Sunday, April 19, 1998
Of course, the obligatory national search is under way, but to find the next UC Davis men's basketball coach, the athletic department shouldn't have to go very far.
He's already here.
Brian Fogel is his name. You may not have heard of him. As Bob Williams' top assistant the last three years, he's stayed in the background. He ran practices and did the dirty work while the ultra-charasmatic Williams was the guy in the public eye.
Anyone who has talked with Fogel one-on-one, however, knows that he has the same wit and sense of humor as the former coach. Since Fogel's job wasn't to be in the spotlight, much of that went unnoticed. It's no secret why Williams and Fogel get along so well -- they're a lot alike.
Wit and humor only take you so far. There has to be some basketball knowledge to go with it if a program is to be successful. Fogel certainly has that.
Outside of Tom Wood at Humboldt State, Fogel has to have more knowledge of the old Northern California Athletic Conference than any coach in the conference. Even though the NCAC no longer exists, five of those teams are heading to the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Fogel knows these teams inside and out.
He has been associated with the NCAC for more than 10 years, first as a player at Sonoma State, then an assistant coach. He also assisted at San Francisco State before his one year of head coaching experience at Skyline JC. In 1995, he arrived at UCD.
Bob Williams built a legacy here that should be continued by whatever means possible. In that sense, the three people most qualified for the job are Bob Hawking, Jon Wheeler and Brian Fogel, all top assistants under Williams during his eight-year reign.
Hawking just received a contract extension at Cal State Fullerton, indicating that he is unavailable. That leaves Wheeler and Fogel, the two people most responsible for recruiting the players that just won the national championship. Williams told me Friday that he will be keeping Wheeler at UC Santa Barbara.
Therefore, to keep the continuity, Fogel is the choice. The players certainly agree.
``He's our man,'' junior Dante Ross said. ``The whole team wants him, and I speak for every player. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Keep it as close as you possibly can.''
The players do have a say in who the next coach will be. Two of them are on the six-member screening committee, along with two coaches, a faculty member and an administrator.
Athletic director Greg Warzecka said he has received 31 applications so far and anticipates another 15 or so. So far, he said he has a ``pretty good core of eight to 10.'' Interviews will take place the last week of April.
Names of leading candidates have not been released yet, despite published information in The Sacramento Bee naming Sonoma State's Pat Fuscaldo and former Elk Grove coach Todd Reiswig. Fuscaldo has not applied as of yet, and there is a reluctance to hire a high-school coach with no college experience, which would seem to eliminate Reiswig, an Aggie alum.
In the end, it's up to Warzecka. I can't think of a bad decision he's made in his three years at UCD. His judgment has been stellar, and whomever he decides to hire will be a good choice and in the best interests of the program.
But my two cents, if it's even worth that much, go to Fogel. He deserves a shot to continue what he helped create.
-- Marc Erwin is sports editor of The Enterprise. Phone: 756-0800, ext. 249. Fax: 756-1668. Mail: 315 G Street, Davis, CA 95616. e-mail: marcjerwin@aol.com
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