UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK / JOHN WEYLER : Longtime Coach Tim Tif t Happy to Fill In Again

The nameplate on the office door of the men’s basketball head coach in UC Irvine’s Crawford Hall says, “T.M. Tift,” a little joke somebody played on Rod Baker while he was in Japan for the World University Games.

Baker has returned, but he hasn’t removed the name of the man who was the Anteaters’ basketball coach for 11 seasons between 1969 and 1980.

Maybe it was an omen because Tim Tift, who has worked in various capacities in these same halls for 29 years, is coaching again.

When Athletic Director Dan Guerrero fired Steve Ainslie for breach of contract on Sept. 6, Tift was named interim golf coach. It’s his second tenure in that position, having coached the golf team from 1967-69.

“The people with whom my teams competed are gearing up for the Senior Tour now, guys like Gary McCord and Craig Stadler,” Tift said. “When these guys first met me, they probably looked up and thought there was a big doofus standing there.

“I knew I was in trouble when I told them that we used to play down at Mission Viejo Country Club in those days, when the pro was Jack Fleck. They all said, ‘Who’s Jack Fleck?’ I had to tell them he beat Ben Hogan in a playoff in the 1955 U.S. Open.”

Tift was relieved when they all assured him that they had heard of Ben Hogan.

Tift, who has had eye surgeries in recent years and has limited vision, didn’t have to think about it long after Guerrero asked him to fill in until a new coach is hired, probably around the first of the year.

“I did some quick soul searching about whether or not I should be doing it,” Tift said, “but in the 29 years I’ve been here, there have been a number of times I’ve been asked to pinch-hit and I try to put a quality effort into it. I wanted to help maintain the quality and integrity of the program, but most important, work toward the welfare of the student-athletes. I still believe that’s what universities are for.

“It’s been a lot of work, but I’m revitalized. This keeps you alive. And this is a really positive, enthusiastic group of young men.”

Over the weekend, Tift made his first road trip as coach of a team since his last as Anteater basketball coach. The Irvine golfers finished 12th out of 17 teams competing in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate Tournament on the University of New Mexico’s The Championship Course.

He followed his players around the course and “lived and breathed every shot.”

He isn’t giving much advice from a technical standpoint, but he believes he has something to offer.

“First, I’m providing quality administrative control in terms of travel, golf courses, meal setups, academic counseling, etc.,” Tift said. “The other part is the actual hands-on coaching, which very few college coaches actually do.

“These kids have all had professional instruction and most work with pros, so I’m not going to change anyone’s swing. But after 35 years in athletics, I can coach them on how to focus, how to visualize what you want to do, how to identify the challenge and block everything else out.

“I can coach them on how to compete.”

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Slow ride: Tift coached the men’s basketball team when it was first elevated to Division I status for the 1977-78 season, in the days before the shot clock. He devised a wide array of slowdown offenses and four-corner stalls that kept the Anteaters in games against far-superior opponents.

It often angered opposing players and coaches. Former Utah State Coach Dutch Belnap said, “Playing UCI is like kissing your mother-in-law, it’s something you just have to do.”

The tactic kept the Anteaters in a lot of games, though.

In 1980, Irvine lost in the last minute to heavily favored Long Beach State, 30-26.

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Laugh when it hurts: Tift’s teams were objects of ridicule and sometimes humiliated, but he never lost his sense of humor.

A few choice Tift-isms.

On his style of play: “I’d love to be able to fast break. I’m tired of telling recruits, ‘You’re going to play the southwest corner for us.’ ”

On a good recruiting class: “Last year, I felt like I was stepping into the ring with [Muhammad] Ali with a blindfold on. This year, I feel like the blindfold’s off and maybe I can at least duck.”

Reminded that peanuts weren’t part of a low-sodium diet prescribed to lower his blood pressure: “It’s OK. I suck off all the salt and spit it out.”

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Welcoming committee: The school never sent out a release about their signing, but Shelly Toole, Baker’s administrative assistant, made sure two freshman basketball players from New York felt wanted when they arrived on campus last week.

She put up a huge banner with three-foot tall letters to honor the arrival of Lamarr Butler-Parker, a 6-foot-1 guard from Archbishop Molloy High in Far Rockaway, and Boris Reznik, a 6-foot-10 forward/center from Brooklyn Midwood High.

Butler-Parker, who averaged 26 points, five assists and five rebounds as a senior, was an All-Queens League selection. Reznik, who played for Irvine assistant Mike McIlwain on the New York Riverside Church AAU team, averaged 12 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots last season at Midwood High.

Anteater Notes

Sunday’s 2-0 victory over 17th-ranked Oregon State was the women’s soccer team’s first over a Top 20 team. The Anteaters are 5-0-2 and they’re winning with youth. Freshmen Nicole Buccarelli (tied for the team lead with four goals), Kori Zimmerman, Simone Ferrara, Dena Lundy, Danica Holt and Kim Cowan have accounted for nine of the team’s 15 goals and eight of its 14 assists. And sophomore Traci Manz leads the team with 11 points (four goals, three assists). . . . The women’s cross-country team finished sixth in a 23-team competition at the UC Riverside Invitational. Junior Tanja Brix, from University High, was the Anteaters’ top finisher. She was ninth in 19 minutes 9 seconds. . . . The women’s volleyball team will play its first match in the Bren Center in three years Saturday when the Anteaters (2-8) meet Cal State Fullerton.

Despite his vision problems, Golf Coach Tim Tift still loves to play. “Somebody asked me the other day how I was hitting the ball,” he said. “I said, ‘Hit the ball? I can’t even see the ball.’ But if I get somebody to watch it for me, I can still play. I’m not as good as I was 10 or 12 years ago. I blame it all on my eyes, but between you and me, I’m not so sure.” . . . Tift’s men’s basketball teams compiled a 26-52 record (a .333 winning percentage) during Irvine’s first three seasons in Division I. Rod Baker’s teams were 23-63 (.267) during his first three seasons.