BUZZ KILL CSUN MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH BRASWELL WAS ONCE A HOT PROSPECT, BUT TIMES HAVE CHANGED.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. LOCAL It was the kind of buzz mid-major basketball coaches dream about, the kind that has your name popping up as a potential candidate for jobs at underachieving major-college programs where the last guy hasn't even been fired yet. They use phrases like ``up-and-comer'' and ``hot young coach'' to describe you. Athletic directors Athletic director (commonly, "athletics director") is a position at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, which oversees the work of the coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic from all over the country call just to chat. Bobby Braswell Bobby Braswell, an American basketball coach, is currently the head coach for Cal State Northridge. Braswell was named the fourth head coach in Northridge history on April 30, 1996, succeeding the retired Pete Cassidy. once had that buzz. In 2001, after he led Cal State Northridge to the NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
His name was linked to jobs at Oregon, Oregon State, Colorado State, UNLV UNLV University of Nevada, Las Vegas , Long Beach State and Fresno State. Instead, he signed a six-year contract extension with Northridge, his alma mater ma·ter n. Chiefly British Mother. [Latin m  ter; see m .
At the time, it was only mildly surprising. Northridge had announced a ``three-phase'' plan to add 2,000 seats to the 1,600-seat Matadome. Football was about to be eliminated, and all the statements from university president Jolene Kester and then-athletic director Dick Dull hinted that football's loss would be men's basketball's gain. Hindsight hind·sight n. 1. Perception of the significance and nature of events after they have occurred. 2. The rear sight of a firearm. , though, hasn't been as kind to his decision to stay. Braswell is in the final year of that six-year contract. New athletic director Rick Mazzuto said that he intends to offer him an extension ``in the next couple of weeks'' but added, ``that's really only the start of the process.'' The Matadome still has 1,600 seats. Last year's Blue Ribbon Commission Noun 1. blue ribbon commission - an independent and exclusive commission of nonpartisan statesmen and experts formed to investigate some important governmental issue blue ribbon committee report only ``talked'' about fundraising to expand it. And 2001 remains the Matadors' only NCAA Tournament appearance. To say it's been a buzz-kill for Braswell's coaching stock would be an understatement. So you have to ask, did Bobby Braswell miss his window of opportunity? ``Oh yeah,'' he said. ``I still have colleagues come up to me, telling me, `You should've gotten out of here when you could.' ``But you know what? I still feel blessed every day I walk on this campus. It's all relative It's All Relative is an ABC sitcom about a man who dates the adoptive daughter of a gay couple, which forces their very different families to learn to coexist. Overview . To me, being the head basketball coach at mid- major Cal State Northridge in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. is the best thing in the world. ``Northridge was very good to me. When we won the Big Sky in 2001, they gave me a long contract that I was very appreciative for and showed me that they were committed to me being their basketball coach. I really appreciated that from the president and Dick Dull.'' Braswell says that because this is his home. He graduated from Northridge in 1985, got his first coaching gig Slang for "gigabyte" or "gigabit." See GB. gig - gigabyte down the street at Cleveland High in Reseda and left a high-profile assistant coaching position at Oregon to come back to the San Fernando Valley and take a crack at resurrecting the CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge program in 1995. He's raised his three children -- Jeffrey, Christopher and Kyndal -- here and has been active in his local church, Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch. He also says that because his faith doesn't allow him to look back and question past decisions. ``There's never been a point where I look back and said, `Boy, I should've done this or I should've done that,''' Braswell said. ``I do believe that, like you say, if you stay too long at a place you'll be stuck there. But I always felt, and I still feel, that this is where God has me, and this is where I want to be. ... I believe that when it's my time, or if it's my time to move on, God will provide a way for me to do that.'' Braswell points to the time when he decided to leave Cleveland High for an assistant coaching position at Long Beach State in 1989. He had passed on the 49ers' offer in 1988 and immediately felt that he might have blown his one shot to coach at the DivisionI level. ``I remember telling my wife: `That was it. I'll never get another chance to coach Division I again,''' he said. ``And the following year, they called again. I've seen it happen in my life, and so I know it's possible.'' Braswell may not want to question his decision to stay at Northridge, but plenty of others have. Dull, who left the school last June and now lives in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , declined to comment on Braswell's contract situation, citing a personal rule of not discussing the affairs of an institution once he's left, but added that, ``Bobby Braswell has the most difficult basketball coaching job in the conference.'' Cal State Fullerton coach Bob Burton Bob Burton refers to the following people:
