Absent but Still Coach of the Year

We’ve processed the coach-of-the-year data, megabyte by megabyte, and you may think our computer has been infected by the Anna Kournikova virus.

Because the coach we toast hasn’t blown a whistle in a college practice or been reprimanded by the Pacific 10 Conference.

The man who has most impacted this season, whose towering influence has been persuasive and motivational, is none other than . . .

Rick Pitino.

Pitino’s rising-tide decision to quit the Boston Celtics on Jan. 9 lifted boats in Boston, Westwood, Bloomington, Ind., Lexington, Ky., Amherst, Mass., and Louisville, Ky.

Pitino is our runaway coach of the year, inactive division, edging out a formidable cast that includes:

* Dean Smith. The former North Carolina icon’s copious note-taking helped first-year Coach Matt Doherty’s squad to a No. 1 ranking. Smith’s pen must have dried up for the Virginia game.

* John Wooden. The fact Wooden didn’t walk out of Pauley Pavilion the night UCLA lost to Cal State Northridge was symbolically huge for Steve Lavin.

* Bob Knight. The ousted Indiana coach finished a distant fourth in polling because we couldn’t determine what effect his hunting, fishing and cursing had on the game.

Pitino’s impact?

Palpable.

His walk-off in Boston instantly made the Celtics better, for reasons a psychologist could explain, while he radically improved the quality of play in college towns coast-to-coast.

News that Pitino was a free agent, ready to return to a campus near you, produced heroic comeback performances.

* UCLA. Lavin was a goner until the chants of “Rick Pi-tino” started. Lavin took heed, rallied the kids, stuck Billy Knight in the lineup and went on his annual job-saving tear.

You’ve heard of the Ratings Percentage Index? Well, we’ve formulated the RBPQB (Record before Pitino quit Boston and the RSPQ (record since Pitino quit).

UCLA’s RBPQB: 7-4 (64%).

RSPQ: 12-2 (86%).

* Indiana. After an 88-74 loss to Kentucky in December, interim Coach Mike Davis said: “Maybe the guy they bring here next year will get them to play hard. I can’t do it. I’m not the guy.”

Well, news that Pitino might be the guy pulled Davis out of his doldrums. Indiana clobbered Wisconsin last week by 30 points and is making a compelling NCAA tournament case.

Indiana’s RBPQB: 10-7 (59%).

RSPQ: 8-4 (75%).

* Kentucky. When Tubby Smith’s team struggled through the Christmas break, there was talk Pitino might return to Lexington and take over the program he built from probation scratch.

Hold that talk.

Kentucky’s RBPQB: 7-5 (58%).

RSPQ: 12-3 (80%).

* Massachusetts. Coach Bruiser Flint had three of his four bags packed after a bruising start. The coach rumored to replace him?

Pitino, a Massachusetts alum. But no one’s been in like Flint lately.

RBPQB: 3-9 (25%).

RSPQ: 10-4 (71%).

* Louisville. Denny Crum is in trouble, at war with his athletic director. Word is that should Crum get fired, and Mrs. Rick Pitino doesn’t think Las Vegas is the place to raise children, Mr. Pitino could end up in Louisville.

Crum hears this and, last weekend, his team beats Marquette in triple overtime.

COACH II

Finding a most valuable active coach proved more difficult. Our short list is led by Al Skinner (Boston College), Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech), Mike Montgomery (Stanford), Rod Barnes (Mississippi), Jim Harrick (Georgia), Phil Martelli (St. Joseph’s), Eddie Sutton (Oklahoma State), Tim Welsh (Providence), Dana Altman (Creighton), Dan Monson (Minnesota), Billy Donovan (Florida), Lavin and Flint.

But our winner is:

Dick Hunsaker, Utah.

Never has a vaunted program looked more like it was headed toward Duke, circa 1994-95, when Mike Krzyzewski took leave after 12 games because of back surgery and assistant Pete Gaudet took over and went 4-14.

This season, Utah Coach Rick Majerus took a temporary leave after the opener to tend to a bum knee, only to be forced out for the season in late December because of a heart procedure and the need to care for his ailing mother.

Majerus left Hunsaker with a sack of green seeds--not a Keith Van Horn or Andre Miller in the bunch.

“It hit me like a brick wall,” Hunsaker said this week by phone from Salt Lake City. “I had no foresight. I only saw it from an assistant’s role. The head coach, it’s a completely different seat.”

