyone can do about it right now.

“We’re already recruiting high school kids for next year. Hopefully the situation will remedy itself by next season. . . . I am back in the saddle and will attempt to re-establish the kind of position we established in the ‘80s. That’s certainly first and foremost in my mind.”

The players appear happy with the coaching change, which brought in former Redondo High Coach Steve Shaw as an assistant. Karuletwa says he was skeptical at first, but soon realized Landreaux would only improve the program. Karuletwa played under Ron McClurkin last season. McClurkin, Landreaux’s longtime assistant, served as interim coach for the last three seasons.

“Practices are about the same,” Karuletwa said. “It’s a different style of coaching, though. It’s more up-tempo. We like it even though it’s stricter. He likes discipline, which is good if you want to win.”

Landreaux says his realistic goal this season is “to be competitive. To put ourselves in a position to compete in the playoffs at the end of the season. If there’s no injuries I’d be extremely pleased, but I know that’s going to be difficult.”

The Warriors open South Coast Conference play Jan. 18 at Pasadena City College.

The El Camino women have four starters from last season’s team, which finished 14-14 overall and 10-4 in the South Coast Conference. Sophomore Toya Ashford (Carson High) will start at point guard, sophomore Suzy McIver (Redondo High) starts at off-guard and sophomores Sarah Birt (Morningside High) and Evonne Renfroe will be the forwards.

Shasta Paris, a 6-foot freshman from Narbonne High, will start at center.

“This is probably the best team we’ve had here,” Coach Kristy Loesener said. “We’ve had good talent in the past, but not this much talent.”

The Warriors’ top reserves include freshman point guard Lilian Cabaleiro (Bishop Montgomery High), freshman off-guard Christine Henderson and freshman forward/center Crystal Fields.

“Our strength is that we have a lot of depth and a lot better athletes,” Loesener said. “We are quicker so we will run a fast-paced offense.”

El Camino opens South Coast Conference play at home Jan. 17 against Pasadena City College.