Daniels Finds His True Calling as Fullerton’s Coach

The phone rings and Donny Daniels talks.

“Tell your kid if he wants to take 20 shots a game, if he wants to play 30-35 minutes, if he wants to play full-court basketball, he should think about coming to Fullerton. If he doesn’t want to do those things he shouldn’t come here.”

The phone rings and Donny Daniels talks some more.

“I’ve got several phone calls about coach [anonymous]. He’s gotten very good recommendations. I’m considering him. Thanks for calling.”

The phone rings and Donny Daniels talks again.

“I’ve got my passport with me, yes. Can I do this at 3:30?”

“This” is officially getting hired as men’s basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. Daniels couldn’t find his Social Security card--and, come on, who can?--so he had to bring his passport to work. With this proof of identity, Daniels could then go to personnel, sign the papers and make his new job title official. Maybe he should bring proof of his sanity, for wouldn’t he have to be nuts to want to coach basketball at Fullerton?

The gym is a gym. It is not an Arena or a Center, a Pyramid or a Pavilion. Except for baseball, Fullerton’s sports tradition is mostly of losing. The basketball team is on probation and is hindered because it is not allowed to recruit community college players.

So it’s a week after Daniels, once a Titan player and once a Titan assistant coach and twice rejected for this job, has started work and he hasn’t even been officially hired. Hedging his bets?

“No,” Daniels says, laughing. “I just needed to bring my passport.”

Cliff Hatter, equipment manager and athletic department employee for 26 years, says former Titan baseball Coach Augie Garrido used to say, “To coach at Fullerton you need a sense of humor. You have to be able to laugh at death. And that’s Donny. In all my years of being here, I’ve never been happier to see anybody hired than I was to see Donny get this job. Donny is an outstanding human being.”

Hatter stopped by school last Saturday night around 10:30 and Daniels was in his office. He was there Sunday too and Monday and every day. He is living out of a hotel room and eating out of Styrofoam containers. He has no assistant coaches yet. He is trying to find recruits, the leftovers, the undiscovereds, the ones who haven’t already signed somewhere else. He is trying to meet the Titan players still are on scholarship. Not just meet them but know them. Not just know them but penetrate their hearts. And then he wants to lay down the law.

“Coach Majerus taught me that you have to be very clear about what you expect, let the players know that and then never deviate,” Daniels says.

Coach Majerus is Rick Majerus. For 11 years Daniels was Majerus’ assistant at Utah. The only thing on the whitewashed brick wall of Daniels’ tiny office is a framed poster of the 1998 Final Four in San Antonio, the one where Utah was runner-up to Kentucky. A little peek at greatness, a lonely flower in the bleakness of the unfurnished office.

Majerus says Daniels has made a good choice. Some people told Daniels he was nuts to come here. Majerus says no.

“The jobs that come open, they’re not the Lakers or the Bulls. You don’t just get the Kansas or North Carolina jobs. You get the chance at Fullerton. And I think it’s a great situation. Southern California has plenty of players. The gym is small? Duke has the smallest gym in the ACC and they pack it with Cameron Crazies and make it work for them. The league is winnable. What’s not to like?”

Lots of people have found lots not to like at Fullerton when it comes to the basketball program. Not Daniels.

It is his home, he says. It is where Daniels, who grew up in Los Angeles and played high school basketball at Verbum Dei, was given a chance to play Division I basketball and get a free education. You don’t find many people who bleed Titan blood, but Daniels does.

“I think,” Majerus says, “when you have people who come from the inner cities and who get a chance at an education, they are very loyal to their schools and to the people who help. Donny has been very loyal to me and I know how he feels about Fullerton. He loves the place.”

Having been on the job a week, Daniels also has learned to love voice mail, his cell phone, e-mail and the fax.

The phone rings again.

Daniels smiles and then talks.

“He’ll have to come as a walk-on,” Daniels says to the supplicant on the other end. “We don’t have any scholarships for anyone.”

There is a pause and Daniels answers, “Well, tell him to come by tomorrow between 3 and 5 and play with some of our kids.”

This being a time when coaches can’t watch prospects play, Daniels has to rely on the current Titans to scrimmage with players who are begging Daniels for a chance and then to evaluate the prospects for Daniels.

Of course there are no superstars left now. But Daniels thinks there are still players left.

Also making Daniels popular are the two unfilled openings for assistant coaches.

The phone rings.

Daniels talks.

“Thanks, Darren, I got your shirt, yes. I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ll be in touch.”

Daniels hangs up and pulls out at T-shirt from underneath his desk. Imprinted on the shirt is a photo of a prospective assistant coach and these words: “Wanted Dead or Alive. $5,000 Reward. Last seen heading toward Fullerton, Ca.”

The creativity impresses Daniels. The same potential employee has sent Daniels a picture of Daniels from his playing days. “Here at Fullerton I need people who can be ingenious and think of different ways to get things done. We don’t have all the resources of some places so I want to see people who can come up with different ways to win.”

Hatter says he sees a new spirit in every room Daniels visits. “You can’t make Donny unhappy or discouraged,” Hatter says. “I can tell you this: Donny has worked hard and earned respect. There are high school and junior college coaches around the country who want Donny to succeed. They’ll send players to him.”

“Donny cares about the right things,” Majerus says. “He will stress academics and he will tell kids what is important and they’ll want to play for him.”

Spend an afternoon with Daniels. Listen to him tell recruits that Cedric Ceballos and Leon Wood played basketball in Fullerton’s gym and the NBA found them just fine. Listen to him tell recruits there are plenty of shots available and plenty of minutes to be played. Listen to him ask recruits wouldn’t they rather be playing at Fullerton than sitting on the bench at Kansas or UCLA?

The phone rings. Donny Daniels talks.

The job is his, the school is his, the team is his. Let’s get started.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com