Eastman Meets West WSU Coach Among Pac-10’S Growing East Coast Contingent

There is a distinct East Coast flavor to Pacific-10 Conference basketball these days.

Especially among the coaching ranks, where only four of the league’s head coaches - Arizona’s Lute Olson, UCLA’s Jim Harrick, Stanford’s Mike Montgomery and Oregon State’s Jimmy Anderson - cut their college coaching teeth west of the Mississippi River.

Looking back, it might have been Arizona State that started the recent trend when it lured Bill Frieder from Michigan six years ago.

Since then, every Pac-10 hire has involved someone with coaching roots back East.

Oregon snatched up Jerry Green, who spent four seasons as Roy Williams’ top assistant at Kansas after an outstanding nine-year stint as the head coach at North Carolina-Asheville.

California, after releasing Lou Campanelli, promoted his promising young assistant, Todd Bozeman, a Washington, D.C., native, who was an assistant at George Mason and Tulane before joining Campanelli’s Golden Bear staff.

Two years ago, Washington also looked east for a savior and came up with Bob Bender, an Illinois native, who played at Duke and was an assistant there under Mike Krzyzewski for six years before taking his first head coaching job at Illinois State.

And just last year, Washington State went all the way back to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, plucking Kevin Eastman off the beach at North Carolina-Wilmington.

There are those who feel the recent resurgence of Pac-10 basketball might be the direct result of the influx of East Coast coaches and the methods and philosophies they have brought with them.

But Eastman, the newest “immigrant,” insists that is not the case.

“There are better players in the league this year than there has been in recent years - that’s one of the big reasons for the resurgence,” said the first-year WSU coach, who has his surprising Cougars in sole possession of fourth place in the Pac-10 standings heading into today’s 3 p.m. matchup against Washington at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

“The East Coast coaching thing is just something that happened,” Eastman said. “I don’t think it was part of any grand scheme.”

Eastman went so far as to say he has noticed little difference in the styles of play between Pac-10 teams and the top programs in the East.

“The Midwest might stand out as being a little different because they’re so physical,” he explained. “But the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Pac-10 are very similar, I think, because they both get the best players in their areas.”

Eastman did admit, however, his transition to the Pac-10 was made easier by the fact he has known Green and Bender for a long time.

Eastman met Green while he was coaching at Belmont Abbey, an NAIA school in Belmont, N.C. Green was at UNC-Asheville, and the two spent some vacation time at Green’s nearby beach house talking basketball.

Green coached Eastman’s top assistant, Byron Samuels, in college, and has long been one of the coaches Eastman admires most.

“I really like the way he does things,” Eastman said. “On the floor, in recruiting, in practice, everywhere. He has the reputation of always being able to do something with not much - as evidenced by the fact that Byron Samuels was actually one of his better players at Asheville.”

Eastman met Bender while the Huskies coach was an assistant at Duke. The two attended many of the same clinics and camps.

Eastman, Bender and Green remain in contact.

“I wouldn’t say any of us are on a bestfriend relationship at all,” Eastman explained, “but we always seem to be at the same places.

“I think our programs are all at the point right now where we are looking at the same kinds of players and our paths cross a lot during recruiting.”

Because of his familiarity with Green and Bender, Eastman said he knew in advance what to expect from Oregon and Washington this season.

“I knew Washington would be a little Duke-ish,” he said. “And I knew pretty much how Jerry’s team was going to play.”

Eastman’s insomnia helped, too.

“Contrary to what some of those television ratings suggest, I stayed up for those West Coast games that started at midnight,” Eastman recalled. “I was one of the 150 who were watching.

“About the only thing I didn’t know (about the Pac-10) coming in was personnel, but now that we’ve been through the league once, I’m getting a better handle on that.”

Still, Eastman remains impressed by how hard Pac-10 teams play and by the top-to-bottom balance of the league.

“The intensity of play in the league has really caught my eye,” he said. “Playing hard is just a given in the Pac-10, and that makes every team a threat.

“I remember back at Belmont Abbey, and even at Wilmington, there were always a couple of games where you figured you had to play horrible to lose. But I haven’t gone into one game here thinking it was going to be an easy night.”

It could be that Pac-10 coaches are getting to know each other too well.