Pierce Starts Looking for a New Coach

Pierce College launched a search for a new football coach Thursday, with many obstacles to overcome.

Athletic Director Bob Lyons, who accepted the resignation of Coach Bill Norton, said no teaching position is available, which could make it difficult to hire a top candidate.

“We have to find a special person,” Lyons said. “We are committed to keeping the program. I think it’s a great opportunity for someone to come in and build something.”

Norton resigned Wednesday after eight years as coach.

Applicants for the position can call Lyons at (818) 719-6421.

BASKETBALL

Ryan Coleman, a sophomore from Calabasas High, quit the Cal State Sacramento basketball team before the season and will transfer to a junior college in the fall.

Sacramento is 0-12 and has a 29-game losing streak. The NCAA record is 37 losses in a row and the Hornets play at Cal State Northridge on Jan. 20, at which point the streak would be 31.

Coleman, a point guard, started 18 games as a freshman and was among Big Sky Conference leaders with 5.6 assists per game. He averaged 4.1 points and 29 minutes.

He tore a tendon in his groin during the preseason and while sidelined decided not to return. Coleman is a medical redshirt and will remain a student at Sacramento this spring.

During the semester break, Coleman visited Southwestern, College of the Desert and Saddleback. He doesn’t want to transfer to another Division I school because he would have to sit out another season.

Sophomore guard Erin Stepheson is expected to return to the Harvard-Westlake High girls’ basketball team next week after missing the Wolverines’ first 20 games because of a partially severed tendon in her left hand.

Stepheson, a key reserve last season when Harvard-Westlake won the Southern Section Division III-A championship, was projected to be a starter.

BASEBALL

The NCAA approved a petition by Northridge compliance officer Kathleen Heitzman that extenuating circumstances caused left-handed pitcher Mike Rainer to withdraw from an English class he was passing at Cuesta College last spring, making him eligible to play.

Rainer was a Division I qualifier out of Royal High in 1997, but he attended Cuesta when Northridge temporarily cut the baseball program the following summer.

Coach Mike Batesole again recruited him and Rainer enrolled at Northridge last fall. Because he dropped the English class, he was one unit short of Division I eligibility.

TRACK AND FIELD

Christina Tolson, who set a Cal State Northridge record of 196 feet 9 inches in the women’s hammer throw last year, has transferred to UCLA.

Tolson, a junior, was the No. 7-ranked hammer thrower and the No. 10-ranked shotputter in the nation by Track & Field News magazine for 1998.