JANE LEE
Sports Editor
Looking out toward the ocean from his office, Vance Walberg appears right at home. Just months ago the new Pepperdine men’s basketball coach made the move from Fresno City College to Malibu to replace the fired Paul Westphal, who went 76-62 in five years but was never able to duplicate the success the Waves earned in his first season (22-9, NCAA Tournament berth).
With his wife, Rose, and four children (Jason, a redshirt senior on his father’s team; Heather, a Pepperdine grad student; Jaimie-Rose, a Seaver junior; and Ian, a freshman at Moorpark College) along for the ride with him, Walberg brings a career coaching record of 292-29 and an up-tempo style of play to Firestone Fieldhouse. Using a system of pressing and running like there is no tomorrow, Walberg finally gets to see if what was so successful at lower levels can now translate to the college game’s highest one.
With just over a month remaining before his debut as a Division I head coach, Walberg took time out of his busy schedule to talk Waves basketball in a special edition of not 10, but “20 Minutes With …”
How would you describe the transition from coaching at a high school to a junior college to a Division I school?
“Probably a dream come true in a way. I never really planned on this. When I first got into coaching, I actually had a chance to be a grad assistant at Santa Clara 20 some years ago, and it just didn’t work out family wise. My family meant more to me. And then four years ago the junior college position opened up, so it kind of gave me an opportunity to step in there. I just decided it was time because I was in high school for 24 years, so I was looking up to get the JC job and just the success we had there was great. I kind of run a different style of basketball. We have one that’s going to catch on across the country pretty soon.”
Did you always know you wanted to move up to the college level?
“You know, I just loved coaching — it didn’t matter to me if it was high school, junior college or whatever. Honestly I thought I was going to stay in high school the whole time. I really did, and then the opening came. And then not only getting it, but then the success that we had at the junior college level was great. We ended up having four good years, and then I was lucky enough to get this job.”
How did you get in the mix for the Pepperdine coaching job?
“Last year I had the Loyola Marymount head-coaching job and then I backed out, basically for two reasons. One was for my family. My last son was a senior in high school and I didn’t want to leave during his senior year, and then the Fresno State job opened, so it was those two things. And then this position opened, and the success we had at the junior college made me want to go to Division I and give it a try, but the biggest thing was I didn’t want to go off the West Coast, and it was Pepperdine, so who can argue? Honestly I did love Fresno. I was there for 17 years so I made a lot of good friends, met a lot of good people.”
You’ve already received national attention from the likes of ESPN and CBS Sports. Has it been overwhelming at times?
“No. It’s just one of those things. That kind of stuff doesn’t mean as much to me. I have a lot of pride in the way we play and how we play, and I know what we do is special. And in Fresno, you don’t do what we’ve done with the type of kids that we’ve had. It works if you have the type of kids and you do things the right way, and I’ve been blessed that way. I’ve had a lot of good kids, not great players, but great kids who are good players who buy into what we do, and it’s made them a lot better and made us a lot better. So I’m kind of hoping the same things works here. I’m a big believer in that it’s not the five best who usually win — it’s the five who play the best together who win. That’s one of our philosophies, so hopefully our chemistry is better than the other teams.”
What can fans expect from the offense and defense this year?
“They’re going to like it, I can tell you that right now. They will enjoy it. It’s high-intensity; looks like they’re running around with their heads chopped off half the time. They’re going to be mad at me because I won’t call timeouts when a lot of coaches would normally call a timeout. But I’m a big believer in wearing people down. We’ll shoot a lot of threes, we’ll take it to the rack a lot — we’re just going to hopefully play hard and play smart and stay together when we play.”
How has the team responded to your unique style of play?
“I think pretty well. The one thing I will say is that they’ve given us the opportunity to coach them, which is good because sometimes when you come into a different situation the kids will kind of battle you. But these kids have been very good and that has allowed me to coach them. Now we have to get them better because right now they’re not where I want them to be or where they want to be. So we’re going to see how hard they work, but I think the biggest thing for us this year is to stay away from injuries. We’re already battling a bunch of them, and last year they battled a bunch. We got three guys that went (Monday) for an MRI. Two of them were for knees and one of them for the Achilles, so we’re battling that.”
