Trojans Near a Majerus Deal

That giant bright light climbing into the sky over UCLA on Tuesday night? That large, round object threatening to eclipse Bruin basketball normalcy?

Full Majerus rising.

Fifty calendar years after its only Final Four appearance, USC will today announce its first serious effort to return.

Fifty long years after yielding the floor to the Bruins, the Trojans will stalk back in today wearing high-top Chucks and old-fashioned smarts.

His name is Rick Majerus. He’s more of a circle than a pyramid. He’s anything but wooden.

But, my, how he can coach basketball.

And, goodness, it’s been a long time coming.

By announcing Majerus as their new coach, the Trojans are making two other statements that for 50 years have been lost beneath the rattling of helmets and crunching of pads.

They are serious about the Final Four.

They are serious about the guys next door.

With their new arena scheduled to open in 2006, they now have an imposing doorman with serious bling-bling.

Even with his reduced size, if anybody is big enough to alter a petrified local college basketball landscape, it’s Majerus.

He instantly becomes the only college coach in town to have reached the national championship game.

He instantly becomes the only college coach in town to have won eight consecutive first-round NCAA tournament games.

At Utah.

With some players who wouldn’t make the cut at Venice Beach.

Majerus thus becomes the most dangerous college coach in town, because think about it.

If he could take a 10-point halftime lead against Kentucky in the 1998 national championship game with Utah guys, how far can he go with USC guys?

If he can win by recruiting in Salt Lake City, how much more can he win by recruiting in the Southland?

Majerus is taking this job because he thinks he knows the answer, because he’s pondered it for years, always privately telling friends that USC was the best sleeper job in the country.

And this was before the new arena was being built.

Majerus always figured that USC could contend in basketball without ever recruiting farther than one could see from the corner of Figueroa and Exposition.

All the Trojans needed was a salesman. They finally have one, a guy known to leave tickets for strangers in restaurants and buy sodas for the house at high school games.

All the Trojans needed was a scientist. They finally have one, a guy who watches game tapes in the middle of the night, a guy once seen huddled at the end of a table during a tournament dinner, drawing Xs and O’s on a napkin.

All the Trojans needed was strength. They finally have it, Majerus being known for his defense, his team holding top-seeded Arizona to 51 points in the 1998 regional finals.

All of this comes with a pronounced weakness, of course.

Majerus, 56, has admittedly worked too hard and pushed too much and ignored too many signals to slow down.

He’s available only because he left Utah last year to improve his health.

He could be quickly unavailable again if he hasn’t learned to manage his lifestyle.

He won’t begin officially coaching the Trojans until after this season, partially because he needs that time to finish his lifestyle program.

There are other reasons he won’t start immediately, all of them typical Majerus.

He might not want to unseat or usurp a guy who is already coaching, no matter how temporary Jim Saia’s job has suddenly become.

During his recent sabbatical from Utah, he refused to even attend the games, much less talk to the coaches or players.

He also might not want to change the program in the middle of the six seniors’ last season.

At Utah, Majerus was so cognizant of his players’ needs to bond that he sometimes wouldn’t travel with the team, although he sometimes just wanted to keep his own schedule.

It will be weird, yes, the Trojans selling the emergence of a new arena and era with the invisible man.

But when he shows up, everyone will know it.

Majerus is known for intensely coaching and teaching every minute of every game.

He is known for doing the same in practice, sometimes at Bibby-esque levels, causing some concern in Utah.

One reporter there counted more than 30 players who quit the team during Majerus’ 15 years as coach. Majerus has also been cited for a minor NCAA violation for breaking the 20-hour weekly practice limit.

Hmmm. So one of the worst thing you can say about the guy is that he practices too much?

Somehow, Majerus has found time to produce good graduation rates and several academic All-Americans, all while getting under the skin of the folks at BYU.

This is where UCLA comes in.

Majerus is used to being the little guy in the fight. Because Utah lost many of the state’s top players to BYU, Utah always needed to be smarter and sneakier.

It will be the same for him here, his Trojans struggling uphill against the Bruin legend and reputation and tradition.

For now.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. For previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Success Story

Rick Majerus’ coaching records at Marquette, Ball State and Utah and how each of his teams finished in the NCAA tournament:

*--* MARQUETTE Year Record Tournament 1983-84 17-13 NIT 1984-85 20-11 NIT 1985-86 19-11 NIT Totals 56-35 BALL STATE Year Record Tournament 1987-88 14-14 -- 1988-89 29-3 NCAA 2nd round Totals 43-17 UTAH Year Record Tournament 1989-90 4-2 (a) -- 1990-91 30-4 NCAA Sweet 16 1991-92 24-11 NIT Final Four 1992-93 24-7 NCAA 2nd round 1993-94 14-14 -- 1994-95 28-6 NCAA 2nd round 1995-96 27-7 NCAA Sweet 16 1996-97 29-4 NCAA Elite Eight 1997-98 30-4 NCAA runner-up 1998-99 28-5 NCAA 2nd round 1999-00 23-9 NCAA 2nd round 2000-01 1-0 (b) -- 2001-02 21-9 NCAA 1st round 2002-03 25-8 NCAA 2nd round 2003-04 15-5 (c) NCAA 1st round Totals 323-95 Career 422-147

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(a) Majerus missed last 24 games because of heart surgery. (b) Majerus missed last 30 games while taking a leave of absence. (c) Majerus experienced chest pains in January 2004 and stepped down as coach.