News Scrapbook 1986

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) San Diego Union (Cir. D. 217,089) (Cir. S. 341 ,840) FEB 2 "I \98 Jlll~n • P c. B , "

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

,xx, 20 w·ns won't ass re USD of NIT bid YT.J. Sim r t:; ,::{ West Coa t Atblel!c Conference. Last year, seven taff Writer ? team with 20 wins or more were bypassed by the

FEB 2 81986

The NIT, which will have a 32-team field, pro- vides travel expenses and a per diem for each traveling team. For USD to be included, another West Coast team - with a large arena - must be in the tournament. Last year in the NIT, Santa Clara played Fresno State in Fresno and lost m triple overtime. "II we're invited, we'll go anywhere,'' said USD coach Hank Egan. The Sports Arena is not being considered. title, so it will draw an automat1 berth into the "!CAA," Gilleran said. "At best, USD is an extreme long shot to also make it in J the NCAA. Both Loyola (17-8) and USD, tho1 , could be in the "It looks like Pepperdine II win the league

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NCAA and NIT. This year, 75 of the 283 Division I schools, including USD, already have 17 or more '"I met with the NIT people m New York yester- day and talked to them about USD and Loyola :'darymount," Gilleran said. "The NIT is very up- front about at; it is not a chantable organization. They are first going to find 16 schools with large arenas to host 16 games That eliminates everyone in our conference Then they will try to find 16 legitimate oppon nts who can be matched at rea- sonable travel prices. I made them aware of our (WCAC) interest, but the fact is Loyola and USD could I~ out to cheaper opponents." wins.

o~~~ni!..!:"D1ego men's basketball t am, hoping o reach the National Invitation

---for~s keep their NIT ho~s alive with victory Tribune IV11'{' and Std ff Report PORTLAND, Ore. l}SD's mfill'.l; school's best Division I record. The 1983-84 team went 18-10, won the WCAC championship and went to the NCAA Tournam.,nt.

t time, may discover that

Tourn mcnt for the f1

conomlcs matt rs more than v1ctone .

U D a umc

its final three

that 1f it win

to finish

begmnmg tonight in Portland -

am

right to postseason competi-

20-8, it will e· rn th

tton

It' a goal we I ave a a t m now,' said senior lurphy. '"We want to get 20 win to guard Pet "Any team th t thinks 20 \\ ms will get them into th NC A or NIT may be fooimg themselv said M cha I Gill ran, the comm1ss1oner of the g tu into the NIT."

baskethall team began its season- c,mling push la~t night for a berth in a postseason tournament by easily defeating Portland 61-40. USD ce11t ·r Scott Thompson scored 20 µoint.s to pare the Toreros in the \\e t ('oa l Athletic Confer ence victory. The wm pushed the Toreros' record to 18-8 overall and 8 4 in the WCAC and tied a school mark for mo t wins in a season. Senior guard Pete Murphy chipped in 15 points, and senior forward Mark Bostic and junior forward Nils Mad- den had seven rebounds apiece. Bos tir and Murphy had five assists each. It was ti e fom th straight win for th Toreros. Portland dropped to 12- 14 and 3-9 Fred Harris led the Pilots with 13 poin USD plays next at Gonzaga on Sat- urday and at St. Mary's next Wednes- day to finish its regular season. If the Toreros win one of their remaining two games, they'll finish with the

At present, th Toi eros are hoping for a postseason '911rnament ii vita- tion. They can't w1 the WCAC to get the conference's automatic hid to the NCAA Tournament, so they're hoping to attract the attent10n of the NIT Tournament. "That (the NIT) i our goal," said Thompson. "They (NIT officials) have been in touch with us and told us we're under consideration, but we better win our last three games. We have one under our belt; now we want to win our last two." The latest USA Today rankings of Division I teams rates the Toreros as the 96th best team in the country, Coincidentally, 96 teams will ~e picked to compete m postseason tournaments - 64 by the NCAA and 32 by the NIT.

