CSUN Coach Left to Ponder Silver Lining

The tearful, distraught woman approached Mike Johnson on Monday night, an offering in her trembling hand.

The woman recognized Johnson, a Northridge basketball assistant, from a television segment broadcast in South Bend, Ind., the day of the Matadors’ game against Notre Dame. On it, Johnson answered questions about the devastating effects of the Jan. 17 earthquake.

His replies obviously struck an emotional chord. Johnson said the woman expressed how lucky Notre Dame fans and the residents of South Bend were that they did not fall victim to such tragedies. She said that she wished she could be of some help to the Northridge players who lost their homes.

Take this, she said, thrusting some money in Johnson’s direction.

At first, Johnson declined. But then he gave in, accepting the gift when it became obvious that the woman was not going to take no for an answer.

The donation: $7.

“I don’t know how much good I can do with it, but at least it made her feel better,” Johnson said.

As word of the incident spread, Johnson took a lot of ribbing.

When he boarded the flight back to Los Angeles, Athletic Director Bob Hiegert approached Johnson and offered him a quarter. “Here,” Hiegert said, “I saw you on TV and wanted to make a contribution.”

Later, Hiegert gave another quarter to a flight attendant and set her up to make a similar donation.

But Johnson, who is paid less than $5,000 to do the work of a full-time assistant, got the last laugh.

He sent the following message back to Hiegert:

“Thanks for doubling my salary.”

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

Wowed by Mystery Guest

The Matadors had a surprise visitor at the end of their Monday afternoon practice before the game that night against Notre Dame.

Just as Northridge players were preparing to leave Joyce Center, in walked Lou Holtz, the Fighting Irish football coach.

Holtz signed autographs, posed for pictures and shook hands with the Northridge contingent for about 15 minutes, pausing to confide that he once wanted to be a basketball coach.

“He indicated that (coaching basketball) is very simple,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “He said that basically if one team shoots 45% and the other only shoots 38%, then that means the second team needs to work on shooting.”

Just like that.

“He also indicated that there were only three officials in basketball to contend with and he had far too many in football to contend with, so that’s another reason coaching basketball was simple,” Cassidy said.

Rather than argue, Cassidy chose to grin and bear it.

“I told him that I appreciated him simplifying the game so much for me, that I was very grateful.”

*

The most awe-struck among the Northridge contingent during Holtz’s visit was Mike Cassidy, the youngest son of the Northridge coach.

Mike, once a standout point guard at Notre Dame High, had been attempting to meet Holtz for years.

At first, it appeared he might miss him again.

When Northridge first arrived for practice, a Northridge assistant coach went to Holtz’s office to ask if the coach might be able to swing by for a few minutes.

A secretary said that Holtz had been out of town the past two weeks and had “a hundred meetings.”

Mike DiCiccio, Notre Dame’s fencing coach and a friend of one of Pete Cassidy’s close friends, apparently persuaded Holtz to find the time.

“That was really nice of Mike DiCiccio,” Cassidy said, “and a very class thing for Lou Holtz to do.”

For Mike Cassidy, meeting Holtz was the climax of a rather eventful day.

Earlier, he and a small group of Northridge followers sneaked into Notre Dame’s historic football stadium. Cassidy walked onto the snow-covered field, faked as if gathering in a kickoff in the end zone, and jogged the length of the field, juking several make-believe defenders along the way.

*

Asked after the game how the earthquake and thousands of ensuing aftershocks might affect recruiting, Pete Cassidy was at his comedic best.

“I would expect that just out of natural curiosity we’d get a lot of visits,” he said. “Now whether we can sign them or not. . . .”

When pressed by reporters, Cassidy refused to give in, deadpanning that because disaster presumably never strikes in the same place twice that Northridge “might be the safest place for everyone to come to.”

Asked how recruits were responding, Cassidy replied, “They say, ‘That’s right, coach. Hey, you’re really up on your geology.’ ”

*

Tom Manning, an assistant sports information director at Northridge, has had enough. The elements have conspired against him.

Manning is leaving his post this weekend and moving back to the area around Chicago, his hometown.

Manning and his wife have lived in the Southland for 3 1/2 years.

In that time, he has seen the region experience debilitating earthquakes, brush fires, riots and floods.

