McCluskey Making an Impression on Saddleback Sideline

Anyone who has been to a Saddleback men’s basketball game the last two seasons knows who Tom McCluskey is.

Spectators might not know McCluskey by name but his appearance and methods make a lasting impression.

McCluskey, in his second year as an assistant to Coach Bill Brummel, is a 6-foot-7 blade with a determined and raspy voice, constantly dashing about, offering encouragement and criticisms.

“He brings a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and vitality to our program,” Brummel said. “His enthusiasm is contagious to the players.”

Brummel and McCluskey met when McCluskey came to Saddleback as a player from Redlands High School in 1979. Brummel was an assistant during McCluskey’s first year and took over as coach for Bill Mulligan the second season.

McCluskey earned a scholarship to Penn State but suffered a career-ending knee injury seven games into his senior season.

“I was as down as a human can be because basketball was too much a part of my life,” McCluskey said about the knee injury. “Now, I’ve learned you have to have a balance.”

After the injury, McCluskey said he was so depressed he stayed away from basketball for most of the next two years.

But a coaching friend persuaded him to sit on the bench at a Fontana High School junior varsity game. Suddenly, McCluskey knew what he wanted to do with his life.

His first coaching job was as the varsity coach at Fontana in 1984. He remained there for three seasons.

He moved to Tustin for the next five seasons. His teams had a 109-40 record and won a Southern Section and a State title.

But McCluskey, 32, wanted to move on.

“Every coach internally has that drive to see if they can produce on the next level,” he said.

After the 1991-1992 season, Brummel was looking for a walk-on assistant and McCluskey was ready to move up.

The two had kept in contact since McCluskey’s playing days. Brummel had seen McCluskey coach in games and practices and was impressed. McCluskey, not coincidentally, has been at Saddleback for its most successful times in the last 10 seasons.

The Gauchos won the Orange Empire Conference title last season and are tied for first with two games left this season.

Although McCluskey makes himself known during games, Brummel said his biggest contributions come at practice.

“He makes a tremendous contribution every day that people don’t see,” Brummel said.

McCluskey also said that coaching in practice is what he enjoys most about working on the community college level.

“It’s a really positive teaching level,” he said. “If you love the game, it’s a great level because you get to recruit then really work with your own team.”

McCluskey would love to be a community college head coach, but he knows such jobs are hard to get. People tend to keep them for a long time. For instance, Cypress’ Don Johnson is retiring this spring after 27 years.

“He could have an unlimited career,” Brummel said of McCluskey. “He could coach on this level, Division I or in the pros.”

*

Pizza boy: Jeff Greenfield, the 12-year old son of Golden West men’s basketball Coach Jim Greenfield, came up the big winner in a halftime free-throw shooting contest Friday.

At halftime of Saddleback’s game with visiting Golden West, four tickets were drawn and the winners shot for a large pizza.

Jeff, despite a cast on his ankle, limped to the line and, after a miss, made two in a row to take home a large pizza.

*

Record pace: LeAnn Kazmer needs 14 rebounds to set the Orange Coast single-season mark. Kazmer, a forward from Wisconsin, has 283 rebounds in 27 games this season.

Erika Manning had 296 rebounds for the OCC in the 1990-91 season.

Kazmer leads the Orange Empire Conference in scoring (20.2 points a game) and rebounding (10.5).

Cypress’ Yolanda Hearvey, a sophomore forward, is closing in on the Chargers’ career-rebounding mark. She has 544 and needs 14 to pass Joyce Rice (1979-81), who had 557.

Derek Roche, a guard on the Orange Coast men’s team, set the college’s single-season record for three-pointers with 75. Roche passed Chuck McGavran who had 74 in the 1986-87 season.