Coaches Seek Beachfront Property

The four-team logjam at the top of the West Coast Conference basketball standings has nothing on the convention of candidates gathering for a shot at the Pepperdine coaching job.

Tim Wilhelm, Pepperdine associate athletic director, says nearly 40 candidates have “expressed significant interest” in the position vacated by Tony Fuller after his surprise resignation Jan. 20.

Who are they? Wilhelm, sensitive to protecting the identities of coaches who may be in the middle of their own seasons, wouldn’t say--unless you count Wave interim coach Marty Wilson.

But according to sources, the list of interested parties includes a wide range of candidates with backgrounds varying from junior college to the NBA.

Among those who have reportedly rebuffed overtures from Pepperdine include UCLA assistant coach Lorenzo Romar, who turned down the job when Fuller was hired in 1994, and Paul Westphal, recently fired as coach of the Phoenix Suns and a former NBA and USC player.

Sources said those interested in the Pepperdine job include:

* R.C. Buford, an assistant to General Manager Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. Buford was an assistant coach under Larry Brown when Kansas won the NCAA championship in 1988, and followed Brown as an assistant with the Spurs and the Clippers. Buford also coached for one season under Lon Kruger at the University of Florida before returning to the NBA in a front-office position. He was a candidate for the Pepperdine job two years ago and reportedly would love to return to Los Angeles.

* David Campbell, a Kansas State assistant and former Pepperdine assistant who has coached under Tom Asbury at both schools.

* Steve Eggers, an assistant under Asbury at Pepperdine and Kansas State before becoming coach at Eastern Washington this season. He reportedly was a finalist for the Wave job last time but his new team is struggling and his stock may have dropped.

* Bob Williams, another former Asbury assistant who has done well as coach at UC Davis.

* Pat Douglass, a highly successful coach at Cal State Bakersfield, which won back-to-back Division II titles in 1993 and ’94. He was a candidate for the Pepperdine job last time and was close to becoming coach at Nevada Las Vegas. Will he be a bridesmaid again?

* Mike Miller, coach of a successful program at Los Angeles City College. Two of the WCC’s best recent hires--Portland’s Rob Chavez and San Francisco’s Phil Mathews--came up through the junior college ranks, but an insider said Miller is a longshot.

* Brad Holland, the coach at San Diego and the former coach at Cal State Fullerton, has yet to prove he can win. A longshot.

* Bob Hawking, the Fullerton coach, former Pepperdine assistant and former Simi Valley High coach has the experience, but is not considered high on the Waves’ list.

Another intriguing character in this scenario is Gary Colson, who coached Pepperdine for 11 seasons from 1968 to 1979 before he was coach at New Mexico and Fresno State. Colson, associate athletic director at UC Santa Barbara, is a friend of Pepperdine Athletic Director Wayne Wright from their undergraduate days at David Lipscomb College in Tennessee. Reportedly, though, Colson does not have the backing of high-ranking Pepperdine officials.

Sources said Wilson, 29, is not considered a serious candidate because of his lack of experience, but Wilhelm contradicted those reports.

“Marty is a candidate for the job,” Wilhelm said. “He has been here for a long time and is well-liked and respected.”

Wilhelm said the school’s goal is to have a coach selected by March 1, a day before the start of the conference tournament at Santa Clara. But others indicated Pepperdine will probably wait until after the tournament to make an announcement, thus avoiding a potentially detrimental situation for the team if Wilson, the players’ choice, is not hired as head coach and asked to return as an assistant, which is expected.

In any event, Wilhelm said Pepperdine plans to “move ahead with some expediency” in its selection process, probably starting next week.

“It’s safe to say we’re excited about our future,” Wilhelm said of the Waves, who have only one senior on the roster. “We have some good players coming back. However the coaching situation is resolved, it probably will leave us in good position to compete in the future.”

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The unbelievable parity in the WCC basketball race has made the regular season almost inconsequential. Wilson said as much after Pepperdine’s 78-72 loss to Portland on Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

“I’m not disappointed,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to count us out, because it all comes down to the last three games in March. That’s what we have been preparing for.”

