Walberg Resigns from Pepperdine

by **Stonehouse** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:32 am

Figured I may as well just post it here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3201198

Wow wow wow. Obviously not a coincidence that it happened the same day they reported NCAA violations.

Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised that it finally caught up with him, but I am definitely surprised it happened midseason like this. I figured they would wait until March.

by **Rob's Jacket** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:35 am

To tie this back into the Pilots, what does this mean for Brad Tinsley (Oregon City) and Paul McCoy (Grant) who committed to Pepperdine?

by PurpleGeezer on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:39 am

Dionnfan wrote:To tie this back into the Pilots, what does this mean for Brad Tinsley (Oregon City) and Paul McCoy (Grant) who committed to Pepperdine?

..... and was the way they were recruited part of the violations?

by **Stonehouse** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:52 am

Ameer Shamsud-Din (Benson) also verballed there, but I don't think he signed an LOI.

I'm guessing it would be a wait-and-see thing. Tinsley and McCoy did sign LOI's, so Pepperdine would have to release them if they decided that they did indeed want to leave.

McCoy has a lot of options... he's a tremendous football player and could get a Pac-10 scholarship if we wanted it. And he's a super-athletic point guard too who really blew up the AAU circuit and is rated a top 100 guy.

Tinsley is the one that intrigues me the most... Mark Campbell, a very close friend of his, was just hired as an assistant at Pepperdine this summer and many speculate that he was they key to getting Tinsley to head down to Malibu. Depending on who Pepperdine's next coach is, Campbell may not be on staff there anymore, which might affect Tinsley's decision to go there. I have no idea... but I do know that we have an open scholarship and that Tinsley is a great scorer and shooter.

Still, he already signed his LOI, so until he wants out he's totally off-limits.

by **PilotNut** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:56 am

Very interesting, and sad for Pepp. I wish the best for their remaining players.

My first thought is how thankful I am on the hiring process of Coach Reveno. Walberg was hired at the same time.... and look at the differences now. Pepp is starting over again, will struggle to win more games this year, and may lose their good recruiting class... Conversely, Rev has started to rebuild the correct & clean way, and things only look up for the Pilots for the rest of this year and beyond...

There certainly has been "smoke" circling around the Pepp program all year, and the "fire" was finally uncovered.

I assume an Assistant Coach will take over in the interim? I guess it depends on the nature/extent of the violations.

Wow. 2 WCC schools looking for coaches now... and who knows if Bennett will get pulled away from SMC at the end of the year (Will Oregon St. go after him?). The coaching carousel continues!

by IronLions on Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:59 am

I’m not sure how many scholarships you guys have but it would be great for the Pilots to land one of the Pepperdine recruits. Even though they have signed, a coaching change usually gets you out of that. Boy am I glad Ameer didn’t changed his mind about us (LMU) Good luck Pilots!

PS Nice work Stonehouse on being on top of this story from the get go.

by thepuck on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:05 pm

PilotNut wrote:
My first thought is how thankful I am on the hiring process of Coach Reveno. Walberg was hired at the same time.... and look at the differences now. Pepp is starting over again, will struggle to win more games this year, and may lose their good recruiting class... Conversely, Rev has started to rebuild the correct & clean way, and things only look up for the Pilots for the rest of this year and beyond...

Upon hearing this news I had the same reaction. Not only does Rev seem to being doing the right things on the court, he's doing them the right way. Portland is looking better and better in the WCC this year.

by PurpleGeezer on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:07 pm

the LA Times weighs in.

apparently assistant Eric Bridgeland is the temporary coach.

Interesting reasons -- those can't possibly be reasons for getting fired.

by **Stonehouse** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:13 pm

Agree with you 100%, Pilot Nut.

I feel very, very fortunate to have a guy like Reveno at the helm of the program. Not only is he a good coach and a good person, but he didn't go for the easy route or the quick fix. He has built a foundation with solid student-athletes with good potential and will continue to build on it. Sure it might take a bit longer to reach the peak that way, but it's the best way to help esnure it will have a lasting impact. Kudos to Rev and his staff!

As to what IronLions said... yeah, it's kind of a strange feeling. Part of me feels vindicated because I did air some of my concerns about Walberg and was attacked by a lot of Pepperdine fans for it. But more than anything I just feel sorry for the situation down there. Pepperdine has a great basketball history and it's sad to see it go down like this.

I think they really have to knock it out of the park with their new coach. If they can hang on to Shelley and Thomas and keep George, McCoy, and Tinsley, that is an awesome group of young talent to build on. If they experience a mass exodus, it might get really, really ugly because Walberg already ran off all but one of Westphal's guys.

by **Stonehouse** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:17 pm

Eric Bridgeland is a good coach... he was at Pugent Sound for several years and saw a lot of success there. Definitely capable of bridging the gap until they find someone perminent.

I remember Gib Arnold was a finalist the last time around... maybe they'll go after him.

And someone on Dons Central said they saw Jim Harrick sitting with booster at the Pep/GU game on Monday - now that would be just really strange.

by IronLions on Thu Jan 17, 2008 12:26 pm

Eric Bridgeland is their only option. The other asst. coaches are a HS coach and a AAU coach brought in to get recruits.

by co-pilot on Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:05 pm

Bridgeland will keep the job. He recruited most of those guys and he is considered an up and comer. Anyone have the Pepperdine site address.

by **Rob's Jacket** on Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:10 pm

The WCC coaching ranks are definitely going to have a different look next year. I could be wrong, but if Bennett leaves SMC (Oregon State will at least take a shot at him), does that mean Rev is the third-longest tenured coach in the conference after Few and Tention? At two years?

The Pepperdine official website (www.pepperdinesports.com) is currently down. Their message board has a link on the Front Page.

by PurplePrideTrumpet on Thu Jan 17, 2008 2:17 pm

I remember being on the Pepperdine board last week and reading a post complaining that they are a D-1 school with a JC coach. The poster took a beating for that, but I wonder what those fans are saying now...

As for Reveno, we seem to have a history of hiring coaches with a lot of character. Holton and Chavez seemed like good guys, The women's basketball players I knew in school all said great stuff about Sollars, and of course we know about Clive. Whatever happens on the court or the field I feel good about the class we have on our coaching staffs.

And Vance, making the guy suck his thumb? Bobby Knight wouldn't even do that!

by PurpleGeezer on Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:26 pm

Things finally settled down on the Pepperdine site.

Here's the official story and excerpts from the press conference: Pepperdine Basketball

I'm not sure it makes any more sense..

Walberg Resigns from Pepperdine

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