Irvine Valley, Mulligan Fill In the Bye

The bye in the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball schedule was something its seven coaches looked forward to as a chance to rest their players and do some scouting.

But come fall, that break will be replaced by a headache in the form of an eighth team--Irvine Valley, which will balance the schedule--and Bill Mulligan, who was introduced as the Lasers’ coach Tuesday.

Mulligan, who coached 11 seasons at UC Irvine, is returning to the level he says brought him the most joy. He was at Riverside College from 1966 to 1975, and Saddleback College from 1976 to 1980.

Mulligan will have a chance to coach against several friends, including Saddleback’s Bill Brummel, Cypress’ Don Johnson and Riverside’s Bob Schermerhorn.

“I like every guy in this conference,” Mulligan said. “I couldn’t say that about the coaches in the Big West.”

Brummel was an assistant at Saddleback before taking over the program in the 1980-81 season when Mulligan left for Irvine.

“It’s a good opportunity for him,” Brummel said. “Not many people get another chance at something they love. It will affect us in recruiting, but it will affect everyone in Orange County. The talent pool is only so big.”

Johnson and Mulligan had outstanding teams in the 1979-80 season that met in the State tournament semifinals. Saddleback came in with a 34-game winning streak led by Kevin Magee, who was averaging 29 points. Cypress countered with center Mark Eaton, who is currently playing for the Utah Jazz.

Cypress won, 74-64, then went on to defeat Chabot in the championship game. The previous season, Saddleback had reached the title game under Mulligan, but lost to Orange Coast.

“It’s bad news for all of us,” Johnson said. “He’ll bring a certain charisma to the level that he does everywhere else. I’m very afraid he’ll have excellent players and it means another difficult preparation in an already difficult conference.”

Schermerhorn was an assistant to Mulligan for three seasons at Irvine and the two are close friends. They will be driving together to San Jose today to watch the State tournament.

“This might be the right thing at the right time for him,” Schermerhorn said. “I just hope he lets me win a game. Bill’s not going to come in and be empty-handed.”