COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Coaches Hoping That Recent Rash Isn’t an Epidemic

Less than 24 hours after Lou Campanelli’s firing, the board of directors of the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches met via teleconference to discuss, in part, the disturbing trend of disposable coaches.

So far, Utah State’s Kohn Smith, Army’s Tom Miller and Campanelli have been fired, and word is that Youngstown State’s John Stroia might be next.

“Once it starts,” NABC president/Iowa State Coach Johnny Orr said of the midseason dismissals, “it’s like an infection.”

In the short term, Orr said the NABC wants to make sure that the rights of fired coaches--present and future--aren’t compromised. The concerns come after Miller, who was fired by Army because he continued to allegedly publicly degrade his players, received initial notice that he would be paid only for an additional 15 days and be required to leave the West Point grounds--on-campus housing is provided to coaches--within 30 days.

Since then, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who graduated from West Point, has arranged for his lawyer to represent Miller in a contract settlement.

“Our biggest concern right now is that these people have proper representation,” Orr said.

In the long term, college coaches worry about an apparent widening gap between athletic departments and university administrators. As the gap grows, so too do the adversarial relationships.

“The superintendent at West Point (Lt. Gen. Howard D. Graves) is almost anti-athletics,” said Indiana’s Bob Knight, who began his coaching career at Army. “And the president at Utah State (George Emert), who, after playing a round of golf with me last year. . . . I couldn’t believe what he was saying (about athletics). I told Kohn Smith and the athletic director (Rod Tueller) later that they couldn’t last a year with him.”

By the way, Tueller resigned last year.

Added Orr: “It’s like (Krzyzewski) said in his (NCAA Convention) speech: We’re farther apart than we’ve ever dreamed. It’s tough to coach. And it’s getting tougher.”

A moment of silence, please, for Steve Hatchell, who was hired recently to become the fifth commissioner in the 78-year history of the Southwest Conference--the league that basketball forgot.

Hatchell comes to the SWC from the Orange Bowl, where he served as executive director. At the moment, it’s a tossup between which is worse: wearing an orange polyester blazer and watching Nebraska get waxed every New Year’s Night or trying to rescue the SWC from its long and disastrous hoops slumber.

As usual, there isn’t an SWC team in either of the two weekly polls. Houston crawled its way up to No. 25 a few weeks ago and then lost four consecutive games. So thrilled was Cougar Coach Pat Foster with the free fall, he accused his team of giving up after a recent defeat.

Basketball mediocrity is something of a tradition in the SWC. The league didn’t have a team in the final regular-season Associated Press poll in 1992, 1989, 1988 or 1986. And if you don’t count Arkansas, which has since fled to the Southeastern Conference, the league didn’t have a top 25 team in 1990.

The sad truths are these: This is a league with little national television exposure and lots of disturbing rumors, the most notable being the impending defections of Texas and Texas A&M; to other conferences. Nor does it help that many of the best high school players in Texas make hasty getaways come letter-of-intent time. Just ask Michigan, which has former Texas prep stars Jimmy King and Ray Jackson on its roster.

SWC Part II: If ever a conference needed reconstructive surgery, this is the one. Of course, the ever-tactful Hatchell, who doesn’t take office until early April, is hesitant to toss stones at his new employer’s house.

“I think that the perception (of the SWC) is worse than it really is,” he said.

Maybe so, but until the conference addresses five key issues, SWC basketball will remain mired in anonymity. The items:

Television--SWC teams will make five regular-season appearances on ESPN and two regional appearances on ABC. Compare that to, say, the Big Ten, which will have 34 of its games shown on ESPN and CBS. You get the picture.

“When you talk basketball,” said a high-ranking Southwest Conference official, “you don’t talk SWC.”

Image--Football is king in the SWC. Basketball is court jester.

“We need to market our product,” Southern Methodist Coach John Shumate said. “But we’re going to have to give them the product to market, also.”

Conference tournament--Officially called the SWC Post-Season Classic and Festival, the league’s annual tournament is rarely anything worth celebrating. Put it this way: There are plenty of good seats available.

Recruiting--You’re a top 50 recruiting prospect. Do you go to Kansas, Indiana, Duke, Kentucky, Arizona or Baylor?

Officiating--It stinks. Ask any coach in the SWC what he thinks of the league’s good-old-boy network and the quality of the officiating and you will get the same response.