“It’s been quite an interesting time,” said Manning, tongue firmly in cheek.

Manning said he plans to enroll in graduate school.

CAL LUTHERAN

Tough to Overcome

Coach Mike Dunlap knew the Kingsmen were in trouble after the first half of last week’s 87-72 loss to Claremont-Mudd, and it wasn’t only because they were losing by 20 points.

A couple of plays before the intermission made Dunlap realize that Cal Lutheran’s season-opening 15-game winning streak was in jeopardy.

First, Claremont-Mudd scored after a Stag pass deflected off the hands of Kingsmen forward Derrick Clark and into the basket.

Then Claremont-Mudd guard Darren Gravley rebounded a Cal Lutheran miss with four seconds left in the half, drove the length of court and made an off-balance hook shot as time expired.

“He threw up a prayer, but it was answered,” Dunlap said. “It was just that type of a game for them.”

Cal Lutheran didn’t help its cause by hitting only 21 of 57 shots from the field--including six of 26 from three-point range--but Dunlap blamed the anemic percentages on impatience more than poor marksmanship.

“We turned the ball over too much (20 times) and our shot selection was poor,” he said. “There were times when our offense consisted of three passes and a chuck.”

*

Cal Lutheran’s 101-41 victory over Caltech on Saturday could have been more decisive if Dunlap had played any of his starters more than 23 minutes, and it made one wonder how the Beavers (0-6 in SCIAC play entering Wednesday night’s game against Claremont-Mudd) compiled an 8-0 record in pre-conference play.

Credit a very weak schedule.

Caltech, which has lost 57 consecutive games in the SCIAC entering play Wednesday, defeated teams such as California Maritime Academy, Arizona College of Bible, L.I.F.E. Bible and Holy Names College.

Around the Campuses . . .

* Brooklyn McLinn needs two three-point baskets to become Northridge’s all-time leader in that department. The senior from Woodland Hills has made 120 of 336 attempts. Derrick Gathers is the Matador record-holder both in three-point baskets and attempts. He made 121 of 347 from 1988-90.

* In one game, Andre Chevalier went from fifth to first on the Northridge career list for free throws. Chevalier, a senior from Landover, Md., made seven from the line against Northeastern Illinois, giving him 335 and moving him past Todd Bowser (328), Darren Matsubara (329), Pat Bolden (329) and Jim Malkin (332) on the Matadors’ all-time list.

* Ventura continues to be the top-ranked men’s basketball team in the state. The Pirates (27-1) had a 27-game winning streak going into Wednesday’s Western State Conference game at Oxnard.

* Moorpark freshman forward Paul Foster was second in the state with a 66.4 field-goal percentage (142 of 214) in the latest statistics released by the California JC Athletic Bureau.

* Sophomore guard Danny Prince of Antelope Valley started the week as the top three-point shooter among Foothill Conference players. Prince had made 125 of 291 (43.0%) three-point attempts. He was third in the conference in scoring with a 21.7-point average.

* Emeka Okenwa of The Master’s has been named the NAIA Far West Region Independents player of the week. Okenwa, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound center from Lagos, Nigeria, totaled 43 points and 21 rebounds in Mustang victories over Cal State San Bernardino and Cal State Dominguez Hills last week.

* Master’s (21-3) still has six games left in the regular season, yet the Mustangs have already moved into a tie for third on the school’s single-season victory list. Master’s posted a 21-11 record during the 1969-70 season.

* Master’s has shot 50.4% from the field during its current 10-game winning streak, but defense has been the biggest key to the Mustangs’ success. Opponents have made only 41.8% of their shots during the streak.

* When Cal Lutheran swingman Jason Smith was sidelined by a knee injury at the start of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play, Coach Mike Dunlap said that Rupert Sapwell, Derrick Clark and Damon Ridley would have to pick up the rebounding slack left by Smith’s absence. The trio had heeded their coach’s call entering Wednesday night’s game at La Verne as Sapwell (per-game average of 7.1 rebounds), Clark (7.8) and Ridley (4.8) were averaging 9.3, 8.5 and 6.0 in SCIAC play.

Staff writers Fernando Dominguez, Mike Hiserman and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.