Coaches’ Group Condemns Cal’s Firing of Campanelli

In an unprecedented move Tuesday college basketball coaches condemned the firing of California coach Lou Campanelli.

For the first time in its 65 years, the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches publicly gave support to a dismissed coach.

Campanelli, fired last week with a 10-7 record with a talented, but young, team, was replaced by an assistant, 29-year-old Todd Bozeman. The coaches called it unfair treatment and a “shock to the college basketball community.”

“The NABC is not a judicial body, but the association must be concerned with the treatment of its members,” the NABC said in a prepared statement at its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo.

“We can see no evidence of coach Campanelli being granted rights that everyone deserves.”

Campanelli was fired in his eighth season and not long after his team handed UCLA its worst beating.

In a statement, California Athletic Director Bob Bockrath said:

“We do understand the concern of the coaches’ association about the dismissal of one of its members.

“The reasons for relieving him of his duties has been well-documented in the local media and some national publications, many of which were supportive of the decision. It would not be productive to rehash all those decisions.”