News Scrapbook 1984

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (D. 127,454)

AY 22 1984

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*Brovelli----.----- ----~--------. Continuea From P:ige C-1

}'ruit ofhis labor

But wh n USF decided that it was going in a guy from here and, when he's through, to pump oxygen mto its basketball - as if he might stay in the community and maybe there ever was any doubt it would happen help the university. Get a guy from back - it decided to do it right. Anew coach and East and he'll play ball a couple of years assistants would be brought ma year early and then it's 'see you later."' (the Dons won't play their first game until Brovelli refuses to be pressured. His phi- the fall of 1985). And thJS coach not only losophy - a~ it was at USO is to work would have to be good, but clean enough to from the ground up. These calls from the pomt of being Teflon-coated. And they transfers are flattering, but he doesn't found their man. Jim Brovelli, USF, class want a team of malcontents which so of '64. many transfers are - even though he is in "They will be without basketball for a natural position to accept them. three years up there," Brovelli said. "Sure," he said. "There's no basketball at "That's the intriguing thmg. A lot of peopl USF next year (1984-85), when transfers believe it can't be done. Believe me - a lot would have to redshirt, anyway. And then, of them think that." when we do tart up, they won't have any- Since announcing his plans to move to one to beat out. There are two different the Bay Area, Brovelli has been spending types of transfers - the malcontents, and 'The enthusiasm has been rekindled at USF, but I want them to the solid guy who may be homesick or want to change his major to something his current university may not provide. I'm

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going to be very selective with transfers. ''The booster are asking me about trans- fers all the time. They're so enthusiastic. ... They want to be a success right away. Their response has been incredible. But I"ve told them that I'm not going to change my philosophy. I'm not a believer in the instant fix that transfers provide. I'm not going to bring in six transfers so I can win the first year. It takes longer, the way I do 1t." He has more than a year to think about it. How many coaches are awarded the lux- ury handed Brovelli? His job in the next 18 months is to scout high school and junior college players to recruit for 1985-86. There will be no coaching by one of the nation's more respected tutors of the game. "It will be like a sabbatical basically all recruiting, along with some PR work with the boosters," Brovelli said. "Maybe every coach should have this opportunity. If everyone was given a year away from it, maybe there wouldn't be so much burnout among coaches. ''The enthusiasm has been rekindled at USF, but I want them to know what I'm about ... how I intend to do it. We're going to do it my way. No exceptions." It's worked so far.

Tr1bun · photo by Bob Mm Brovelli: No fast break for USF Ex-U, 'D coach ays he'll resist quick fix for program Phelps, as from otre Dam

know what I'm about ... bow I intend to do it. We're going to do it my way. No e:rceptions' - Jim Brovelli alternating weeks here and in San Francis- co. There, he speaks to booster groups, and he has found USF alums to be very aggres- sive. "I feel that a lot of boosters beheve that you can't win unless you cheat or unless you go to the East Coast to recruit play- ers," Brovelli said. "The first reason is ri- diculous - you don't have to cheat to win. And you don't have to go to the East Coast with your checkbook open to get into the top 20. "Go back, and most of USF's great play- ers - like Bill Russell - were home- grown. USF can win by recruiting in the W~tern states. We want to be in the top 20, but we don't want to get there by cheating or getting guys from the East Coast. Bring

resurrect the program at USF, a famous one when wracked by scandal in the late 1970s and suddenly closed for repair in the early 1980s. On April 2, be made the deci- sion to leave USD - a program that he created from nothing - and return to his alma mater, now nothing more than a glob of clay in need of remolding. How many men have been placed in sim- ilar positions? Does a Kentucky close its basketball doors and reopen them three years later? Does Kansas? Or UCLA? USF, the school of 60 consecutive victories, is in that company. The likes of Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Phil Woolpert, Bill Cartwright and Phil Smith have walked through those doors. This was a program with bJStory for a rider. Please see BROVELLI, C-G

Brovelh could only chuckle "Is th1 un- belicvabl ?" he as ed. '"Eleven years here and nothmg happens. ow, all of a sudden, I m getting calls from guys at Notre me' Al , the callers hardly were interested in USD bas tball. No, they were inquiring bout the program at the Uruversity of San Francisco. which Brovelli has been nom1- ted to run Th coach, who took USO to the NC tournament this spring and a llort tune ter accepted the USF position, · ln uch good graces at Alcala Park that be still is allowed the run of his old office wh n b ' in town. It will be mid-June be- fore Hank Egan, bJS replacement, moves in. Brovelli's task is umque in the history of coll ge basketball He ha been asked to

JDfBROVELLI Prospects calling