The Utes started 4-4 and, on Hunsaker’s watch, saw their home winning streak end at 54 games. They dropped to 6-5 with another home loss to Southern Utah on Dec. 22.

But Hunsaker hung in. He benched headstrong guard Kevin Bradley, moved Travis Spivey to the point and nursed the team through center Chris Burgess’ ankle injury.

Voila.

After Saturday’s victory over Brigham Young, Utah (18-9, 9-3) has won seven consecutive games.

With two games left before the MWC tournament, Hunsaker is almost a cinch to win conference coach-of-the-year honors.

It’s a nice story for a man who’s clawed his way back from oblivion. Hunsaker succeeded Majerus at Ball State in 1989 and led the Cardinals to two NCAA bids before resigning in the wake of an NCAA investigation that revealed minor violations.

He kicked around a while in the Continental Basketball Assn., then took over for Steve Alford at Manchester (Ind.) College before joining Majerus’ staff three seasons ago.

For a man who desperately wants to be a head coach again, this year’s run won’t hurt.

“It was as difficult a circumstance to uncover and opportunity as you could imagine,” Hunsaker said.

He sought counsel from Gaudet, who had the impossible task of subbing for Krzyzewski.

What did he take from Gaudet?

“Strength,” Hunsaker said. “Knowing someone else had been there. He really understood, empathized. He very much encouraged me to be myself. He couldn’t be Mike and I can’t be Rick.”

In fact, the Utah pieces started to come together in early January when the Ute players realized Majerus wasn’t coming back.

The kids quit messing with the substitute teacher.

“It’s very gratifying,” Hunsaker said of Utah’s success. “It’s the sweetness of coaching.”

TABLE TALK

The NCAA Division I-A Men’s Basketball Committee has some tough calls to make next week when it gathers to select 34 at-large schools and bracket the 65-school field:

* Oklahoma State. How does the committee deal with the Jan. 27 plane crash that killed 10 members of the traveling entourage, among them two players?

The committee considers injury in the seeding and selection process, but what about tragedy? Oklahoma State is a classic “bubble,” school, 18-7 after Monday night’s victory over Texas Tech but saddled with a tenuous 57 RPI rating.

Does the committee take into account the school’s emotional anguish?

“That’s a loaded question,” Mike Tranghese, chair of the selection committee, said. “We haven’t talked about it, I can tell you that. I don’t know how to answer that, to be perfectly honest.”

* Oklahoma. The Sooners are a rock-solid tournament lock, but Sunday’s dismissal of star guard J.R. Raymond changes the dynamic.

Should the entire squad be punished with a lower seeding because of a coach’s decision? Yet, without Raymond, how can you justify a seeding worthy of its top-20 ranking?

* Iowa. Evaluating injuries is tricky business. Last year, Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin, star center on the nation’s No. 1 team, suffered a broken leg in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament.

The committee reacted, dropping Cincinnati to the No. 2 slot in the South Region.

It was the right call; Cincinnati lost in the second round to Tulsa.

Arizona, however, left open the possibility of center Loren Woods playing in the tournament despite a back injury. Arizona was awarded the No. 1 seeding in the West, Woods did not play, and the Wildcats lost to Wisconsin in the second round.

“We had a report on the health of Loren Woods before we engaged in the process,” Tranghese said.

This year, Iowa’s tournament fate hinges on an injury. The Hawkeyes reached as high as No. 14 twice in the AP poll, but have nose-dived after Luke Recker was sidelined Jan. 27 because of a chipped knee cap.

It’s unclear whether Recker will be back.

Tranghese: “The question we have to answer is, ‘Has that player returned and is he going to participate in the tournament?”’

LOOSE ENDS

The America East Conference reworked its schedule this season to accommodate Towson freshman guard Tamir Goodman, the highly touted Maryland prospect and Orthodox Jew who does not play on the Sabbath--sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Well, guess what? Towson, as the No. 7-seeded team, plays No. 10 Hartford on Friday at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of the America East Tournament at Newark, Del.

Meaning? Goodman will not play. Towson is 11-16, and the Tigers’ only shot of making the NCAA tournament is winning the conference’s automatic bid. Goodman averages six points a game and is third on the team in assists. But the America East can’t help Towson now. “No way we could have changed the Friday night games,” conference spokesman Matt Bourque said. “To be honest, we hoped Towson [wouldn’t be] in this situation.”

Towson is in this situation because last weekend’s loss to Vermont knocked it from a No. 6 seeding to No. 7. At No. 6, Towson would have played its first game Saturday night, which would have allowed Goodman to play.