Keating Is New Coach at Ventura

Ending a nationwide search that included 39 candidates, Ventura College today will introduce James Keating Jr. as its men’s basketball coach.

Keating’s hiring was approved Tuesday night by the Ventura County Community College District board.

He replaces Virgil Watson, whose contract was not renewed after the last school year.

Keating coached since 1986 at Shasta College in Redding, Calif. He guided the Knights to a 15-15 record last season and third place in the Golden Valley Conference with a 5-5 mark.

Before going to Shasta, Keating was an assistant at the University of North Dakota. He has a B.A. in physical education from Jamestown College in North Dakota and a Master’s degree in education from North Dakota.

Keating will start at Ventura on Aug. 12 as an instructor in general activity courses in addition to coaching the basketball team.

“This will begin a new era for the very successful Ventura College basketball program,” said Philip Westin, the district’s chancellor.

Other finalists for the position included Cuesta Coach Rusty Blair, Columbia Coach Glen Hefferman and Chaffey Coach George Tarkanian, son of Fresno State Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

Hefferman was a finalist for the Ventura job when Watson was hired full-time in May 1996.

Blair said he was offered the job Monday night but decided to pursue new opportunities in San Luis Obispo, where Cuesta is located.

“The timing was wrong,” Blair said. “I was offered a job as an elementary school instructor to go with my part-time job as coach at Cuesta.

“I wanted to go through the entire process [at Ventura] and keep an open mind. I was very honored to be considered.”

Blair last season guided Cuesta to a first-place tie with Ventura in the Western State Conference Northern Division and to the quarterfinals of the state championships.

Hefferman led Columbia to a 23-10 record last season, his first with the team.

Tarkanian’s team won the Foothill Conference South Division title last season and finished 26-11.

Keating doesn’t inherit much of a team. The Pirates last season finished 25-8 but lost in the second round of the Southern California Regional.

Several Ventura players, apparently unhappy over Watson’s dismissal, have transferred.

Watson coached the Pirates on an interim basis in 1995-96, winning the school’s fourth state title. He was told by the district in March that his contract would not be renewed for next school year because of poor teaching ability.

District officials also cited unspecified recruiting violations and an unethical relationship with a 41-year-old female student at the college as reasons for the firing.

Watson appealed the firing through the union that represents district instructors. The appeal is pending.

Several Ventura faculty members and supporters of the basketball program attended the board’s meeting and later said they were still upset over Watson’s firing because they believe it was racially motivated.

But Larry Calderon, president of the college and a Latino, said there was no basis for the allegations.