Romar Rides Waves to St. Louis

Lorenzo Romar, who turned a 10-18, last-place Pepperdine basketball program into a 19-13, second-place one in three seasons, will be named the coach at Saint Louis University at a news conference this morning.

Romar, who came to Pepperdine after four years and a national championship in 1995 as Jim Harrick’s assistant at UCLA, was 42-44 in his three seasons with the Waves and this year took them to their first postseason appearance in five years. They lost to Colorado in the National Invitation Tournament earlier this month.

Romar had said before the season ended that it would take the “perfect job” to lure him from Pepperdine. According to Saint Louis sources, his new job will pay about $400,000, including shoe and television-radio deals.

Sources at Pepperdine, where there is no successor in mind, said Romar made about $125,000 there.

Romar will take over for Charlie Spoonhour, who retired March 5 after seven seasons as coach of the Billikens.

Pepperdine Athletic Director John Watson had been contacted by Saint Louis Athletic Director Doug Woolard about speaking to Romar two weeks ago.

Romar developed a relationship with Woolard as an assistant at UCLA. In Romar’s final season at UCLA, 1995-96, Woolard’s son, Chris, served a graduate assistant for the Bruin basketball team.

The Waves lost six of their last nine games and tied for second with San Diego in the West Coast Conference, behind Gonzaga.

In the WCC tournament, Pepperdine narrowly defeated San Francisco, then blew a chance to play Gonzaga on national television, losing to Santa Clara in the second round.

Near the end of the season, Romar spoke excitedly about incoming 6-foot-1 guard Kevin Bradley from Irvine Valley Community College.

Next season would have been a significant one for Romar at Pepperdine. The Waves have to replace two seniors, among them their most publicized in Romar’s tenure, guard Jelani Gardner, who transferred to Pepperdine from California when Romar took over in 1996-97.

Romar takes over a team that finished 15-16 this season and lost in the semifinals of the Conference USA tournament. The Billikens last made the NCAA tournament in 1997-98, and have been there three times since the 1993-94 season.

Saint Louis, which plays home games in the 21,000-seat Kiel Center, is among the biggest draws in the nation, ranking sixth in attendance in 1997-98 with a 17,708 average, and averaging more than 14,000 this season.

Pepperdine averaged just over 2,000 a game in the 3,104-seat Firestone Fieldhouse this season.