O’Brien Kept Best Coaches Together

One by one, he convinced them to stay.

First it was Dave Snow, whom many schools would like to have direct their baseball programs. Then came Seth Greenberg, who could have found more prestige in the Pacific 10 Conference by taking over the USC men’s basketball team. Finally, women’s volleyball Coach Brian Gimmillaro could have made more money at California. But he hung around too.

Retaining the 49ers’ best coaches was among the many contributions that Athletic Director Dave O’Brien made. Now Long Beach President Robert Maxson has a tougher job: replacing O’Brien.

Wednesday, O’Brien accepted a lucrative offer to take the same post at Temple. In doing so, O’Brien leaves a legacy of success and achievement that didn’t seem possible when he took control, many at Long Beach said.

“I think Temple just hired one of the brightest young talents in the country,” Maxson said. “I think he’ll be an outstanding athletic director for them. I think that 49er athletics are on a roll right now. We have record crowds and fund-raising is at an all time high this year.

“Things are going very well, and I give Dave credit for that. Dave’s steady hand brought this program to where it is.”

Maxson promoted O’Brien from interim athletic director in 1991. O’Brien was public enemy No. 1 in Long Beach when he killed the 49ers’ football program in a cost-cutting move that year. What’s more, his department was in a financial crisis that threatened the future of Long Beach athletics.

Cutting football helped save the department. And that move, indirectly at least, helped Long Beach build the Pyramid, which is generally regarded as the most successful 49er athletic endeavor. And O’Brien kept the vultures away from Greenberg, a young coach whose first team finished 11-17.

It seems that some influential alumni and boosters didn’t think the coach would amount to much. Many wanted O’Brien to take the program in another direction, meaning they wanted the coach out after only one season.

O’Brien stood firm. His reward? In the next four seasons, Greenberg guided the men’s basketball team to two NCAA tournaments and one NIT berth.

“I don’t think there is anyone alive who could have moved this department forward at such a difficult time,” said Bill Shumard, assistant vice president for university relations and development. “No one could have done it better than Dave O’Brien.”

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The successor: Maxson began meeting Wednesday with athletic officials and faculty about selecting an interim athletic director.

“I think we have a wonderful situation here in that any one of several people would do a good job,” Maxson said. “It would be a problem if we didn’t have anyone I felt comfortable with.”

O’Brien will take over at Temple May 1, and Maxson would like to have an interim director in place by then. A national search for a permanent replacement is expected to last six months.

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Long drought: It last occurred when all of the current 49er players wore bibs and diapers.

It was the 1976-77 season. Long Beach finished 21-8 overall and 9-3 in conference under Coach Dwight Jones.

Long Beach tied San Diego State for the championship of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., which became the Big West Conference. The title was Long Beach’s eighth in the regular season since joining the conference as a charter member in 1969.

And the 49ers haven’t won one since. They have won two Big West tournament titles in the last three seasons, but the regular season hasn’t gone as well.

Last season, the 49ers entered the final week of the season in first place. However, consecutive road losses crushed their goal.

Unlike last season, Long Beach doesn’t control its chances to win the championship. UC Irvine wins the title outright if it wins its last two games, both on the road, against lowly San Jose State and mediocre Pacific.

In this conference, though, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

“I’d be very shocked to see any of the remaining teams go undefeated,” Greenberg said. “It’s just difficult to have a four-game winning streak.”

Long Beach senior forward Juaquin Hawkins would like to win the regular-season championship, but he would prefer winning the Big West title again. The winner of the conference tournament earns the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament.

“The Big West tournament--that’s what it’s all about,” Hawkins said. “March Madness, that’s why the call it March Madness.

“We’re just ready for the tournament. We know we have to win the tournament to go to the NCAA tournament. Finishing in first place [during the regular season] is real important to us, but our overall goal is to go to the NCAA tournament.”

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Breaking ties: Since the 49ers can still win the Big West title outright, finish as co-champions or wind up third, it might be a good time to outline the complete tie-breaker format.

According to Big West bylaws, a two-team tie would first be broken by head-to-head competition. That doesn’t help much if the teams split their season series.

Common conference opponents are the next tie-breaker, beginning at the top of the standings and working downward until the tie is broken. If the tie still exists, it’s time for a coin flip.

Multiple ties?

First, teams would be ranked by their records against each other. Then it goes to common conference opponents again.

If a team is ranked either ahead or behind the other teams, the remaining teams would be ranked on the two-way tie-breaker formula. NASA has probably used the formula from time to time, and it’s way too complicated for us to explain in this space. From there, it’s back to the trusty coin flip.

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Jam session: Long Beach point guard Rasul Salahuddin has been invited to participate in the eighth annual national slam dunk championship. The event takes place March 28 in New York in conjunction with the Final Four at East Rutherford, N.J.

“This makes me feel really good,” Salahuddin said. “It means that other people around the nation saw me and recognized my ability.”

Salahuddin, whose powerful dunks have demoralized Big West opponents for two seasons, is among eight college seniors who will compete for the championship at Fordham University in the Bronx, N.Y. The event will be televised live on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. (PST).

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Master thief: Salahuddin has a legitimate shot at breaking the conference’s records for steals in a season and steals per game.

Salahuddin, a viable candidate for player of the year, has 94 steals in 26 games. He leads the conference in steals and is fifth in the nation. Greg Anthony had 106 steals in 39 games for Nevada Las Vegas in 1990.

Salahuddin is averaging 3.62 steals. Jay Goodman averaged 3.8 steals for Utah State in 1993.

“Wow, I didn’t know that,” Salahuddin said. “Now that I know, it makes me feel good, but I’m not going to go out and try to break the record or anything like that. I’m just going to let it come to me.”

Long Beach finishes the regular season Saturday at UC Santa Barbara. The 49ers would probably need to reach the championship game of the Big West tournament for Salahuddin to get both records.

49er Notes

The women’s basketball team ends the regular season Saturday against first-place UC Santa Barbara at the Pyramid at 2 p.m. The 49ers (16-10, 10-7) have clinched the at least fifth seed in the Big West tournament, beginning March 7 at Reno. . . . The baseball team (9-5), which beat Pepperdine Wednesday, has eight consecutive victories. . . . The men’s volleyball team (10-2, 7-2) is ranked second nationally.