Based on your impressions of video from last year, what would you say are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the team’s performance since you took over?
“Well I think the biggest thing is that it’s a whole different tempo. See, they used to want to walk down and then set up, but we’re coming right down. Our whole thing is we’re not going to give you any chance to catch your breath anytime on the court, so we’re coming at you both defensively and offensively. Very few teams will press on the make and the miss. Some will press on the make but very few will press on the miss. I would bet you there’s not three teams in the country that press on every miss, so it’s going to be different.”
What are your thoughts on the schedule?
“The schedule is one to get fired on your first year (laughing). It’s a killer. I mean, 8 of the first 9 are on the road and then on top of that you go to UConn, Oklahoma State, New Mexico, Colorado and Washington, but if I’m going to find out what this is like, I might as well find out that way.”
Between summer training and the team’s European tour, you’ve been coaching the team for quite some time now. How would you assess their performance as of right now?
“They’re not even close to where I want them to be and they’ll be the first to tell you that. The biggest thing for them is to get themselves in shape. This is a whole different type of shape, the way we play. It’s not so much a physical beating, but more of a mental feeling of when you get tired. They have to acknowledge that they’re tired and keep going through it. So they’re kind of going through that now, but like I said, they’re doing a great job and they’re attitudes have been awesome. What’s kind of neat to see is the seniors that know it’s their last year, so they have an extra spark to them.”
And based on what you see now, how do you see the team stacking up against WCC opponents?
“It’s going to be tough — I’m not going to lie. But the beauty of what we do is we have the opportunity to control ourselves, so if they play as hard and smart as I want them to play, they’re going to give us a chance to be in every game.”
What have been your feelings toward the community’s excitement about your reign as head coach?
“Well everyone’s excited, but we haven’t lost yet (laughing). But you know what? My big thing with these guys too is just to make sure that they do what they’re supposed to do. I think you can always be proud of anyone if they give you the best effort and do what they’re supposed to do. If they’re respectful and do all the little things right, that’s all we’re trying to teach — because it’s really easy for an 18, 19, 20-year old to kind of look bad at some things and not be respectful or do the kind of things they should, and they’re learning to do that and I’m proud of that. You know, it may not result in the wins this year but I think that everyone will see the progress and can be proud of what they’re doing.”
Do you feel any sense of high expectations or pressure going into the season?
“You know, no one’s going to put more pressure on me to win than me. I hate to lose. I really do. I’m not a good loser, and I don’t ever want to be a good loser. But I hate to lose — I don’t even want to think about it. I’ve been really spoiled. Last year we lost six games and that’s more than we lost the three years before that. In four years, we only lost 11 games, so it’s going to be tough for me this year to follow some of this, but I’m going live, learn and get better.”
Six months from now the madness of March will be underway. Where will the team be standing?
“I just hope we’re standing (laughing). But really, I couldn’t tell you. The beauty about college basketball is if you can get hot at the right time, you can create a lot of magic. And for us, with our preseason schedule and a whole new style, it’s going to be tough. We’re probably going to get pounded when you’ve got 11 of your games on the road. But if we can just gel at the right time, keep our head up, be positive, when it comes to the WCC tournament we just have to have that special week. The girls’ team had it last year so you just never know what can happen.”
So even though you’ve yet to coach a game in Firestone Fieldhouse, how would you describe your experience thus far at Pepperdine?
“I still pinch myself. I mean, you look out and you see that view. I’m very lucky. Believe me, my goal is in my pride that no one’s ever going to outwork me. I have a staff that’s just fantastic that works really well and I want the kids at that same buy-in to where nobody’s going to outwork them. And once they get that attitude, I think we’ll be taking a step in the right direction.”
09-21-2006