``Bobby's in the same boat as I am. We're both playing in gymnasiums,'' Burton said. ``How many schools call their facilities gymnasiums anymore? It's a really frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: thing for us because it really impacts recruiting. ``And, to make money, we have to play guarantee games on the road. So we get our kids on the bus, drive over to UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX and get our butts kicked, collect $50,000, then give the kids a sandwich on the ride home. ``But Bobby does a phenomenal job with what he's got. Have you ever seen them where they don't play hard? No. They don't always play good. But his guys always play hard.'' Last year, Burton found himself in a similar situation to the one Braswell faced in 2001. Loyola Marymount offered him a contract worth more than $200,000, but he passed on it because Fullerton had a talented group of players returning, and the school rewarded him with a nearly $50,000 raise. ``In this business, you've got to move when you're hot,'' Burton said. ``But I'm not really a move-around guy, and I don't think (Braswell) is either. ``They gave us opportunities to coach. I was a JC guy and Bras was an assistant all over the place. They gave me the opportunity to do this, so I'm indebted in·debt·ed adj. Morally, socially, or legally obligated to another; beholden. [Middle English endetted, from Old French endette, past participle of endetter, to oblige to Fullerton forever, and I know that Bobby has poured his heart out for (Northridge).'' On the surface, not much has changed at Northridge since Braswell agreed to the six-year extension in 2001 that paid him $125,000 annually and offered incentives worth up to $170,000. The gym is still the same capacity and in roughly the same shape. The biggest improvement to facilities since 2001 is the new office building that houses the athletic department. Before, the coaches operated out of portable trailers -- the result of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in the city of Los Angeles, California. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6. . Braswell said the biggest change to the program has been competing in the Big West Conference instead of the Big Sky Conference. Northridge entered the Big West in the 2001-02 season. ``After that (Big Sky) championship, we moved up to the Big West, and the advantages we used to have about recruiting from a location, we no longer had,'' Braswell said. ``Then it became an arms race: Who's got the nicest facilities? Who's got the biggest gym? Things change. But despite that, we've still been competitive.'' All of the other sevenschools in the Big West have basketball facilities that seat at least 3,000. Even Fullerton, whose gym is in a kinesiology kinesiology Study of the mechanics and anatomy of human movement and their roles in promoting health and reducing disease. Kinesiology has direct applications to fitness and health, including developing exercise programs for people with and without disabilities, preserving department building similar to Northridge's, expanded its seating capacity Noun 1. seating capacity - the number of people that can be seated in a vehicle or auditorium or stadium etc. commodiousness, spaciousness, capaciousness, roominess - spatial largeness and extensiveness (especially inside a building); "the capaciousness of Santa's to 4,000 in the past few years. When Utah State left the Big West two seasons ago, it meant that all the schools in the conference were located in California. Braswell tries not to focus on the facilities deficit he has compared to the rest of the conference but admits that it does impact recruiting, which in turn has affected his record. Braswell was 85-62 in his first five seasons at Northridge. He's 79-90 since. ``It's an issue we have to deal with,'' Braswell said. ``You can't hide the fact that in today's times, that's kind of the first thing kids want to see. ... But if I worried about that, it would keep me from doing the what I need to do to win basketball games.'' Instead, he stresses personal relationships with potential recruits. ``You know the old saying: `It's not how thick the carpet is, it's the people who walk on it that's important.' That's what we stress,'' he said. Braswell's been walking on that thinning-carpet for 11seasons. The buzz from 2001 is now just a faint echo. His name doesn't pop up in speculation about higher-profile jobs. But junior shooting guard The Shooting guard (SG), also known as the two or off guard,[1] is one of five traditional positions on a basketball team. Players of the position are often shorter, leaner, and quicker than forwards. Jonathan Heard, for one, would like to see Braswell stay a little while longer. ``People know that if we listen to him and do what he says, he can lead us to the promised land just like he did in 2001,'' Heard said. ``He's a great asset to this school. I don't think anyone could fill his shoes.'' ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: (color) CSUN coach Bobby Braswell had an 85-62 record in his first five seasons at Northridge but is just 79-90 since. Edna T. Simpson/Daily News Box: TOP OF THE LIST |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion