O’Boyle Stretches a Limited Budget

Everything was in its place on this sparkling spring morning and Vince O’Boyle had plenty of reason to smile. The snow on the San Bernardino mountains provided a majestic backdrop, but it was T-shirt and shorts weather at Anteater Track Stadium. And the two dozen athletes working out were there on a spring-break day off from practice.

Last year, O’Boyle, the UC Irvine track and field and cross-country coach, turned down a similar position at Colorado. And hadn’t he read that they just had a huge snowstorm in the Rockies?

Four years ago, Irvine dropped funding for men’s track and field, and it had a devastating effect on the women’s program as well. But wasn’t this little dedicated group--less than a third of his team--as big as the one he began rebuilding with four years ago?

Still, some would say O’Boyle is a loon. He turned down a job that included a full plate of scholarships to stay at Irvine, where he has 2 1/2 full scholarships to divide up for his women’s program and nothing but pats on the back for the men.

“I really wanted this to work, with or without scholarships,” O’Boyle said, “and that played a big part in my decision [to stay]. Now I’m enjoying the benefits of seeing it come back.

“We used to walk into meets as also-rans. We were just out there. But nobody just kicks our butts anymore. We can compete.”

No wonder Athletic Director Dan Guerrero is always raving about this guy. When it comes time to make out the budget, all he has to do is check and see how much change he has in his pocket.

Seldom have so many done so much for so few dollars. Irvine’s men’s and women’s track and field teams have a total of 86 names on their rosters, including athletes such as senior English major Toby Dean, who is No. 2 in the conference in the 100 and 200 meters. She selected Irvine for the academics, despite the mass exodus from the women’s team and the virtual demise of the men’s team.

“I loved the academics, the location, I mean just look at this,” she said, waving at the mountains, “and I liked the atmosphere on the team. It wasn’t so intense.”

But Dean has been a part of the team’s transformation and admits she now prefers the renewed Anteater and its bite.

“I think we’ve shocked and impressed a lot of people already this year,” she said. “People used to see us as a name from the past, a bunch of bio majors from a school with no football team, no baseball team and an average basketball team. But now we’re totally competitive.”

Ten newcomers are making significant contributions, including the Big West’s No. 1 pole vaulter, Pete Kovacs, and sophomore Brian Karpman, a transfer from El Camino College whose 800 time is the fastest in the conference this year. Karpman could have gotten a scholarship elsewhere, but he wants to be a doctor and sees Irvine as the quickest way to medical school.

“We spend a lot of time on the phone,” O’Boyle said, “and we try to get as many kids out here as possible because the school, the location and the facility sell themselves.

“It was a hard time and it hurt me that so many people left. But I knew I had to just keep coaching and teaching and providing a program for the guys and girls who stayed. Those kids are really special to me, and now, together, we can feel good about how we’ve improved.”

The Irvine women’s team has either the conference’s best or second-best time in nine of 11 running events. The men are either Nos. 1 or 2 in eight of 12 events. Both teams will compete in the Stanford Invitational Saturday.

*

Fun without funding: Men’s tennis Coach Steve Clark can relate to O’Boyle’s situation.

“We’re not one of these mega-funded programs, like a lot of these schools, so wins like those are a lot of fun,” he said.

Irvine, which upset No. 14 Cal and 16th-ranked Harvard this month, is No. 24 in the latest Rolex/Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. poll. The Anteaters have defeated three of the last four ranked teams they’ve faced and hope the beat goes on this week during their 17th UCI/Marriott Classic, which runs Wednesday through Sunday.

Other ranked teams competing are No. 23 Middle Tennessee, No. 31 Southwestern Louisiana, No. 32 Colorado and No. 45 Arkansas Little Rock. Irvine is 8-1 at home.

“The exciting part is that we’ve been able to knock off these teams without getting a good effort from everyone all at once,” Clark said. “Having all six singles players and all three doubles teams really on the same day, I wonder what it would be like if that ever happened?”

You can bet he’d like to find out.

*

Are you experienced? Raimonds Miglinieks is 25 and has a lot of years of basketball under the waistband of those baggy trunks. Heck, when he started playing, basketball players wore their shorts like Ivan Lendl.

But Miglinieks isn’t sure the years of playing on junior national teams for the former Soviet government were all that beneficial to his development.

“In Europe, they play slower basketball and the guys are slower,” Miglinieks said. “Here, you start on a club team, move up to high school and to college and every level is faster and more physical. The guys are quicker and stronger. That’s why the NBA is the best level of basketball in the world.

“Sure, I played lots of basketball, but I played with the same 10 guys the whole time.”

Miglinieks, however, has managed to overcome his humble beginnings and led the nation in assists last season with an average of 8.5. He recently was named first-team All-District 15 by the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches, first-team All-District 8 by the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. and first-team All-West by the Basketball Times.

Next week, Miglinieks will play in the Portsmouth Invitational, an all-star tournament for college seniors, April 3-6 in Portsmouth, Va.