Planning a ‘50s Party at USF : Basketball: Mathews hopes to return Dons to their former greatness.

Fewer than 24 hours after being told he would be the next men’s basketball coach at the University of San Francisco, Philip Mathews was already past his initial euphoria and eager to hit the recruiting trail.

Mathews, who built Ventura College into a formidable basketball machine during 10 seasons at the school, was officially named USF coach at a press conference Tuesday in San Francisco. And afterward, Mathews said he is ready to assume his new role.

“Now it’s time to get to work,” said Mathews, who will make a recruiting trip to the Midwest today. “I have mixed feelings about leaving VC. But this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

Bill Hogan, USF executive director of athletics, chose Mathews from a list of candidates that included UCLA assistant Steve Lavin, Youngstown State Coach Dan Peters and Florida assistant Robert McCullum. Mathews, the only junior college coach on the USF short list, and McCullum were the two finalists.

Hogan said he didn’t have any reservations about hiring a junior college coach.

“I have a lot of respect for the junior college system in California,” Hogan said. “We are anxious for Coach Mathews to take the reins for us. He has excellent recruiting connections on the West Coast and has a demanding and aggressive coaching style that I think our players will find productive.

“[Mathews] did have some real high praise from a lot of people we respect. He did very well [in the selection process] from start to finish.”

It will be the third time Mathews, 44, has been involved as a coach at a Division I program. He was an assistant at UC Irvine in the mid-1970s and at Cal State Fullerton in the early 1980s before taking over at Ventura.

Mathews also talked to Pepperdine and UC Irvine in recent years about their vacant head-coaching positions, and to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in April. And although many people expected Mathews to eventually receive a Division I offer, the news still surprised his players. Mathews talked to the team before departing for Tuesday’s press conference.

“Everybody was in shock,” said Che Lugo, a 6-foot-8 center who redshirted last season after transferring from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. “It’s like somebody died around here. . . . I’m disappointed because I won’t get the chance to play for him, but it’s a great opportunity for him. We are going to miss the man.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Pirate fans, including Fran Ikezoye, who has videotaped nearly every Ventura game since Mathews took over the program in 1985. Ikezoye, 75, lives in Camarillo and did not attend Ventura, but became a Pirate booster because of Mathews.

“We’re depressed that he’s leaving Ventura,” Ikezoye said. “We’re taking it hard. It’s about time he got promoted. He was ready for a big-time program but we’re worried about the consequences of him leaving. I don’t think I’m going to feel the same way about the program. I’m not sure anyone can take Phil’s place.”

Ikezoye said he has become an instant USF fan and plans to root for the Dons when they travel to Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine for West Coast Conference games.

Mathews became an immediate success at Ventura. The Pirates were 298-56 under the fiery coach and won state championships last season and in 1987. Mathews is one of eight coaches to win two or more titles since the State tournament was implemented in 1951-52.

The Pirates won 30 or more games in each of the past five seasons and are nine-time defending Western State Conference North Division champions. They are the only team to have participated in each of the past four State tournaments.

Now the job of keeping Ventura among the state elite could fall to Virgil Watson, Mathews’ former top assistant who last season was an assistant at UC Santa Barbara. Mathews, who also was the Ventura athletic director and will have input in the selection of his successor, said Watson is a front-runner for the post.

Mathews said Larry Reynolds, a longtime friend and an assistant at UC Riverside the past 16 seasons, will be one of his assistants. Another assistant will be Bill Carr, who has been on the USF coaching staff for several seasons, and Mathews said he plans to hire a restricted-earnings assistant.

The Dons were 10-18 last season under Jim Brovelli, who resigned May 7 to become associate athletic director at USF.

Mathews will try to return USF to its glory days of the 1950s, when Bill Russell and K.C. Jones led the Catholic school to two consecutive national championships.

Russell and Jones became NBA stars with the Boston Celtics but the Dons, despite several good seasons in the 1960s and ‘70s, have never reached the Final Four since.

In fact, school officials dropped the program in 1982 after point guard Quintin Dailey was convicted of assaulting a USF nursing student.

Dailey was placed on probation and paid $100,000 to the woman, who was an acquaintance, in an out-of-court settlement.

He revealed in a probation report that a booster had paid him for a bogus job and school officials disbanded the basketball program, which was restored three years later.

Staff writer John Lynch contributed to this story.

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The Phil File

The year-by-year Ventura College records for men’s basketball coach Philip Mathews,

who was named coach at the University of San Francisco on Tuesday: Overall:

Season W L Pct. 1985-86 17 10 .629 1986-87 31 4* .885 1987-88 23 10 .697 1988-89 28 6 .823 1989-90 26 10 .722 1990-91 30 5 .857 1991-92 33 5 .868 1992-93 37 2 .949 1993-94 36 3 .923 1994-95 37 1* .973 Totals 298 56 .813

*WSC North Division:

Season W L Pct. Finish 1985-86 8 4 .667 T1st** 1986-87 12 1 .923 1st 1987-88 11 2 .846 1st 1988-89 12 2 .855 1st 1989-90 11 3 .786 1st 1990-91 8 0 1.000 1st 1991-92 8 0 1.000 1st 1992-93 8 0 1.000 1st 1993-94 7 1 .875 1st 1994-95 9 1 .900 1st Totals 94 14 .870

*State champions

**Conference was not split into divisions