News Scrapbook 1984

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Union

(0. 217,324) (S. 339,788) AY

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Brovelli agrees ;z..q::;i "Hank Egan will do very well by USD," be said from Sao Francisco "From the moment I saw his name among the applications I had a good feeling. He under- lands the school and the caliber of people be will be coaching. It makes me feel good." 'Tm going to try hard not to turn thJS thing around," Egan Joked of a program that went 18-10 last year and won the West Coast Athletic Conference title while Air Force was playing to an 8-18 record. I do feel good about being here," Egan said. ''There a trong sense of family on this team ... that was the first thing that struck me. The best part was the people ere ... that is what finally sold my wife (Judy) and I. That's why I feel comfortable about bemg here." Egan stressed that he was inheriting a good program. "Jim did a hell of a job," he said. "I've fallen in love w th the kids he's brought here. It would be hard for me to bnng m another player this year because the feeling of family is so strong on this team I wouldn't want to recnnt someone without having the rest of the players meeting him first. "They've had success here. USO is rollmg pretty good I'm gomg to be like the mechanic with a screwdriver, fine tuning \\hen 1t starts to sound bumpy, I'll back off a little. W will be domg many of the things Jim did plus al o wme of the things I feel comfortable with." Egan said he feels no pressure in following Brovelli. "What Jim did was set tie standard," Egan said. That does not increase or decrease the pressure on me. Most pressure on coaches IS self-created." Egan and Brovelli share common basketball values. Both run the pass1ng .i:ame offense and ee movement away from e ball On defense both like to switch between man-to-man and matchup zones. ''Our zone ," id Egan, 'are different." Air Force and USD met two . easons ago with Egan's side wmmng 49-47. "It was really quite an mtcresting game," said Egan. A grnduate of the Naval Academy Egan spent the first two years of his 20-year stint at Air Force as a military attache. He then served there five years as an as istant coach before becoming the head coach in 1970. Egan. 46, left Atr Force with a 148-184 record. Egan was recommended to USD by Bobby Knight, coach at Indiana and of the United States Olympic team. Egan is the a 1 ternate assistant to George Ravel- ing on the Olympic team and leaves for Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 15 to scout outh American Olympic teams. Cahill said that after Egan returned to USD for a econd Interview late last week, the selection commit- tee dropped plans to interview two other finalists, JD- eluding UC-Riverside coach John Masi. "Egan was our unanimous selection," Cahill said.

Torero athletic director the Rev. Patrick Cahill announced USD's coaching choice.

'·Egan did as much checkrng on us as we did on him," Cahill said. Egan now must select two assistant coaches. One of the candidates is David Babcock, Brovelli's No. 2 aide and the coach in charge of the day-to-day operations smce Brovelli and his top aide, John Cosentino, went to USF. Babcock also has an offer from New Mexico State. Egan said he would also try to hire an aide from his Air Force staff. He plans to complete his staff this week. Since leaving Air Force, Egan had an offer to coach at Southern Colorado College plus several opportunities in private business. "Leaving Colorado Springs was as hard for us as it was for Brovelli to leave San Diego," Egan said. "But this is a move Judy and I wanted to make. This is where I want to coach. This is the only basketball job I applied for. If I hadn't got this job, I don't know what would have happened.'' Egan's eagerness to have the USD job was one of the things that most impressed Cahill, who all along had said one of the keys was finding a coach who would remain at USD for the long run. Entering his first meeting with the USD players yes- terday afternoon, Egan encountered 6-foot-11 freshman center Scott Thompson. "Where have you been all my life?" the coach asked. "Right here, waiting," said Thompson. Yesterday the wait for Egan and USD ended.

orm r Air Fore co ch H nk Eg n i no Ega C ose

the ba ketball coach at USO. USD coach· Jim 7"0v lh r 1gned la month to accept the task of rebulld.ng th sport of basketball and th image of his alma mater at the Uruve . 1ty or Sao Francis(;o. At th s me tim , the Air Force Academy ·as choos- ing not to rcn w Egan contract after 13 easons Egan know the problems and the rewards' of coaching ba. krtball under strict guidelines. USD and th Air Force Acad my str academics. Air Force appll a h 1ght restnct10n that lumts its basketball program to nudge 6-foot-8 and under Now U D has a man with the me tyle all the ay to the ba ketball court and principle a the oach it 1 t ' We needed Brovell1's succ r to be able to sustain t growth within e same framework," said Cahill We could not have done better· See USO oo Page -4