Douglass Rebuilds CS Bakersfield Quickly Into National Powerhouse

You probably never heard of Pat Douglass, but he coaches the top-ranked team in the nation, has a 16-0 record and his own TV show.

Welcome to NCAA Division II.

Those who follow Division II basketball, or have stopped in Bakersfield longer than it takes to buy gas, know that Douglass is the coach of Cal State Bakersfield’s men’s basketball team.

His is as big a powerhouse as exists in Division II. But because of the school’s location and the relative lack of interest in Division II, few outsiders know how good a coach Douglass is.

He has his team headed for his fourth California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title, despite having lost eight players, three of them starters, from last season’s second-place squad.

So the guy is doing something right.

Much of that is recruiting, which involves selling the city as well as the program.

The program is not a hard sell: Seven CCAA titles, eight NCAA playoff berths in the last 10 years--five of those resulting in trips to the final four--and five NCAA Western Regional championships.

Bakersfield has a reputation for being less than cosmopolitan, but the city supports its athletic programs. Bakersfield’s fans, boosters and alumni back their school with as much enthusiasm as those from USC or UCLA.

Jim Parks, the coach who preceded Douglass, was 76-35 in four years and never had a losing season. But his teams never finished higher than third place in the CCAA, and he was not asked to return after his fourth season.

But Douglass sells that outlook as support--not pressure--and he gets the top Division II players.

It helps that Bakersfield has a large budget. Nearly $200,000 of the school’s athletic budget is earmarked for basketball, and there are 12 scholarships available.

In contrast, CCAA opponents Chapman and Cal State Dominguez Hills have zero and three basketball scholarships, respectively. During the weekend, Bakersfield defeated Chapman, 102-81, and Dominguez Hills, 73-69.

Winning helps recruiting and fund raising, and Douglass neglects neither.

One of the most active recruiters in Division II, Douglass has only two players from Bakersfield. Two of his top players, Roheen Oats and Tyrone Davis, are from New York, by way of Columbia College, a junior college in Sonora, Calif., and three-point threat Kenny Warren is from Portland, Ore.

And they are among the reasons Douglass’ team is ranked No.1 in the nation.

“Because we lost seven seniors, we didn’t know what kind of team we might be,” Warren said.

“I thought it might be a rebuilding year. But this team seemed to jell a little earlier than in past years. Have we jelled too early? That’s been brought up, but we try to take things one game at time.”

A team of American football players will tour Australia for two weeks in July to help promote the sport abroad.

Jim Farmer, a Southern California Athletic Assn. referee and an assistant chairman/assistant director of athletics at Pasadena City College, is taking applications to fill out a squad of college players to play in Brisbane and Sydney.

Eight Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference players are going, including all-SCIAC performers Cassady O’Sullivan of Cal Lutheran at tailback and Ted Diffey of Whittier at linebacker.

The team, called the American Football Tour, will play one of the top teams from the Queensland Gridiron Football League in Brisbane and will play an all-star team in Sydney.

International Sports Group, a nonprofit organization, is assisting Farmer.

Farmer has recruited players from the SCIAC schools to join the team because the highest-level Australian teams play near the college Division II and III levels and because of his familiarity with the conference.

American football is still pauper and rugby is prince in Australia, but football has been played there for about seven years and enjoys what Farmer said is a cult following.

“The tackling and running with the ball transfers from rugby to American football very well. They are good at getting to the football and running with the football,” Farmer said.

“But since it’s such a young sport there, and hasn’t been on TV every weekend for several generations, they don’t understand it as well.”

There are no restrictions as to who may apply for the 44 spots--two-deep at each position. Farmer prefers that the players still have collegiate eligibility, but it is not mandatory, and early applicants will have preferred status regardless of eligibility.

Players will spend part of the tour with Australian families, so they will experience what it like to live in Australia, as opposed to being mere tourists. The team will travel to Gold Coast as well as Sydney and Brisbane.

For details, call Farmer at (714) 733-0588 or (818) 585-7789.

College Division Notes

Mark Massey, coach of the Cal State Los Angeles women’s volleyball team, is the Asics/Volleyball Monthly coach of the year for 1992. Massey guided the Golden Eagles to a No. 4 ranking in the final NCAA Division II poll with a 25-10 record. Cal State L.A. was 9-19 the year before. Freshman outside hitter Andrea Ferchaw of Cal State L.A. and senior outside hitter Mitsue Tomoyasu of Cal Poly Pomona were voted second-team All-Americans. . . . Five- and 10-kilometer runs to benefit the Azusa Pacific track and field program and the Azusa elementary schools’ athletic programs are scheduled for Feb. 1. Details: (818) 969-4660.