Braswell Stays at CSUN With Sweetened Pot

Cal State Northridge basketball Coach Bobby Braswell pulled out of the running for the job at Oregon on Wednesday, the same day Northridge announced that Braswell has agreed to a new four-year contract and a 44% raise.

St. Mary’s Coach Ernie Kent reportedly will be named Oregon’s new coach. Braswell said his withdrawal was not because he felt he wouldn’t get the job or because of the raise at Northridge.

“I’ve been telling people from the very beginning that the only reason I even showed any interest in the job was because it was Oregon,” said Braswell, a former Duck assistant. “Had it been Arizona State, Washington State or even Arizona, I wouldn’t have shown any interest in the job.

“I don’t think we have completed our task [at Northridge].”

Braswell’s new contract, which begins July 1, will pay him at least $104,000 a year, with more money possibly coming from basketball camps. Only $84,000 of the base salary will come from Northridge’s athletic budget, with the remaining $20,000 from other revenue, such as athletic donors and ticket sales. Braswell currently earns $72,000.

The new deal still did not approach what Braswell would have made with the Ducks. Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos said his new coach would start with a package of about $150,000 a year.

“For me money has never been an issue,” Braswell said. “I took a pay cut when I came here. It was being close to family, being at a place that I felt I could build something at a place some people didn’t think it could be done.”

Montana Coach Blaine Taylor also pulled out of the running for the Oregon job Wednesday, leaving only Duck assistant Mark Turgeon and Kent.

Paul Bubb, Northridge’s athletic director, stressed that the contract talks with Braswell began at the end of the season--before Braswell was a candidate at Oregon--and were spurred by a renegotiation clause in Braswell’s original contract.

“Regardless of the fact that the Oregon job came up, we were comfortable with the job Bobby did, the progress he had made,” Bubb said. “We felt good about the program going in the right direction . . .

“The timing of the Oregon job just makes it more interesting.”

In his first season, Braswell led the Matadors to a 14-15 record, their best in seven Division I seasons. Northridge lost by three points in the Big Sky Conference championship game.

Braswell said he was happy the matter was finally closed. Rumors of his departure began immediately after the season, when former Oregon Coach Jerry Green was a finalist for the job at Louisiana State, and they heated up last week when Green was hired at Tennessee.