See USD on Pag D-2 Hank Egan -----~----~--~~----------------- ·--======-===~-==--=-=--=-=-== - U-sD· Closes regular season with 3 road games ?-1., Continued from D-1 ( A J Earlier 1!11

was ranked 96th in USA Todays weekly power ratings," Gilleran said. "It's those sort of ratings that the NCAA relies heavily on, and the NIT was impres ed with USD's ranking. Coincidentally, there will be a total of 96 teams in the NCAA Tournament and NIT this year. Loyola, second in the WCAC and twice a winner over USD, was ranked No. 141. USD and Loyola finish their regular seasons on the road. Loyola has the tougher schedule, playing at San Francisco and then at improving Santa Ciara and league-leading Pepperdine. USO plays three teams it already has beaten: at Portland tonight, Gonzaga on Saturday night and the regular-season finale Wednesday at St. Mary's. 'Tm trymg to extend my last season as long as I can," \iurphy said, "so I want us to win our last three games and then go into the NIT "

ea C'n USD defcat,.,d Portland 67-43 Gon-

ut rortlal'(l 1 2:13) is

zaga 74-50 and St. Ma y's 70-61.

' Wh n I talked to the NIT, I rocu. ed on potential oppon nts for Loyola and USD Cal (16-8) would be ideal Ho ev r, the NIT like· 10,000 cat stadiums and up, and Cal at 6,600, hut Cal has told the NIT it can sell out au it's be n o long mce its been m a postseason ur m nt Other school mentioned were orthern Ar- izona 18-7), New Mexico (H-12), New Mexico State (16- 9, Utah (18-8), Brigham Young (15-11) and an outside chance 10 UCLA (13-11 and NIT defending champion). '·The NIT doe n't like to match teams who have ai- r ady played each other, so if New MPxico made it, that would be bad for USO. If UCLA made 1t, 1t would work again t Loyola," Gilleran added "If the IT wants only on of our chools in the tournament, I told them, 'You pick between Loyola and USD.'" Though the NIT refuse to be pecif1c about its pros- pects,' 1t was th NIT that pomted out to me that U D

10-2 at horn and Gonzaga (12-12J ·s 9-4 Gonza a upset Loyola last weekend. "These are two tough places to play," E an said. ''ll's not an easy task we have, but considering the carrot (NIT) that has been put in front of us, I see no reason wh} we won't be ready to play.'' With 17 wins. Egan is enjoying his finest season. If his team does draw a postseason bid, it would be his first in 15 years of coaching. 'My job is to coach three more game and get us wins," Egan said. "I think we need to wm al least one game this weekend, or the NIT is out the window I don't really know what needs to be done to get noticed or get into the NIT, but I'll find out. I'll call a Bobby Kmght or a Larry Brown and see what needs lo be done and do it if we finish strongly."

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

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FEB 2 7 1

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P C B // R_o_r_C_u~~ingha~, ~uccess isn't measured by wins alone

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By Ed Zieralski

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• • • No question Cunningham is proud of the Toreros' four NCAA p_la_y?ff appearances, two regional championships and a D1v1s1on II College World Series appearance. Then there are his nine All-Americans and the three players who have reached the major leagues - John Wathan Bill Pinkham and Kerry Dineen. But the coach can't talk about his program without bragging a little about the Toreros' first-class traveling bus and playing field. Th~ bus once had a greyhound on the side, but after ' Cunningham used some of his contacts, a deal was struck with Greyhound, and now it's the official bus of the Toreros. "We had a bus that was older than the school," Cunn- ingham said. "We needed a new one, so I went to the administration. They're reply was: 'Better find another angel."' Cunningham found one in former player and alumni · director, Jackson Muecke. "Jackson's dad, Carl Muecke, is a federal judge in Phoemx, and he had a contact who was a retired presi- dent of Greyhound,'' Cunningham said. "We worked out a deal, and now we have a bus that is the envy of the other colleges." The field is another story. It used to be a canyon hillside. "We started playing on the field in 1973 " Cunningham said. "The school didn't pay for it. We r'aised our own money. We had 300,000 yards of dirt hauled out on a trade-out basis. They received the dirt. We got level land for our field. We built a little more each year. It isn't a store-bought field. It took quite a few years to make it what it is today, which is one of the best in Southern Califorrua." • • • He's hoping this young group can go on and be the best ever at USD, and that would mean it would have to surpass the accomplishments of the 1978 team the last Division II baseball team at USD. Senior pitcher Tom Sizer is 4-0. Players such as freshman Andy Roberts, sophomore Sean Baron, junior Robbie Rogers and David Jacas are off to fine starts with the stick. Of all his teams, that 1978 club was a special one to Cunningham. "We weren't packed to do anything that year" Cunning- ham said. "But we went on and won the West Coast Championship_. I really didn't think we'd do anything that year, so I decided to get married right at the end of the season. But we won our last 10 games. My wife, Nancy, and I spent our honeymoon at Springfield, Ill., and there were 24 players there with us." Cunningham finds it difficult to name the best player who ever played in his program. "You start naming names and saying who has gone the furthest in pro ball,'' Cunningham said. "But others are doctors and lawyers. How do you say who is better off?"

