CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Race Is Shaping Up Among Five Coaches

Formal interviews aren’t expected to begin until next week, but five coaches have emerged as leading candidates for the Cal State Fullerton basketball job.

Two are head coaches of highly successful Division II programs: Cal State Bakersfield’s Pat Douglass and UC Riverside’s John Masi. Two are assistants at major Division I schools: UCLA’s Brad Holland and Utah’s Donny Daniels. One is Orange County’s most successful high school coach, Mater Dei’s Gary McKnight.

All have been asked by Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard to apply for the job, and Shumard has had informal discussions with some of them.

Much of Shumard’s decision will hinge on his priorities--if Division I recruiting experience is the biggest factor, Holland and Daniels would have an edge; if head coaching experience and the ability to oversee a program are key, Douglass, Masi and McKnight would rate high.

Shumard isn’t tipping his hand, and there are several intangibles that can’t yet be measured--how candidates perform in formal interviews, how Fullerton administrators project each as a public figure, and whether the school’s compensation package is enough to lure certain candidates.

But here’s how the race appears to be shaping up:

Brad Holland: Could be the front-runner. Holland, 34, and Shumard have been friends since the early 1980s, when Holland represented a print shop that did work for the Dodgers, for whom Shumard worked in community relations.

Some around UCLA believe the former Bruin and Los Angeles Laker player could be the next Bruin head coach. He’s considered a solid recruiter, he’s very personable and has experience in radio and television broadcasting. Some thought he might not want to leave UCLA, but he has expressed interest in the Fullerton job.

Holland, in his fourth year as a Bruin assistant, has played for and worked under several outstanding coaches, including Gary Cunningham, Pat Riley and Don Nelson. The only knock on Holland: He has never been a head coach.

Pat Douglass: In the lead pack. Douglass has a 240-95 record in 11 years as a Division II head coach, six at Eastern Montana and the last five at Bakersfield. His teams have reached the NCAA tournament nine times, advancing to the national semifinals three times.

Douglass, 42, has been able to attract national recruits to Bakersfield, which isn’t easy. He’s an intellectual type who has his own local TV show. He also was a finalist for the San Diego State job, which went to UCLA assistant Tony Fuller last week.

Donny Daniels: The sleeper. When the school announced last week that John Sneed’s contract wouldn’t be renewed, Daniels wasn’t mentioned prominently as a possible replacement. But there appears to be a big push for him among longtime Titan athletic department employees, who knew him as a player and coach at Fullerton.

Daniels, 37, has head coaching experience--his L.A. Harbor teams went 33-28 in two seasons (1985-87). Having played at Fullerton and spent seven seasons as a Titan assistant, Daniels has a good grasp of the intricacies and challenges of the job.

He has spent the past three seasons under highly respected Utah Coach Rick Majerus and has the kind of outgoing personality that could impress the search committee.

John Masi: A definite contender. Masi, 43, is similar to Douglass in many ways. He’s well respected because of his record--270-106 in 13 years as Riverside’s head coach--his coaching ability and his knack for getting the most out of players.

His teams have won or shared the conference title seven times since 1980 and have reached the Division II national semifinals twice. He has an easygoing personality that would fit well in the Titan athletic department. He also was a finalist for the Fullerton job in 1989.

Gary McKnight: A mystery candidate, of sorts. Some look at Ron Palmer’s jump from Long Beach Poly High to Cal State Long Beach, where Palmer went 23-64 in three seasons (1984-87), and remain skeptical of McKnight making a similar move.

They see a coach who admits his weight problem is caused by the stress of coaching at Mater Dei, where he has about a 95% chance of winning most games, and they wonder: What’s going to happen when those chances drop to 50-50?

While Mater Dei critics say McKnight is a great recruiter, it’s a whole different ballgame in Division I, where all the schools recruit.

Still, McKnight, 39, has plenty going for him. He has a phenomenal record, he knows how to run a program, he’s good with the media, he graduated from Fullerton and has been a friend of Shumard several years.

Others to Watch: Don’t rule out Ventura College Coach Phil Mathews, who could become a finalist if the school shows a strong interest in him, Arizona assistant Tony McAndrews, Riverside College Coach Bob Schermerhorn and Titan assistant Mike Bokosky.

Real deal: Fullerton has reached six-figure, long-term marketing agreements with two beer companies that will be worth about $200,000 to the school over five years, said Larry Zucker, Titan associate athletic director.

Budweiser, through the Straub Distributing Company of Orange, will purchase a scoreboard panel in the Titan Sports Complex’s football stadium. Miller, through Consolidated Beverage of Buena Park, will purchase a scoreboard panel and outfield fence sign in the baseball stadium. Both also have purchased ads in game programs and schedule cards and on Titan radio broadcasts.

Zucker said income from scoreboard panels will go directly toward the payment of those scoreboards, at least for several years.

“It’s year six and beyond that these things can really help the department, because the equipment is paid for,” Zucker said. “Then you can really start generating revenue.”

Titan Notes

Wrestler Lyndon Campbell finished the season with a 26-8 record after winning two matches and losing twice in the NCAA championships last weekend at Oklahoma City, Okla. Campbell, a 134-pounder, advanced to the quarterfinals with victories over Eastern Illinois’ Ray Serbick (7-5) and Ohio’s Eric Kimble (3-1) but lost to top-seeded Tom Brands of Iowa, 16-7. He then lost to Arizona State’s Marco Sanchez in a third-round consolation match. Two other Titan wrestlers, 167-pounder Laszlo Molnar and 177-pounder Dwayne Buth, lost in the first round, and Fullerton finished with 5 1/2 team points. . . . Fullerton’s Jesse Henderson won the men’s triple jump at Saturday’s Long Beach State Collegiate Classic track meet with a leap of 14.82 meters, and Kristin Peters won the 3,000 meters in 9 minutes 55.46 seconds. Janell Dovalina placed second in the women’s 10,000 meters in 36:29.71, and Steve Frisone placed third in the 1,500 at 3:56.59. . . . The softball team’s 2-0 victory over Nevada Las Vegas Saturday marked Tiffany Boyd’s fourth shutout and 10th complete game of the season. Boyd, who hit a homer in the second inning, improved her record to 9-5 and lowered her earned-run average to 1.24.