NOTEBOOK / ROB FERNAS : Serra’s Hurt May Be Moving Up the Coast

Should he stay or should he go?

That’s the question Serra High basketball Coach Dwan Hurt might have to ask himself before the week is over.

Hurt, who guided Serra to the State Division IV title last season, is a candidate to become a part-time assistant at UC Santa Barbara. He expects to be notified of the school’s decision within a day or two.

But Hurt doesn’t know if he would accept the position.

“I’d have to sit down and weigh the pros and cons,” he said.

Weighing heavily on Hurt’s mind is the recent transfer to Serra of Rick Price, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard considered among the top college prospects on the West Coast. Price left St. Anthony after becoming disenchanted with the coaching turnover at the Long Beach school, which had five basketball coaches in three years and three in the past 11 months.

Presumably, the last thing Price wants is for another coach to bail on him.

“That is a concern,” said Hurt, entering his sixth year at Serra. “But being a college coach is something I’ve always wanted and dreamed of. To get in a situation to be there is something I have to look at strongly.”

On the other hand, Hurt said he would love the opportunity to coach Price, whose addition elevates Serra as a contender to repeat as state champion.

“That’s one of the things that would weigh in my decision,” Hurt said. “Any coach would take that into consideration.”

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A newspaper reported Tuesday that another highly regarded senior might transfer to Serra.

Tommie Davis, a muscular 5-7 point guard nicknamed Tank, reportedly was considering Serra after being expelled from Fremont for fighting. Davis, who has already met NCAA academic requirements, has narrowed his college choices to USC, Arizona, Providence, Houston and Boston College.

But when reached at home, Davis said he never considered transferring to Serra. If he is not allowed to return to Fremont, he will transfer to Crenshaw, the defending State Division I champion.

Hurt said it’s just as well. He expressed concern that another newcomer could offend Serra’s returning players.

“I don’t want to see a situation where people are transferring in for their senior year and playing over the kids we already have,” said Hurt, The Times’ South Bay coach of the year. “It’s important for the kids to feel that I’m dedicated to them, because they’ve been dedicated to me.”

Although Serra graduated five starters from last season’s team that finished with an 18-game winning streak and 26-7 record, Hurt thinks the Cavaliers have the talent to enjoy another successful season. Three players from the state championship team--6-8 center Akeli Jackson (Cal State Long Beach) and 6-5 forwards Michael Boyd and Arthur Tate (Cal State Sacramento)--will play at Division I colleges.

“I think we’re going to have a really good team,” Hurt said. “Last year, we could climb on Akeli’s back, or Michael’s, or Arthur’s. This year we need some people to step up. It’s going to be interesting.”

Among the players Hurt expects to step forward are 6-5 senior forwards Tremaine Lassitter and Dujuan Sweed, 6-8 senior center Duane Thalley, 6-4 senior shooting guard Jimmy Centers and 5-10 junior point guard Paul Foster. Among that group, Hurt said Lassitter is drawing the most attention from colleges.

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After a week at Fresno State, former Banning running back Damin Hurst has returned to the South Bay and is practicing with the Harbor College football team.

Harbor coaches thought they had lost the recruiting battle for Hurst when they learned he was attempting to walk-on at Fresno State. But on Friday, Harbor assistant Gene Miranda said he received a phone call from a Fresno State coach, who informed him that Hurst had changed his mind and wanted to play for Harbor.

That was welcome news for Miranda, who until a few weeks ago was counting on Hurst to attend Harbor.

“We were kind of disappointed when we found out Damin was in Fresno,” Miranda said. “I had been in constant contact with him all spring and summer.”

Miranda said Harbor will try to place Hurst, who met NCAA academic requirements, at a four-year college after his freshman year.

“If he has a good year here and does everything academically he is supposed to do, we will push to get him a four-year ride,” Miranda said. “That is the commitment we made to him and we’re going to stick to that.”

Miranda said Hurst wants to eventually play at San Diego State.

Fresno State assistant Mike Hill said Hurst took part in an early practice session for incoming freshmen last week.

“We would have preferred that he stayed,” Hill said. “He’s a good back.”

Miranda said Hurst has a good chance to start at wingback for Harbor. The 5-foot-8, 165-pound back led Banning in rushing last season with 793 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was impressive in the Lions All-Star game last month, rushing for 130 yards and two TDs.

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In a case of the rich getting richer, Hawthorne’s football team has added running back Eric Chaney to its already talented roster.

Chaney, a senior, was the leading rusher at Bishop Montgomery last season with 706 yards and nine touchdowns. He joins a deep list of skill-position players at Hawthorne that includes All-Bay League quarterback Kenji Tatum, returning running backs Raul Sanchez and Omar Morgan, and receiver-defensive back Justin Stallings, one of the area’s most heavily recruited players and Chaney’s cousin.

“I have more backs than I know what to do with,” said Hawthorne Coach Dan Robbins, who compares Chaney to Morell Ollis, an All-Southern Section back for the Cougars in 1991.

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Sometimes it takes time to become acclimated at a new job. Mike Sakurai found that out in a humorous way last spring.

Sakurai, who is coaching at Carson after a 16-year career at Gardena, was addressing Carson’s B football team when he momentarily forgot where he was.

“I told the players we have to be ready to beat Banning and Carson,” he said. “One of the kids spoke up and said, ‘Hey, coach, we are Carson.’ I’ve been at Gardena for so long, I have to get used to that.”

Sakurai, 39, was the football coach for the past four years and the baseball coach for the past 14 at Gardena. Now he is coaching the B football team at Carson and plans to help out with the varsity baseball team. He will teach health at Carson.

“I guess it was time for a change,” Sakurai said. “The weird part is getting rid of all my green (Gardena) clothes for black and blue (Carson) clothes. So far it’s been pretty good. I look at it as a new chapter.”

Notes

Donald Threatt, a former coach at Hamilton High and Southwest College, has replaced Sakurai as Gardena’s football coach. Joe Cortez, a former football and baseball standout at Mary Star, is Gardena’s new baseball coach. Cortez has served as a baseball assistant at El Camino, Harbor and Narbonne. . . . Gardena is bringing back its wrestling and golf programs, in addition to starting a girls’ soccer team. Gardena will be the only City Section school in the South Bay to compete in wrestling, with most of its opposing schools located in the San Fernando Valley. The team will be coached by Richard Lauterbach. The golf team will be coached by Seitaro Myano. Yvonne Forbes will coach the girls’ soccer team. “We want to build up our extracurricular activities,” said assistant principal Wendell Greer, explaining Gardena’s expanded list of sports for the coming year.

Alex Davis, a point guard from Serra who was expected to be among the top basketball recruits at El Camino, has changed his plans and will attend Paine College in Augusta, Ga. . . . According to Dick Lascola, director of the Scouting Evaluation Assn. in Fallbrook, the South Bay’s top college football prospects are Hawthorne receiver-defensive back Justin Stallings, Peninsula offensive lineman Matt Redman and Carson receiver Shadeed Muhammad. Richard Estrada of Para-Dies Scouting also likes Stallings and Redman, but he favors North Torrance running back-defensive back Lacy Watkins over Muhammad. . . . Corey McCoy, the Hawthorne tailback who signed with Arizona State, failed to obtain an NCAA-required score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and will attend a community college in Arizona but not play football. He will try to pass the SAT and enroll at Arizona State in the spring.