Titans Trim List to Seven : Colleges: McKnight, Holland among finalists for Fullerton basketball coaching job.

Two Division I head coaches, a Final Four assistant and four Southern California coaches, including Mater Dei High School’s Gary McKnight, are the seven finalists for the Cal State Fullerton basketball job.

A search committee narrowed a field of 53 candidates Thursday and Friday and will begin interviews next week.

Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard would not reveal the finalists, but several sources confirmed that Idaho Coach Larry Eustachy and Yale Coach Dick Kuchen are among the seven.

The other five--McKnight, UCLA assistant Brad Holland, UC Riverside Coach John Masi, Biola University Coach Dave Holmquist and Cincinnati assistant Steve Moeller--said they were told by Shumard Friday that they would be interviewed.

Holland, whom many consider the leading candidate to replace John Sneed, is also a finalist for the Loyola Marymount job.

Cal State Bakersfield Coach Pat Douglass, who was considered a strong candidate for the job, withdrew from the running Wednesday and former Fullerton player and assistant Donny Daniels, who was asked by Shumard to apply for the job, was told Friday he would not be interviewed.

“I’m disappointed,” Daniels said. “I could understand if they had a real strong applicant pool and were down to three or four finalists, but when I wasn’t included among seven, I said, ‘Oh, man.’ I wouldn’t have applied if I wasn’t asked.”

Eustachy has Southern California roots, having graduated from Arcadia High School, Citrus College and Cal State Long Beach. He spent four years (1977-81) as an assistant coach at Citrus before moving to Mississippi State, where he spent five years (1981-86) under then-Bulldog Coach Bob Boyd.

Eustachy, 37, spent one season (1986-87) as an assistant at Idaho, two seasons (1987-89) as an assistant at Utah and one season (1989-90) as an assistant at Ball State before becoming Idaho’s head coach in 1990. He guided Idaho to records of 19-11 last season and 18-14 this season.

Kuchen, who has been mentioned in connection with several openings the past several years, spent seven years as the head coach at California before moving to Yale in 1986, where he has coached for six seasons. The Elis went 17-9 this season.

Kuchen, 47, who also worked as an assistant at Notre Dame and Iowa, declined to comment on the Fullerton opening.

“I don’t make any comments on those sorts of things,” he said. “I’ll leave that up to the schools.”

Moeller, 47, is in his 27th year of coaching, the last 18 of which have been in the college ranks. In his third year at Cincinnati working with Coach Bob Huggins, Moeller recruited several Southern California players to the Bearcats, who play Michigan in today’s Final Four at Minneapolis.

Moeller has previously been an assistant at Rice for 1 1/2 years, Texas for 5 1/2 years, Cal State Bakersfield (under former Titan Coach Bobby Dye) for one year, Mississippi for four years and Cincinnati for three years.

“I’m really psyched about it, I think it’s a great opportunity,” Moeller said of the Fullerton job. “I see no reason why they can’t be as competitive in that league as everyone else.”

McKnight, a 39-year-old Fullerton graduate, has been Orange County’s most successful high school coach in the past 10 years, guiding Mater Dei to a 286-26 record and seven Southern Section championships.

Holland, the former UCLA and Los Angeles Laker player, has spent four seasons as an assistant under Jim Harrick at UCLA. Holland, 34, has never been a head coach but has gained a reputation as a rising talent in the business.

Holmquist, 41, recently completed his 12th season at Biola, where he has led the Eagles to a 301-66 record. Biola was the runnerup in the 1982 NAIA national tournament and reached the quarterfinals this season, where the Eagles lost to Pfeiffer College of North Carolina.

Masi, 43, has a 270-106 career record in 13 seasons as UC Riverside’s head coach. His teams have won or shared the conference title seven times since 1980 and have reached the Division II national semifinals twice.