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Reynolds
determined to restore LBSU basketball
Optimistic
• Head Coach Larry Reynolds and the
Long Beach State men's basketball team have
three consecutive Big West Conference victories.
Yulian Danusastro / Online Forty-Niner
By
Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer
Lute
Olsen, Tex Winter, Jerry Tarkanian, Craig
Hodges, Ed Ratleff, 24 NBA players, 14 All-Americans,
seven NCAA Tournaments and five NIT appearances
are synonymous with Long Beach State basketball's
rich tradition and demanding legacy.
Not
many are more familiar with this tradition
than Head Coach Larry Reynolds.
With
a gleaming 110-35 record over five years
at his previous school, Cal State San Bernardino,
three California Collegiate Athletic Association
(CCAA) titles, four consecutive CCAA Coach
of the Year awards, two Elite-Eight appearances
and a No. 1 national ranking, the newly
hired Reynolds stepped onto the LBSU campus
a proud man.
His
glamorous tenure at Division II CSU San
Bernardino earned him an office inside an
architectural marvel of an arena. It also
left him in charge of jump-starting a once
proud LBSU program that was in hibernation.
Nearly
three years later, amid a third losing season,
the coach is as optimistic as a person in
his tumultuous position can possibly be.
Under fire from boosters and supporters
of the program, and in danger of missing
the Big West Conference Tournament for his
third consecutive year, Reynolds pointed
out that even the best coaches suffer hardships.
"Even
John Wooden struggled in his early days
at UCLA," said Reynolds, whose system
and philosophies are based on the legendary
coach's teachings.
Clearly,
the principles of hard work and integrity
utilized by Wooden are holding the downtrodden
LBSU program together.
Reynolds
has been through rough times before. Despite
the overall success he experienced at the
Division II level, his early days as a head
coach saw many of the same types of challenges
he currently faces.
He
was hired at CSU San Bernardino to raise
the downtrodden program, but won only 12
games his first year.
Likewise,
a crash-course lesson in the brutal world
of Division I basketball is what Reynolds,
his staff and the players have experienced
the past several years. The long-term building
approach the coaching staff took in regards
to recruiting during his first year of the
program proved to be difficult.
"We
played a freshman last year [Kevin Houston]—he's
now a sophomore, and we're going with a
sophomore as a leader," Reynolds said.
"He had the opportunity to kind of
grow into it.
There
are only two sophomore point guards in the
conference, and we have one of them. Everyone
else is playing juniors and seniors."
Other
key responsibilities on the team have also
been assigned to relatively inexperienced
players.
"We
also started a sophomore at the post position—that's
two sophomores starting," Reynolds
said. "And as those guys grow, develop
and mature, they'll get better."
The
development of the younger athletes is the
base of optimism for 49er supporters. With
seven wins thus far, loyal fans can only
hope that any turnaround is foreshadowing
something greater.
"I
think that part of our rebuilding situation
partially adds to some of the problems,"
Reynolds said. "Some of the other teams
have some good guys who have been in their
program for four or five years, and have
had a great deal of success. We didn't come
into that kind of program here."
Injuries
to key players, notably senior forward Anthony
Coleman, have also hindered the team's success
this season.
"The
program wasn't as successful this year as
we would have liked it to be at this point,"
Reynolds said. "I think we've played
a tremendously tough schedule at the beginning
and we've had some unfortunate injuries
to the team."
Longtime
boosters of the program have seen immense
success in the past. Their expectations
for immediate results have not diminished
despite inexperience and injuries.
In a program that has seen coaches inducted
into the Basketball Hall of Fame and many
great professional players and influential
people go into the basketball world, no
new coach can escape the pressure of living
up to the legacy left behind.
Tarkanian,
who coached at LBSU in the '70s, had the
program ranked in the Top-25 regularly.
He later won a national title at UNLV. Ratleff,
who is one of the biggest names in LBSU
basketball, played under Tarkanian. Ratleff
was an All-American and played in the infamous
1972 Olympic game between the United States
and the former Soviet Union, where the Soviets
won via an ultra-controversial ruling by
the referees.
"You
can't help but think about [the legacy],
because there are just so many reminders
around," Reynolds said. "Every
time you see Ed Ratleff or hear his name,
you think about Tarkanian and the teams
that he had here. Glenn McDonald works on
campus and comes to practice and Craig Hodges
is around."
Hodges,
father of current 49er Jibril Hodges, can
be seen at most 49er games these days. Craig
played for The Beach under Winter and later
went on to become the NBA three-point champion
for three consecutive years with the Chicago
Bulls. He is a constant reminder as to what
the team strives for.
"The
history of the program is very much apparent
to the players. They know about it, and
they're very aware of who coached here and
who played here," Reynolds said. "And
to those guys' credit, they're around and
very supportive of the players and the program."
Reynolds
is also aware of his piece of the legacy,
despite the current struggles he faces.
No one is more determined than he is to
restore the program and bring it back to
prominence on the national level. His sense
of dignity in the face of adversity is an
asset to be admired by even the harshest
critics.
"At
this point in time, I can't see myself being
anywhere else. I'd like to finish out my
career here and have this program be very
successful," he said. "You don't
ever know if you're going to reach the levels
of the Tarkanians, the Tex Winters and the
Lute Olsens, but that's part of competition,
and that's why you have to go out and try
to do your best, and create the best program
that you can."
And
with the media, fans, boosters and community
skeptical due to the results thus far, Reynolds
realizes the mountain he must climb is rather
steep. Nevertheless, the Southern California
native keeps the team focused, tries his
best to tune out criticism and sets out
everyday for what he came to do.
"You
leave the rest up to the history and the
critics and what not," Reynolds said.
"I grew up in the Long Beach area and
played against the Ratleff teams. I think
this program deserves to be fun and exciting,
with an aura about it that we are one of
the best teams on the West Coast."
With
that goal in mind, the team, which is finally
seeing some signs of life at the tail end
of the conference season, is up for the
challenge.
"The
guys are working hard—they definitely
haven't quit," Reynolds said. "We
are continuing to strive to get the program
to where we need it to be."
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