In other words, last-place Pepperdine (9-11, 2-6 in the WCC) has just as good a chance of winning the conference tournament and earning an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament as any of the league’s other seven teams.

“It’s already been shown that anybody can beat anybody,” Wilson said. “No one’s going to run away with it.”

With three weeks left in the regular season, an unprecedented four teams--Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga, Santa Clara and San Francisco--are tied for first place with 5-3 records. In its current alignment, the WCC has never had a champion with four conference losses and has had a champion with three losses only once--Pepperdine (11-3) in 1993.

The regular-season standings determine the seedings for the conference tournament, to be played March 2-4. But Pepperdine has already shown it can play with the leaders: winning at Santa Clara, blowing a 20-point second-half lead in a loss at San Francisco and leading Gonzaga by 10 in the second half before folding in a 78-66 loss Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Moreover, the Waves have been at a disadvantage because they have had only eight players available for all conference games.

But help could soon be on the way.

Junior forward Wil Weir, who has not played in a game since Dec. 29 because of health problems, said he has received medical clearance from doctors representing his insurance, and turned the paperwork over to Pepperdine officials Tuesday.

Weir will miss games tonight at Gonzaga and Saturday night at Portland, but he hopes to resume practicing Monday and play in the Waves’ two games next week against Loyola Marymount.

The 6-foot-7 Weir, who was averaging 10.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in a reserve role before being sidelined, cannot practice or play until he is cleared by Pepperdine doctors. The school became concerned several weeks ago when Weir complained of chest pains caused by the inhalant he was using for his asthma.

“That threw up a red flag,” Wilson said. “With the recent instances of players having heart problems--Hank Gathers was the first person to come to mind--we are not going to sacrifice someone’s health for the sake of winning some basketball games.”

But Weir claims he never had a heart problem and his chest pains subsided after

his doctor had him switch to a different inhalant.

“The school was worried about the whole liability thing,” Weir said. “My heart is not a concern of mine or my doctor. I think I would have been better off if I hadn’t mentioned [my chest pains] at all.”

Weir’s season has been interrupted by bouts with asthma, which he has had his entire life.

He contracted strep throat two weeks ago during the Waves’ trip to Santa Clara and St. Mary’s. Because of the ailments, he said he has lost 17 pounds since the start of the season, and weighs 195.

“[Pepperdine guard] Marques Johnson said he could iron a shirt on my chest,” Weir said, laughing. “But I’ve been working out on my own. I’ve been running on the beach. I’m dying to get out there and start playing again.”

There’s no question Pepperdine could use Weir. In his absence, the Waves’ bench has been reduced to three true freshmen--guard Tezale Archie and forwards Eric Griffin and Tarik Bragg--players who probably would have been redshirts under more-desirable circumstances.

But Pepperdine needs bodies. The Waves were left short-handed for a variety of reasons:

* Five players transferred last season.

* Sophomore guard R.J. Powell was forced to become a redshirt because of recurring back problems.

* An expected junior college player failed to show up at the semester break because he lacked credits to transfer.

Not surprisingly, several of Pepperdine’s recent losses have been a result of opponents having deeper, more-experienced benches.

Getting Weir back would help by giving the Waves a talented player in the frontcourt, where the Waves lack the most depth.

“We definitely want him to be in the thick of things, because we need him,” Wilson said. “He can do some things for us.”

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Fuller has made himself scarce around Pepperdine since his resignation, but there is an upcoming event at the school he is expected to attend.

Fuller, who played for the Waves from 1978 to 1980, is one of seven people who will be inducted into the Pepperdine Athletic Hall of Fame during a dinner at Firestone Fieldhouse on April 13.

The other inductees are Colson and five former athletes: Ricardo Brown (basketball 1978-80), Linda Chisholm (women’s volleyball 1977-80), Ted Dodd (volleyball 1974-78), Jim Hamilton (football and basketball 1946-50) and Pat Murphy (baseball 1973-74).

Contributing: Mike Hiserman, Scott Howard-Cooper.