There is hope, of course. Hatchell is a smart guy. He worked seven years at the Big Eight Conference and was instrumental in the development of the league’s successful postseason tournament. He spent another four years at the Metro Conference before taking the Orange Bowl job. Better yet, Hatchell has an understanding of the beast that is television. He will need it.

As for the reports of a merger with the Big Eight, Hatchell said nothing is imminent--which is a clever way of saying it might still happen. For the moment, though, he said the SWC has more pressing problems than the need for a partner.

Comeback of the Year Nominees:

--Memphis State.

The Tigers began the season by losing star forward David Vaughn to a knee injury and then losing three consecutive games. Since the 0-3 start, Memphis State is 15-4 and a near lock to get an NCAA tournament bid.

Tiger fans can address the thank you notes to Wooden Award candidate Anfernee Hardaway, Coach Larry Finch and little-known guard Billy Smith, who has been nothing short of wonderful this season.

Despite Vaughn’s absence and having to contend with every gimmick defense imaginable, Hardaway is averaging 24.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.1 steals. In last Saturday’s upset of then-No. 4 Cincinnati, the junior swingman, battling flu, scored only 13 points. But no one seemed to notice that despite his illness, Hardaway also had nine assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Meanwhile, Smith has increased his scoring average nearly four points in the last 10 games, from 11.7 to 15.4. He scored 27 against Cincinnati and, entering Wednesday night’s victory over Southern Mississippi, had made 17 of his last 29 three-point shots. In fact, when Smith scores 20 points or more, the Tigers are 10-0; 14-2 when someone other than Hardaway scores 15 points or more.

Finch deserves a backslap for refusing to panic when Vaughn went down. Hardaway is a precious gem, but without the development of Smith and freshman point guard Sidney Coles, Memphis State would be lost.

“I’m proud of them regardless what happens the rest of the season,” Finch said.

--Southern Methodist.

How many more games does Shumate have to win this season before SMU offers him a contract extension?

The Mustangs, picked to finish fifth in the SWC’s preseason coaches poll, are 15-5 and surprise leaders of the league. It is SMU’s most productive start since 1985, when it advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“The script was written,” Shumate said. “We just had to play from the script.”

What he means is this: When hired in 1988, Shumate was given a mandate. Scandal-scarred SMU administrators wanted a clean program. They wanted players to earn degrees. They wanted victories.

“Now we’re competitive,” Shumate said. “Now the difference is our guys are delivering, they’re coming through. They have a lot of battle scars. They’ve been to many wars.”

As ordered, Shumate has kept the program spotless. And according to Shumate, all six of his seniors will graduate this year, which eases the administration’s academic concerns. Also worth noting is SMU’s 1992-93 recruiting class, which is generally ranked in the top 35 and among the leaders of non-traditional powers.

But it is those 15 victories--and counting--and the possibility of an NCAA bid that could and should earn Shumate the new contract he deserves.

“As far as I know, it’s still in limbo,” Shumate said of his future at SMU. “I’m not saying I’m not concerned about my contract situation, but I’m no longer worried about it. I feel I’ve responded, given them what was asked of me. Whatever happens after that, so be it. If it was my decision, (an extension) would have been done a long time ago.”

Kansas Coach Roy Williams is still stunned by two recent sights: His Jayhawks blowing a 12-point second-half lead during a loss to Nebraska last Sunday and Kansas dunk-master Darrin Hancock blowing an easy jam. Maybe it was the goggles, which Hancock wore for the first time after returning from laser eye surgery. . . . Two of the season’s best-kept secrets reside in the same city: Milwaukee. Wisconsin Milwaukee is the nation’s leading independent team and Marquette, which continues its climb up the polls, is fighting Cincinnati and Memphis State for the Great Midwest lead. “(Marquette’s) probably the sleeper team in the country, no doubt in my mind,” Memphis State’s Finch said. . . . Early NCAA tournament selection prediction: Krzyzewski said six invitations to Atlantic Coast Conference teams would not be “outlandish.” He added: “If somebody else got hot, there could even be a seventh team.” The sure six: Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Virginia.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Indiana 21-2 2. Kentucky 17-2 3. Duke 19-3 4. Michigan 19-3 5. North Carolina 19-3 6. Arizona 15-2 7. Kansas 19-3 8. Florida State 18-6 9. Cincinnati 18-2 10. Utah 17-3

Waiting list: Wake Forest (15-4) UNLV (16-2), Iowa (14-5), Arkansas (16-4), Vanderbilt (18-4)