From NBA Finals to Out at Pepperdine

I really want to believe that basketball coaches can make a difference. You know the better the coach, the better the team can be. Especially in college. But Paul Westphal really makes you wonder. Just how important is the coach to a team’s success?

Westphal resigned as head coach of Pepperdine University yesterday after five seasons and a 76-72 record.

Westphal has had an odd career as a coach. In the NBA, he was very good. At times, he looked great. In 1992, he led the Phoenix Suns to the best record in the NBA and lost in the finals to Jordan’s Bulls.

Following the 94-95 season in which the Suns won 59 games, the team got off to a slow start and Westphal stepped down. He then took a few years off to be the assistant coach of his son’s high school team. He had one more stint with Seattle before he was fired and took the job at Pepperdine.

You would think that Westphal would excel at a job like that. You’re a former NBA coach on one of the most beautiful campus in the country directing a team that really only has to compete with Gonzaga for players in the West Coast conference.

He must be impossible to get in touch with because with that resume, WCC caliber recruits should have been begging to play for him.

Instead, the Waves got progressively worse during the Westphal era. Now he’s looking for the next open jayvee high school job.