Cal State Fullerton Notebook : Basketball Recruit Gives Sinking Spirits a Boost

With a disappointing football season waning and basketball still weeks away, a fair amount of focus at Cal State Fullerton these days is on another sport: Recruiting.

George McQuarn’s sudden resignation less than a week before the 10-day early signing period for basketball didn’t seem to bode well for Fullerton.

John Sneed, anticipating the resignation would have a negative effect, called recruiting one of the least of his worries on Friday, his first day as acting coach. But his attitude got a boost over the weekend when he learned Scott Campbell of La Quinta High School would make a verbal commitment to attend Fullerton. Campbell said Monday he would sign with Fullerton Wednesday, the first day of the signing period.

“I decided last Wednesday, but right after that Coach McQuarn resigned and everything and I had to think it over again,” said Campbell, a 6-foot 4-inch forward/guard who averaged 18.3 points a game for La Quinta last season. “I decided to go. Me and John Sneed talked it over, and he told me he could handle (the coaching job). I think he can do a good job.”

Campbell, who said he also was considering UC Irvine, USC and Hawaii, said he chose Fullerton because he was comfortable with the players and was impressed with the school’s department of education.

Maryalyce Jeremiah, women’s basketball coach, said she expects three to five players will sign with the Titans during the early-signing period--perhaps an entire recruiting class.

“It would be great to get that out of the way early,” Jeremiah said. “We’re having probably our best recruiting year, both in terms of talent and early signings.”

Football Coach Gene Murphy and his staff are busy scouting during the November evaluation period, during which coaches are allowed to scout prospects off-campus.

A major decision that faced Murphy and his staff was whether to continue to recruit community college players almost exclusively, or to return to recruiting high school players, as Murphy said he would prefer.

“We’re going to try to go high school,” Murphy said. “Can we get these good high school kids? I don’t know. We’ll find out.”

Fullerton, which signed only three high school players last year, had shifted to community college players after the NCAA’s Proposition 48 went into effect because a number of Fullerton freshmen were ineligible after failing to meet the requirements.

Now, Murphy says he is somewhat unhappy with the results of community college recruiting, “because of the type of JC kids we got.”

To switch from community college recruiting to high school is difficult because Fullerton needs players who can play immediately, replacing this year’s senior class.

Fullerton, therefore, will try to sign as many community college players as possible who can enroll in time for spring practice, and then focus on high school players afterward.

Titan Notes

Eli Rodriguez, the Fullerton gymnast who is awaiting trial on a charge of aggravated assault, appealed to the Athletics Council last week that his suspension from the team be dropped, allowing him to practice as he awaits trial. The Athletics Council voted, 4-3, to deny the appeal, upholding Athletic Director Ed Carroll’s decision that Rodriguez be suspended pending outcome of the trial. Rodriguez, 22, has been charged in the September stabbing of former teammate Steve Ciccarelli, who was hospitalized and later released. . . . Mike Brown, a 6-7 freshman forward from Westchester High School, was cleared by doctors to practice Monday for the first time this season. Brown had been ill with mononucleosis. “We’re glad to get him going. I think Mike Brown is going to play an important part in our program,” Coach John Sneed said. . . . The soccer team finished its season Sunday with a 7-11-2 record, 4-5-1 in the Big West Conference. Jeff Willard was the leading scorer with 6 goals and 1 assist. Goalkeeper Jay Nettekoven finished with 5 shutouts and 120 saves.