Friday, April 24, 1998
Enterprise staff
The finalists are in place, and the next step for the UC Davis athletic department is to interview the four remaining candidates for the men's basketball position.
UCD athletic director Greg Warzecka said the four candidates -- Brian Fogel, Mike Legarza, Tony Marcopulos and Stan Stewart -- will be interviewed on consecutive days next week with the target date for the hiring of the new coach being the first week in May.
The local favorite -- at least if you ask the returning players -- is Brian Fogel, an assistant at UCD since 1995 under former coach Bob Williams, who was named the head coach at UC Santa Barbara three weeks ago.
Fogel and Legarza are the only two candidates who have collegiate head coaching experience of at least one season. Fogel coached at Skyline College before coming to UCD, while Legarza has spent the past eight seasons as head coach at Canada College in Redwood City.
Stewart's head coaching experience is less extensive. When former San Jose State coach Stan Morrison announced his resignation near the end of last season, he stepped aside for the final three games to let Stewart lead the Spartans.
Stewart, a career assistant under Morrison at SJSU and USC, led the Spartans to a victory over San Diego State in their final game.
``He did a super job,'' said Morrison, who assisted while Stewart took the reigns for a 1-2 career record. ``He coached his rear end off.
``This guy's ready to be a head coach,'' Morrison added. ``He's an outstanding teacher. He's also been my academics coordinator, so he would fit in very well at a school with heavy academics like Davis.''
Stewart has not been retained as an assistant under new SJSU coach Phil Johnson, but has had head coaching offers in the past, according to Morrison.
``He has looked at some opportunities, but they didn't fit,'' Morrison said. ``At a couple of places, he was close, but it just didn't fit. It's one of those revolving door things where he didn't have any head coaching experience, but you can't get head coaching experience until you've got head coaching experience.''
Marcopulos has no head coaching experience at the collegiate level, either. He has spent the past eight years as an assistant under Bob Thomason at the University of the Pacific. He was a finalist for the Columbia JC head coaching job two years ago.
Marcopulos was directly responsible for bringing center Michael Olowokandi to UOP, a Nigerian-born Londoner who is projected as a lottery pick in the upcoming draft.
He said his interview is scheduled for Monday.
``I'm anxious to meet people there and learn their vision of the future,'' Marcopulos said. ``I want to see what they want to have happen and if I can help make that happen.''
Yet Marcopulos is also realistic about his chances.
``Fogel is the odds-on favorite, because he's been there and knows people,'' Marcopulos said. ``I know all three of (the candidates). They're all good coaches. This isn't about competeing against the other three candidates. It's about who fits in best (at UCD). It's a great opportunity. I'm excited about it.''
Legarza was named the 1998 California Community College Coach of the Year after returning from back surgery that sidelined him for the 1997 playoffs at the age of 37. His team finished fourth in the nation this season and is sending two players Justin Love (St. Louis) and Ashante Johnson (Arizona State, Kansas, Florida State or Xavier) to Division I schools.
The way Canada athletic director Mike Garcia described Legarza made the veteran coach sound like another Williams. Garcia said Legarza's best attributes are ``discipline, (being) highly-organized and team chemistry.''
All of the coaches have an enviable task at hand: taking over the defending national champions.
``That says a lot about all the candidates who are willing to assume that,'' Morrison said. ``That says worlds about their confidence.''
--The San Jose Mercury News and The Record in Stockton contributed to this report.
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