Fans of the men’s basketball program at UC Irvine can rest a little easier tonight.
Russell Turner, the coach who has turned the program around, looks like he will be coaching the Anteaters for a while.
Turner, who has been UCI’s coach the past four years, had been reported to be a candidate for the Cal coaching vacancy.
But he found out Tuesday that Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin got the job.
Maybe it wasn’t the best of news for Turner, but it’s certainly good news for UCI.
Under Turner the past two seasons, UCI is 44-28, and this year, the Anteaters went 23-12 and advanced to the NIT.
UCI had just one senior on last year’s squad, Chris McNealy.
The Anteaters have a wealth of talent coming back, and it looks like Turner will be there to continue the program’s quest for a first NCAA Tournament berth.
We’re not sure what the reaction of the UCI athletic administration is to Turner interviewing for the Cal job, but fans should understand this is part of college basketball, that coaches look to move on.
“A school like Cal, they call and they want to talk to you, you talk to them,” Turner said Tuesday.
Fortunately for UCI, Turner is staying and the university should do all it can to sign him up to a long-term contract, certainly longer than the one he currently has through 2018.
Ndiaye could still declare
Turner is hoping that 7-foot-6 center Mamadou Ndiaye returns for his sophomore season.
“He and I have talked about it at length a couple of times,” Turner said. “I’ve not asked him to make a decision definitively at all yet. I think it’s important to consider whatever options he might have and I told him whatever he decides I’m going to support him.
“He’s earned them from me, but I’m certainly hopeful he decides to come back,” he said. “More important to me is that he does what he wants and what he’s earned the right to do.”
Coach grateful for schedule adjustment
Woodbridge baseball coach Tim Murray was appreciative of two of the coaches in the Ryan Lemmon Invitational: Joe Secoda of Valencia and Matt Stine of Yorba Linda.
The two coaches agreed to move their semifinal matchup on Tuesday to 1 p.m. because some of the teams in the tournament were on spring break and had to play later games.
“They wore one for the tournament because there are so many schools that are in school this week,” Murray said. “They both could have played a 7 o’clock game tonight and yet the coaches are both willing to agree to come play at 1 p.m. for the good of the tournament.
“That’s what this tournament is all about,” he said.
The tournament wrapped up Wednesday.
Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com
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Contact the writer: Twitter: @TimBurtIrvine
