Sunday, May 3, 1998
By SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Enterprise staff writer
About five minutes into the first press conference of his career as men's basketball coach at UC Davis, Brian Fogel heard the question.
Just hours before, the three-year assistant had learned that he would replace Bob Williams as coach of the NCAA Division II champions, and already Fogel was getting hardballed.
``I've been waiting for that question,'' Fogel said in response to an inquiry at Friday's press conference as to whether the Aggies would repeat as national champs. ``I don't know exactly. It's a new year, and obviously at the beginning of every season you start fresh. The only expectations that I'm going to place on this team are that we get better.''
It's not going to be an easy rookie season for Fogel, who emerged from a group of finalists that also included former San Jose State assistant Stan Stewart, Canada College coach Mike Legarza and University of Pacific assistant Tony Marcopulos.
While he knows the returning players better than any candidate, Fogel will carry the weight of following Williams, who had a school-record .675 winning percentage before leaving for UC Santa Barbara in March.
``I know (Williams) is going to be a success down there, and obviously we're going to miss him, but we need to move on,'' Fogel said.
He also said the team's style of play will hardly change.
``We're going to be very, very similar,'' Fogel said. ``Obviously, we've had a lot of success. For the past three years I've recruited these players into playing this particular way, and I think it would be kind of silly to change that. It comes back to, If it's not broke, why fix it? I wholeheartedly believe in what we're doing, so we will continue to play the same way.''
Fogel's promotion comes as a relief to the returning players, all of whom gave the 33-year-old their ringing endorsement as soon as Williams left.
``Without a doubt in anyone's mind, we're extremely excited to have him,'' sophomore Jason Cox said.
Added junior point guard Dante Ross, ``It's someone we know we can trust right off the bat. We don't have to take the time to gain trust and gain understanding of what he's all about. That's something we've known all along because he's been here for the past three years.''
One thing that will change is Fogel's relationship with his players. For the past three years, he has watched while Williams did the yelling.
``He's going to have to be a little more of a disciplinarian,'' Ross said. ``Before, Bob did all of the disciplinary work, and now it's going to be up to him. ...
``But he's become a lot more vocal, that's for sure. Actually, at points during the season when we'd mess up, he was more vocal about it than Bob was. He'd get on our case a lot more than Bob would, and because of that we respected him.''
Cox also realizes Fogel's on-court personality will change.
``I hope he does, and I'm sure he will,'' Cox said. ``That's the kind of coach that we all want to play for.''
Despite only one year of head coaching experience (Skyline College, 1994-95), Fogel has served as an assistant at Cal, Sonoma State and San Francisco State. He has also been the Aggies' main recruiter the past three seasons, a position he said will not change.
Athletic director Greg Warzecka said Fogel's success in recruiting was a key to the decision.
``I think the culmination of a national championship speaks volumes for Brian's ability to recruit student-athletes that fit into a system and can be successful here,'' Warzecka said. ``That was very important to me.''
While Fogel said the Aggies are on the verge of another strong recruiting class, he will certainly have his work cut out for him next season. The Aggies not only try to defend their D-II crown but also play NCAA Final Four participant Stanford for the first time since the 1980-81 season in the opener.
``We wanted to just really test him out of the chutes,'' Warzecka said.
Added Fogel, ``If I'm jumping into this thing, I might as well jump in head first.''
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