Community college basketball: UCLA’s Spencer to lead Pirates

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - When UCLA assistant men’s basketball coach Steve

Spencer played against Orange Coast College in 1980-81, he admired the

Pirates program. As of Thursday, he will become the men’s basketball

team’s leader once formalities are concluded.The OCC head men’s

basketball coach hiring committee selected UCLA assistant Steve Spencer,

OCC Athletics Director Fred Hokanson said.

OCC President Margaret Gratton will recommend Spencer to the Coast

Community College District Board of Trustees for approval for the

coaching position, which had its application process closed on March 2

and then reopened on May 11.

“I’ve always been attracted to the OCC job,” said Spencer, who played

for College of Marin. “I played against them when I was in junior

college. They were tough. As far as junior college jobs go in this state,

I thought it was the most attractive. From everyone I mentioned the job

to, the Orange Coast reputation has been nothing but good, the teachers

and the other people that I will work with.”

Spencer, 41, spent the past five seasons as an assistant at UCLA,

helping guide the Bruins to five NCAA Tournament berths, including an

Elite Eight appearance and three trips to the Sweet 16.

At UCLA, Spencer served as the coaching director for UCLA’s basketball

camps during the summer and earned a reputation around the country as one

of the nation’s top one-on-one workout coaches.

“Steve is a very talented coach and he comes from UCLA, one of the top

programs in the nation,” Hokanson said. “He knows what it takes to get it

done at the Division I level and we’re excited for him to come to Coast.”

Spencer said he has started to recruit as he was told he was selected

on Wednesday. As soon as he is done with the UCLA basketball camps, which

end July 24 and will have had 1,100 players, Spencer will turn all of his

focus to OCC.

“I’m very fortunate and happy to be chosen,” said Spencer, who applied

for the job before it reopened. “I feel honored to be chosen. I’m going

to enjoy being a part of the team at OCC. I am going to miss UCLA and

being part of that atmosphere. I’m going to miss the coaching staff.”

Spencer said he does not plan to use his new job as a stepping stone

back to Division I coaching. He also described Hokanson’s longtime

coaching and teaching tenure at Coast as “refreshing.”

“I’m focusing on the Orange Coast College Pirates,” said Spencer, who

lives in Manhattan Beach but is planning to move to Orange County. “We’re

going to get it going. I’m looking forward to meeting the players.”

Spencer also said UCLA head coach Steve Lavin was happy for him and

Spencer sees a recruiting relationship in the future with the Bruins’

Coach.

“Traditionally, UCLA doesn’t take junior college players,” Spencer

said. “But, if it’s going to happen, Orange Coast would have a great

chance, because OCC is academically successful. And maybe if someone

wasn’t a qualifier at a high school, we would get him and UCLA would get

him after that. I could see that.”

Spencer was an assistant coach at Cal Lutheran from 1989 to 1994 and in the Australian National Basketball League from 1994 through 1996.

Coast will be his first head coaching position.

Before entering the college coaching ranks, from 1985-89, Spencer was

an assistant varsity and head junior varsity basketball coach at his alma

mater, Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, where Lavin and

another UCLA assistant, Jim Saia, also played and attended.

Spencer earned his Masters Degree in counseling and guidance from Cal

Lutheran in 1993. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical

education from Sonoma State in 1985. In 1986 at Sonoma State, he earned

his teaching credential in physical education with a biology supplement.

In 1981, he earned his Associate of Arts Science degree from the College

of Marin.

For the first time since 1992, when Tandy Gillis was head coach, the

men’s basketball coaching position is a full-time job, which includes

teaching courses.

When Spencer is officially named OCC’s men’s basketball head coach, it

will finalize four high-profile hirings within the school’s athletic

department. In May, OCC hired track and field coach John Knox and in

June, offensive line coach Doug Smith was promoted to the football team’s

assistant head coach.

Also, Stacy Kirch was hired as the new athletic advisor on July 9.