CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / SCOTT MILLER : Utah Assistant Keeping His Eye on Titans

Chris Brazier is a Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach. He has seen one of the Titans’ three games this season.

Donny Daniels is a University of Utah assistant basketball coach. He has seen two of the Titans’ three games.

So . . .

Has Brazier been goofing off? Is Daniels ready to join the Titan coaching staff? What in the name of James Naismith is going on?

The answer: Recruiting, and money, of course.

Brazier missed Fullerton’s season-opener at Wyoming and Friday’s St. Mary’s game because he was off recruiting.

Meanwhile, Daniels, a former Titan player and assistant coach, has been bird-dogging the Titans because Utah plays Saturday night at Fullerton. Daniels scouted the Titans in their season-opener at Wyoming and again Friday at St. Mary’s.

Because Utah is able to spend lots of money and Fullerton must keep a close watch on its pennies, the Titans are scouting Utah the old-fashioned way: Videotape. No Fullerton representative will see Utah play live, in person, until the Utes take the floor Saturday.

“ We should be the ones scouting them twice,” Fullerton Coach Brad Holland said, laughing.

Daniels was recruiting in Denver the first weekend in December, so that explains the first scouting trip.

“It was a two-for-one deal,” Daniels said. “Recruiting, and we were able to see both Fullerton and (Western Athletic Conference rival) Wyoming.”

Daniels, who is in charge of West Coast recruiting for Utah, also combined recruiting and scouting last weekend in the Bay Area.

“We’re OK financially, but they look at it, too,” Daniels said. “Sometimes they’re like, ‘Wait, what are you doing?’ ”

*

After playing at Fullerton for two seasons in the mid-1970s then assisting former Titan coaches Bobby Dye (1978-1980) and George McQuarn (1986-1989), Daniels is entering his fifth season under Coach Rick Majerus at Utah.

“I love it,” said Daniels, 39, who is married and has three children. “It’s a great university; I work for an outstanding coach. My family likes it.”

Daniels was contacted and was asked by Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard to interview for the head coaching job when John Sneed did not return after the 1991-92 season. But the Titans hired Holland--before Daniels even interviewed--and Daniels never heard from them again.

Although Daniels said he still follows Fullerton through the newspaper, and tries to stop by the campus when he is in California recruiting, Saturday’s game will not tug too many heartstrings.

He gave the standard answer, that he will be focused on winning and concentrating on his own team.

And besides, because Daniels knows the area, Majerus will probably lean on him for a postgame restaurant choice.

“Everybody says (Majerus) must be a great guy to work for, but he’s like all successful coaches,” Daniels said. “He’s demanding, he knows how to run a program, he knows how to give players roles to play. Unfortunately, this year, we’re kind of young.”

*

Change in Offing: In regard to live scouting and the situation between Utah and Fullerton, Holland said: “That’s where budgets can be unfair.”

But there is a piece of legislation that the NCAA will look at during its annual convention in January that would, for the most part, do away with scouting basketball games in person. At least, it would negate scouting trips as legitimate business trips because it would make it illegal for schools to reimburse coaches for scouting.

“If we want to see Long Beach State, for example, we could buy a ticket but we can’t be reimbursed for that ticket, for food, or for anything else,” Holland said.

Titan Notes

Three Titans have made Big West Conference All-Academic teams for fall sports: Ann Marie Martin in volleyball (3.33 grade-point average, liberal arts major); Brian Johnson in men’s cross-country (3.29 GPA, mathematics major) and Heather Killeen in women’s cross-country (3.33, English major).