COMMENTARY : Cal Firing: Method to Madness?

To all those who bought the official explanation of Lou Campanelli’s stunning midseason firing, please report to the Gullibility Walk of Fame, where a star with your name on it awaits.

That’s because as lame excuses go, few needed a pair of crutches more than the one delivered by California Athletic Director Bob Bockrath, who dismissed Campanelli without warning Monday and calmly explained that there was “no specific reason” for the decision. Instead, Bockrath said, “it’s just a feeling I had regarding the direction of the program and where it was headed.”

In other words, Campanelli was doomed from the start.

Reaction from fellow coaches to Campanelli’s surprise pink slip bordered on righteous indignation and outrage. To fire a coach is one thing, but to fire a coach in the middle of the season . . . with a winning record . . . with no idea he is about to get canned?

Said Indiana Coach Bob Knight: “Lou Campanelli is as good a coach as possible for California. Only an idiot would want to make a change.”

And so upset was Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins, you could have fried hamburger patties on his forehead.

“I get tired of (school) presidents preaching so much about all this integrity and . . . then to pull something like this off,” Cremins said. “I hope Lou has a good lawyer and gets compensated well for himself and his family.

“It’s really appalling to me. I don’t understand it. I’m sure there’s more to it than what has been said.”

Well, now that you mention it. . . .

According to sources with firsthand knowledge of the situation, Campanelli’s future at Cal was in doubt even before the start of the 1992-93 season. The first cracks appeared shortly after Bockrath insisted that Campanelli’s contract be restructured to include a buyout clause. Campanelli reluctantly agreed to the clause, but not before expressing concern over the changes.

From that point on, Campanelli began to lose favor with Bockrath, as well as Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien and Vice Chancellor Daniel Boggan Jr.--all of whom arrived at Berkeley years after Campanelli’s hiring in 1985 and all of whom were eager to put their stamp on the Golden Bear basketball program. Word trickled out: It would take a remarkable season for Campanelli to remain as coach.

How pleased then must Tien, Boggan and Bockrath have been when Cal went on a recent three-game losing streak, including a home loss to Washington State and a road loss to Arizona State. And who could forget the nonconference upset to little-regarded Cornell of the Ivy League last December?

Also damaging was budding player unrest with Campanelli’s coaching and communication methods. Brash, demanding, stubborn, and often times too critical and too emotional, Campanelli angered enough Golden Bear players that they later asked for and received audiences with high-ranking school officials, including Bockrath and Boggan. There was talk of mass defections, of a player mutiny similar to the one that scarred San Jose State’s program a few seasons ago.

Still, a 10-7 record and the whining of players isn’t good enough reason to fire a coach who resurrected the program eight seasons ago. After all, wasn’t Campanelli the guy who recently received a note from Bockrath commending him on the team’s play after a 104-82 rout of UCLA? And if Campanelli’s methods were so distasteful, why was a five-year contract extension approved and signed during Bockrath’s watch?

Bockrath is known as a no-nonsense, bottom-line administrator. “A person who is clearly substance over style,” is the way the 1992-93 Cal basketball media guide put it.

Campanelli learned that particular lesson the hard way. Not only is Bockrath, as well as Tien and Boggan, lacking in style, but also in compassion and common sense. You fire a coach at midseason for gross insubordination, for cheating, for criminal actions. You don’t fire him because a young team--eight of the nine Cal players in the rotation are freshmen and sophomores--has been predictably inconsistent or hasn’t met unrealistic expectations.

A nationwide search for a replacement is under way, which is too bad, since the best guy for the job has packed his office and left. Campanelli, who has more than three years remaining on his contract, deserved better than a guided trip to the trap door. And Cal deserves better than an administration more interested in power plays than honesty.