Usf Names Hoop Coach

Phil Mathews, who coached Ventura College to a 37-1 record last year and the California state community college title, was hired as men’s basketball coach at the University of San Francisco.

Mathews, who has a 298-56 record over 10 seasons at Ventura, replaces Jim Brovelli, who resigned May 7 to become associate athletic director at USF.

Ventura won 10 Western States Conference titles in 10 seasons. Last season marked the seventh time in 10 years Mathews’ team won 30 or more games. Ventura also won the state title in 1987.

He takes over a team that went 10-19 last season and finished in a three-way tie for last in the West Coast Conference.

Former Baylor University head basketball coach Darrel Johnson orchestrated academic cheating and participated in attempts to cover it up, his three former assistants contend in sworn, videotaped statements obtained by the university as part of the ongoing NCAA infractions case.

“He knew. He knew everything,” Kevin Gray, one of the former assistants, said in his statement.

The assistant coaches gave their statements to university lawyers between May 6 and May 17, a month after the coaches had been convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges arising from the academic wrongdoing. Johnson also was charged as part of the federal case but was acquitted.