GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
Pepperdine Director of Athletics Dr. John Watson has a full schedule. He’s in the midst of a search for Pepperdine’s next men’s basketball head coach as well as overseeing the rest of the university’s Division I athletic teams. While Watson said the coaching decision won’t be made until Friday, April 14, at the earliest, he mentioned that interviews will begin today and shed some light on how the process is going in this week’s “10 Minutes With…”
Where are you in the process looking for a new coach?
We’ve had a significant search process. We’ve narrowed it down to about five candidates, and we’re getting ready to bring those individuals to the campus to review their candidacy and see how we fit with them and how they fit with us.
What has former UC Berkeley athletics director John Kasser’s role been so far?
He’s been just a huge help to us in contacting all the applicants, to gathering background information on them, to understand their coaching styles, to talk to references. He’s taken a lot of the routine background checking information and deciphered it for us. He’s done a phenomenal job.
What type of candidates are left?
We’re looking at individuals with head coaching experience who have been very successful, who have a lot of energy and can teach the game of basketball and are committed to their student athletes developing as young men and earning their degrees.
One of the other big stories this year has been the addition of the women’s track team, how have you seen that going so far?
It’s in its infancy stages, which is kind of normal for starting a track program particularly one that doesn’t have scholarships. So you look to students on campus that are interested in our program, and interested in running and then also interested in committing the 20 hours a week it takes to train and prepare and go out and compete so we’re still looking to build on that program, but I’m excited. I think we’re going in the right direction. It’s just a slow process.
What can be done to expedite that process?
I think it’s the norm. It’s going through its first season and having a full year to prepare for next year. I think we’ll be on firm ground next year with the program.
One of the new stories concerning NCAA sports is that they’re going to extend drug testing throughout the summer, making it year-round, what are your thoughts on that?
I think drug testing is an important element both in the learning and the educational process, but also in the enforcement process. To keep intercollegiate athletes healthy and properly trained, they need to be deterred from social drugs that are frequently available on college campuses. Testing is one way of deterring and it’s also one way of finding if somebody has an issue that they need assistance with. So I think drug testing is an appropriate approach for student athletes.
What’s on the horizon for Pepperdine athletics?
Wins. I think we’re excited about each new season as it comes about and our success has just been phenomenal. Our coaches are simply amazing, and I look forward to the opportunity of having new facilities eventually some day that will both enhance the athletic program but also enhance the student recreation on campus. I think everybody deserves that kind of effort to provide those facilities. I look forward to the time when we have our first women’s national championship and I don’t think that we’re that far away from it. I think that it can happen in the very near future. All of those things excite me and I think the prospects for athletics at Pepperdine University continue to be strong.
04-06-2006
