McCarthy Takes Over at Moorpark

Remy McCarthy, who coached the Oxnard College men’s basketball team for five seasons, has been named interim women’s coach at Moorpark, Raider Athletic Director John Keever said Friday.

McCarthy replaced Lisa Ziegler, who resigned for personal reasons on Dec. 6 after Moorpark defeated Antelope Valley, 59-33, in a nonconference game. The Raiders were 1-8 this season under Ziegler and 23-42 since she took over the program in 1992.

The Raiders, who have not played since Ziegler resigned, will resume action with McCarthy as coach today in a Western State Conference game at Canyons.

“I’m excited,” McCarthy said. “It gives me a chance to get back into coaching. I’m 38 years old and think I still have a lot of coaching left in me.”

At Oxnard, McCarthy was 85-68 from 1988-93. His final season at Oxnard was filled with controversy.

With three games left in the season, McCarthy dismissed freshman forward Steve Amar from the team after Amar questioned his punishment for being late to a practice. Sophomore center Art Wallace quit the team because he felt McCarthy treated Amar unfairly. Amar played at Ventura last season.

Oxnard was expected to challenge perennial power Ventura for the Western State Conference North Division in McCarthy’s last season but finished fourth with a 2-6 record, 16-14 overall. McCarthy’s best season at Oxnard was his first, when the Condors finished 19-12.

McCarthy worked four seasons as a men’s assistant at Utah before serving as head coach at Wenatchee (Wash.) Valley College for the 1987-88 season.

Now he’s back at Moorpark, where he assisted men’s Coach Al Nordquist from 1979-83 and also coached the women’s softball team from 1981-83.

* Times correspondent Dave Desmond contributed to this story.