Setting Sail at Community College Level

They were as much a part of February as groundhogs and Grammy Awards. Three high school coaches named Tim, Tom and Steve. This time of year, the Southern Section basketball playoffs could count on their presence. But that is no longer true.

It isn’t unusual for coaches to want to move on, to seek challenges or situations they don’t have. Sometimes, a job can get too steady. The road becomes so smooth you tend to doze at the wheel.

Tim O’Brien, Tom McCluskey and Steve Popovich gave up their safe, snug harbors last year. They decided to leave their predictable existences and set out for the unknown.

O’Brien, who turned the Estancia boys’ basketball program into one of the county’s best, became the head coach at Orange Coast College in May. McCluskey, who had similar success at Tustin, is now an assistant coach at Saddleback College. And Popovich, Marina’s masterful coach for 17 years, is a volunteer assistant at Saddleback, which enters this week’s Southern California community college playoffs as the third-seeded team.

Before you get dreamy-eyed, high school coaches, know that the transition to community college hasn’t been easy. Sure, parents and boosters are less of a bother, and CIF Southern Section rules are just an annoying memory, but coaching at the next level is not without pitfalls.

Don’t believe it? Listen to the experts.

“There’s a lot to learn,” McCluskey says.

“I really found out how ill-prepared I was for this level,” Popovich says.

“It was a nightmare,” O’Brien says. “I fell flat on my face.”

Keep in mind these are hardly the hacks of the coaching world. McCluskey was 109-40 in five years at Tustin; Popovich was 268-161 at Marina; O’Brien was 111-42 in five seasons at Estancia. Granted, O’Brien’s inaugural season was tough--Orange Coast finished its season last week at 5-23--but popular opinion argues that he’ll eventually adjust.

Community college basketball, these rookie coaches say, is far quicker and faster than they previously believed. Athletes are much stronger, competition is more intense. And the coaching? O’Brien would rather not talk about it. Apparently, matching wits against those older, wiser and craftier isn’t, at this point, much fun to discuss. Though that’s just what O’Brien and McCluskey did during their lunch breaks last fall.

O’Brien, who was laid off from his teaching job at Estancia last spring, works as a substitute teacher to supplement his income as a walk-on coach at OCC. During the fall, he substituted at Columbus Tustin Middle School, where McCluskey teaches physical education. Lunchtime meant comparing notes on everything from recruiting to scouting to player personnel. High school hoops seemed ages away.

The question is, do they miss it? Do they stay awake at night wondering about that old high school team? Do they sing the alma mater in their sleep? Do they find themselves flipping through the CIF Southern Section Blue Book, just for old time’s sake?

Apparently not. Even O’Brien, after a dismal year, says although he feels a little nostalgic now that the playoffs are under way, that’s about the extent of it. Making the jump to the next level, despite the pain of a miserable season, was worth it.

“I was getting a little too comfortable at Estancia,” O’Brien says. “It was kind of a ‘Been there, done that’ kind of thing. I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I hadn’t taken the step.”

McCluskey can relate. Tustin was great, he says, but it was time to move on. Besides, it’s not like he can’t get daily updates on the Tiller program--current Tustin Coach Andy Ground is McCluskey’s roommate.

And Popovich? He resigned as Marina’s coach last spring mostly because he accepted a similar position at a high school in Colorado. But when he was unable to sell his home in San Clemente, he had to turn that coaching position, and he was left facing the first winter without basketball in more than 30 years. He joined the Saddleback staff five weeks into the season.

The biggest question, of course, is how McCluskey and Popovich manage to coach from the same side of the court. At Tustin, McCluskey was legendary for his body language. Combine a pogo stick, a front-row fan at a Morrissey concert and the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland and you’ve pretty much got McCluskey’s standard movements down pat. At Marina, Popovich was much the same, only quieter. Just watching them gave you motion sickness.

Consider that, in community college games, only one coach (usually, the head coach) is allowed to stand during play at any one time, Popovich said. The others are to sit still and stay quiet.

“Hey,” Popovich says, “at least we haven’t gotten a technical yet.”

Beginners’ luck, no doubt.