Tribune Sport>" r,/er The high anxiety registered in the gloves and iats of the USD baseball team at San Diego State's Sm t Field last night was excusable. After all, Toreros skipper John Cunningham was going after the 500th win of his 23-year career as the USD coach And the opposition was none other than the Torero ' cross-town nemesis, SDSU. Cunnmgham isn't in any particular hurry to get No. 500, but with a career mark of 499-491-11, he has one request of hi guys. "I told them we're going to win that 500th,'' Cunning- ham said. "And I told them we're going to Jose our 500th. But if I had my druthers, I'd rather win 500 before losing 500" If the Toreros had any thoughts last night about No. 500 for Cunningham, they Jost sight quickly when the ztecs pushed across five runs m the bottom of the first inning and a run each m the second and third innings to take a 7-0 lead after three frames in a game SDSU even- t ally won 12-1 "The guys were talking a lot about gettmg the 500th win onight,'' Cunningham aid. "Maybe they were up- about that That wa · ·t the same te t on ven game· out there tonight. The Toreros were scheduled to play at UC Riverside this afternoon at 2:30, so they'll get a quick shot to get l:unningham in the 500 Club. • • • As Cunr.mgharn nears the 500-wm plateau , the 500-loss valie) is er pmg up on him. But Cunningham doesn't make any e. u es for that. Smee he mo\ed up from Division II to Division I status for the 1979 ason, not much has changed at USD. Ex- pt for a cost of living mcrease, the baseball budget at USD 1s the same as it was m Division IL There is more emphasis on turnmg out doctors, lawyers and other pro- . n than there is on draft-worthy ballplayers. unnmgham said he gets 10 tuit10n scholarships and wo full scholarslups each year. The other 12 players on a rosler are wal -ons who eventually may earn a schol- h1p when somco c leaves or graduates. Only one of his layers 1s on a full scholarship, and Cunningham said he a never taken a schr,larship away from a player be- use the student couldn't play "Once we offer them a scholarship, we honor 1t," he aid, • • • unningham, a native San Diegan, former All-CIF a ball player and the county's leading scorer in basket- all du_rmg his ·enior year at St. Augustine, bas becom, n mstatutaon at Alcala Park. This i a man who said he nc wa 'Bill Russells whipping boy" at USF and com ted for a pot on the 1960 U.S. Olympic Basketball

'The administration here lets you do your own thing as long as I stay within the budget. Winning hasn't been emphasized. I won't lose my job tor losing to State tonight. We stress education'

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John Cunningham

Cunningham thinks he has a crew this season that can turn that around. It's a young team that includes 10 freshmen and five sophomores. The coach said this group quickly has put together a chemistry that was lacking in his previous three teams. "And there are a couple of other things happening for the first time since I've been here," Cunningham said. "Jake Molina is one of my assistant coaches, and he's now here for the entire practice period. He's been a tremendous help. We've been able to break down into teaching stations. In the past, I did the repairs and main- tenance on the field, drove the bus and coached. "Now I have Jake and Glenn Godwin, who was an All- America pitcher for us, as coaches. Glenn is doing some graduate work and serving as the pitching coach. "With the coaches and the new players, it's fun to be on the field again, tonight's game notwithstanding. I think the chemistry of this year's club is the best I've seen. Everyone is getting together. Tonight was our first real test of adversity, so I'll see how they bounce back from this one."

Team against the likes of Jerry West, Bobby Knight and Oscar Robertson. The coach was Pete Newell. After a four-year baseball and basketball career at U F, a short stint in the Army Reserves and the tryout with the Olympic Team, Cunningham signed with the Baltimore Orioles and played one season before being released. He now wishes he would have tried out for another team at the time, but he doesn't regret returning to USF to get his teaching credential so he could start his coaching career. • • • Cunningham arrived at USD in 1962 and served as an assistant basketball coach, but by 1964 he had the reigns of the baseball team. •·The administration here lets you do your own thing as long as I stay within the budget,'' he said. "Winning hasn't been emphasized. I won't lose my job for losing to State tonight. We stress education." Cunningham's record (excluding ties) since moving over to Division I is 182-197. After four winning seasons m Division I, the Toreros have suffered three straight losmg years and sport a 54-92 mark in that span.