New Assistant Coaches Bring Varied Experience

UC Irvine’s three new assistant basketball coaches had their reasons for accepting jobs some thought should come with a blindfold and cigarette. Coming to a 1-25 program may seem like a last request, but it fit into their plans.

So the Anteaters ended up with Generation X-coach (Cameron Dollar) and Generation Ex-coach (Len Stevens), with, possibly, Generation Next-coach (Todd Lee). In other words, it’s a staff that varies in age and experience.

“Don’t think it wasn’t planned that way,” first-year coach Pat Douglass said.

Dollar, who only a year ago was trying to win national championship No. 12 for UCLA, has always wanted to be a coach, like his father and brother. Donald Dollar, his father, is a long-time high school coach in Atlanta and Chad Dollar, his brother, is an assistant at Southern Mississippi.

Still, no one was expecting Dollar to take a seat on the bench right away. He still had opportunities as a player, here and overseas. And guys generally don’t hang up their sneakers a few months after playing in the Midwest Regional Final.

Dollar, though, turned down offers to play in the Summer Pro League and grabbed a whistle.

“For me, it was time,” said Dollar, who helped the Bruins win the national championship in 1995. “My dad didn’t understand. He wanted me to keep playing. But this has always been my dream. I’ve been going to coaching clinics since I was 5 or 6.

“I used to sit with the coaches and watch films at UCLA. I would ask them questions about strategy and how they handled players. I even asked how they deal with me.”

Stevens, 55, can add to Dollar’s education. He knows about dealing with players . . . and administrators.

Stevens, who has been the head coach at Washington State and Nevada, certainly has a lighter side. After Washington State upset UCLA in 1986, he said: “It was our biggest win since Moby Dick was a minnow.”

He coached the Cougars from 1983-87, then moved to Nevada. Officials there said Stevens would have a better recruiting environment in Reno. That environment, apparently, didn’t allow for one losing season. After the Wolfpack went 9-17 in 1993--its only sub-.500 season under Stevens--he was fired.

Said Stevens: “We had five straight winning seasons, which had never been done there, and we graduated 93% of our kids. We knew what we had accomplished.”

Stevens didn’t get mad, he got pizza, or rather made it, opening Len’s Pizza Club in Reno. It was a success, but something was missing.

“I went to the Final Four every year and would talk with all my coaching buddies,” Stevens said. “But something was different. They were all talking about recruiting and where they were going. I was an outsider.”

He got back in, overseas. Stevens was an assistant coach for the Neuchatel Basketball Club in Switzerland when Douglass lured him home.

“I had a two-year contract and really liked it over there,” Stevens said. “But it was tough on my family. Working for Pat was a good deal.”

Lee, 32, thinks so too. He spent three years with Douglass at Cal State Bakersfield, helping assemble the team that won the 1997 NCAA Division II title. Lee had extensive experience before coming to Bakersfield. He was an assistant with the Rapid City (S.D.) Thrillers in the CBA and organized the first professional basketball team to tour China. He also has been an assistant at the University of San Diego.

“I want to be a head coach and everyday Pat teaches me how to be one,” Lee said. “It’s going to be a challenge here at Irvine.”

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Anteater volleyball Coach Merja Connolly received good news and bad news last week.

Connolly was named as one of UCLA’s top 25 players of all time for her part in leading the Bruins to the 1984 national title. Also on the top-25 team was Sharkie Boehnert Zartman, who was on UCLA’s first national championship team in 1972. Zartman’s daughter, Teri, is a freshman setter for Irvine this season.

The bad news is that Connolly lost sophomore Doris Hawley, the team’s top middle blocker. Hawley will undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in her left knee, which she injured during the summer. She also has been suffering from back pains, a result of over-compensating for her knee.

Without Hawley, the Anteaters having only three middle blockers, including walk-on Jacqui Cosgrove.

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The women’s soccer team had a bad weekend all the way around.

Friday’s game against Pacific was delayed when the lights went off. Play resumed after 10 minutes, but the power outage continued for Anteaters. They were shut out, 1-0, by the Tigers and then lost to USC, 1-0, Sunday.

Irvine suffered a similar tumble last season--almost to the day. They lost five of six games a year ago, starting with three losses to UCLA, Pacific and California.

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A freshman will lead them: Mike Murray, who was running for Santa Margarita High last year, has the lead runner responsibility for the men’s cross-country team. Normally such a position--which helps the other runners set their pace--goes to a senior, or at least a runner with more experience.

“You usually want someone who is a little more seasoned,” Coach Vince O’Boyle said. “A freshman has never run the courses before and doesn’t know the competition.”

But Murray is no ordinary freshman.

“There’s nothing erratic about him,” O’Boyle said. “He’s been around a little. He knows not to take off real hard and sets a good pace. He’s a freshman who knows himself.”

Irvine finished second at the UC Santa Barbara Invitational Saturday. Murray was 15th overall and fifth among Anteater runners with a time of 26 minutes 21.9 seconds.

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Coming Attractions

Key games for UC Irvine this week:

* Men’s and women’s cross-country at UC San Diego Saturday for a dual meet. The men begin at 9 a.m. and the women at 10 a.m.

* Men’s soccer plays at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 7 p.m. Friday and at UC Santa Barbara at 2 p.m. Sunday.

* Women’s soccer plays at Pepperdine at 3 p.m. Wednesday and at North Texas at 7 p.m. Friday.

* Women’s volleyball plays at Nevada at 7 p.m. Thursday and at Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Anteaters host Pennsylvania at 7 p.m. Monday in Crawford Hall.

* Water polo plays UCLA at 8:15 p.m. Friday at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.