mckay at osu

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

McKay To OSU, Braswell Stays At CSUN,
Sanders To Get New Coach--(Mar. 24, 2000)

This is like that bad joke about the "Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon". . . you know, how everyone in Hollywood is either related to or has worked with someone who has been in a movie with Kevin Bacon within seven degrees. . .

This just goes to show you how one decision by someone can affect many other people's lives, including the life of a recruit who originally lived in SoCal, who now lives in Colorado and who had every intention of playing for a coach who he probably believed would still be there next fall. Today's LA Daily News carried a story about the chances for CSUN head coach Bobby Braswell to take over the Oregon State job. The paper concluded that since the school didn't announce it's choice for a new head coach to take over the job from Eddie Payne, who resigned a couple of weeks ago, that this probably didn't bode well for Braswell's chances. The paper also speculated that because the decision to hire a new coach at Oregon State was apparently in the hands of OSU president Paul Risser rather than AD Mitch Barnhart, this was another bad omen for Braswell, since it signalled that the new coach was going to require a larger financial commitment than the AD had authority to negotiate. That probably ruled out Braswell.

And, as things turned out, that candidate was Richtie McKay, the head coach at Colorado State, who reportedly had four more years to run on his contract at Colorado State. Despite a reported buyout for those four years at $250,000 per season, the Beavers coughed up the money and today announced that they had hired McKay to replace the fired Payne. So, officially, Braswell, who had himself formerly been an OSU assistant and was seeking the job, is now out. Well, he's not "out" because he's still at CSUN, but the decision will also affect others.

According to the published reports, some thought Braswell would be the logical choice, particularly given OSU's financial problems, which include a $5.5 million budget deficit. The Daily News also speculated that McKay would want more than the $200K per year that Payne was making, which would make Braswell's $92,700 per year salary seem a lot more reasonable. But as it turned out, OSU bit the bullet, and they've agreed to a five-year contract with an annual base salary of $140,000, and an additional $125,000, making the deal worth $265,000 per year.

McKay, 34, joins his third school in four years, having led Colorado State to two winning campaigns and a postseason berth in 1999 and resurrecting a program at Portland State. He went 37-22 in two seasons with the Rams, guiding them to an 18-11 mark with an 8-6 record in the newly formed Mountain West Conference. They posted wins over Oregon State, UCLA, Utah and Brigham Young. McKay was an assistant at the University of Washington before taking the job at Portland State, where he helped revive a program that had dropped basketball in 1981.

Colorado State reportedly held a news conference this afternoon at which CSU AD Tim Weiser expressed his disappointment with McKay leaving the program. Weiser is probably not half as disappointed as the two guys who signed with the Colorado State during the fall early signing period, John Rakiecki (6'-4" Sr. G) from Denver's Fruita Monument HS, and Jonathan Sanders (6'-8" Sr. G/F) from Belleview Christian. Jonathan is originally from SoCal, attended Millikan Jr. High in Sherman Oaks and played with several local travel teams before moving to Colorado with his family several years ago. Since then, Jonathan has developed into one of the top prospects in the country, a 6'-8" self-styled point-forward, a guy with good size and speed, who would rather pass and be a playmaker than be a shooter or a scorer.

We can only hope that the new coach at Colorado State doesn't decide it's necessary to take a course of action similar to what's happened down in San Diego, but like most things in life, there are no guarantees, especially if you're a student-athlete.