GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
Pepperdine’s men’s basketball team will have a new coach within the week, according to Athletic Director Dr. John Watson, but the search committee is still interviewing the final four candidates.
The final four, composed of Fresno City College’s Vance Walberg, USC assistant Gib Arnold, UCLA assistant Donny Daniels and University of Montana Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak, are in final interviews on campus with the search committee.
Final interviews began last week with Walberg and Arnold, while Krystkowiak interviewed yesterday and Daniels will interview tomorrow.
Interim men’s basketball coach Patrick Whitlock, who has met with each of the candidates who have come to campus, said he isn’t biased toward any of the candidates. Whitlock was an assistant during former head coach Paul Westphal’s tenure at Pepperdine. He wouldn’t speculate on who will be the Waves’ next leader.
“I don’t have any predictions, and I’m trying not to show any bias toward any one candidate,” Whitlock said. “They’ve asked me to review each one of the candidates impartially, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Walberg has been at Fresno City College since 2003, with a 100-5 record. Before that, he coached at Clovis West High School in Fresno. Arnold, a former Pepperdine assistant under former Waves’ head coach Jan Van Breda Kolff, has been at USC since April 2006. He was a head coach at College of Southern Idaho and coached former Pepperdine standout Yakhouba Diawara.
Krystkowiak, who played in the NBA for nine seasons, has been the head coach at Montana for the past two seasons. He led the Grizzlies to the NCAA Tournament and to an upset over fifth-seeded University of Nevada this season. Daniels helped lead UCLA to the national title game this season under head coach Ben Howland. Prior to joining the Bruins’ staff, Daniels was the head coach of California State University, Fullerton for three seasons.
Full coverage of the coaching hire can be found online at graphic.pepperdine.edu when a decision is made.
04-13-2006
