UCI’s Matsuhara Won’t Be Retained

Colleen Matsuhara, who led the UC Irvine women’s basketball team to the NCAA tournament two years ago, will not have her contract renewed, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said Friday.

In a press release, Guerrero said the decision “is in the best interest of the university. It creates an opportunity for us to select new leadership for the program which will help us strengthen our position in the Big West Conference and eventually move into the national scene.”

Guerrero said he would not elaborate beyond that statement, except to talk about the program’s future.

The news stunned Matsuhara, whose teams have reached the Big West tournament championship game twice in three seasons.

“I had no indication at all that this was coming,” said Matsuhara, who met Friday with Guerrero. “I requested a meeting to find out the status of the contract renewal only to be informed there would be no renewal.

“I requested reasons why and they won’t provide me with any, except to say they felt the program needed new leadership.”

Matsuhara is the second Irvine coach in two weeks to be fired. Rod Baker, men’s basketball coach, did not have his contract renewed after a 1-25 season.

Baker and Matsuhara had almost identical records in their six years at Irvine. Baker was 52-116 and Matsuhara as 59-109. Yet while the men’s basketball team had only one winning season under Baker, the women have averaged 16 victories the last three seasons.

The Anteaters, who had no seniors, were 16-13 this past season. They lost to UC Santa Barbara in the Big West tournament championship game.

The Irvine players, many of whom have returned home for spring vacation, were not immediately informed of the decision.

Matsuhara is the eighth coach replaced by Guerrero since he was hired as athletic director in December of 1992. The only longtime coaches remaining are Vince O’Boyle (track, cross-country) and Ted Newland (water polo).

O’Boyle has been named the conference coach of the year either in track or cross-country 18 times in 15 seasons. Newland, whose teams are consistently ranked among the top 10 nationally, reached the 600 victory plateau last season.

“In evaluating particular programs, we have a vested interest in how those programs are run, which is just as important as what those programs produce,” Guerrero said.

Matsuhara said her program had produced 16 scholar athletes, more than any other Anteater program. She also said the average attendance at games had more than doubled (162-344) since she was hired.

“Obviously, I’m very disappointed in the decision and I don’t agree with it,” she said.

Matsuhara has previously been an assistant coach at Long Beach State, Notre Dame and Texas. She also was the head coach at Nebraska from 1980-83, where she had a 46-44 record.

Her first years at Irvine were difficult, as the team had records of 5-22, 2-24 and 5-23. But the Anteaters went 19-11 in 1994-95, then lost to Stanford, 88-55, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.