Walberg Resigns from Pepperdine

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

the LA Times weighs in.

apparently assistant Eric Bridgeland is the temporary coach.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

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..

Here is an article in today's Trib, talking about Grant H.S.'s McCoy, and his LOI to Pepperdine. It also mentions Tinsley and Shamsud-Din.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=120060800740998600

Great find, PilotNut.

McCoy and Tinsley are both really good... getting a comparison to Aaron Miles is high praise indeed. I watched Miles a lot at Jefferson and he was just amazing.

The way McCoy talks, he doesn't sound like he would be interested in UP. I mean, he said that Pepperdine played too slow! But I'm sure we'd take him if he wanted out. Ditto for Tinsley.

Could you explain the ins ans outs of a transfer? I though transfers within conference required players to sit for 2 years...

Whew! Back from vacation and a lot of things happening!!

As far as these fellas go, they would not be transfers if they are released from their Letter of Intent. Further, if the school did not release them from their LOI, they could appeal to the NCAA to get released (I blieve this happened recently, but can't remember for what).

As for the two year sit-out rule, it does seem familiar, but I'm not sure how that works. Anyone else?

Well, the NCAA is a great bureaucracy. Turns out they have a document for everything. the one on transfers is here: 2006-2007 Transfer Guide

Unfortunately, it just refers in-conference transfers to individual conference rules. I didn't find a pertinent WCC rulebook, but I did find this: conference transfer rules - selected conferences (last one)

Apparently, in the West Coast conference in Basketball, you lose a year of eligibility on top of the NCAA redshirt requirement. If you are a Junior, you are done in the WCC. I couldn't find exceptions, and other sports aren't mentioned.

Walberg quit because he couldn't take the stress of not winning like he had at the jr. college level--he took out his frustrations on his players and his wife, and it just wasn't working for him. The NCAA recruiting violation was simply a mix-up between two assistants, and they used one more day of recruiting time than was legal. They self-enforced and the NCAA accepted the self-imposed penalty. That part is old news, and probably has little to do with the resignation, although as added stress, maybe it did. The Portland recruits may or may not stay, but keep in mind they were recruited by Bridgeland, (he being a northwest native) and the idea that they may stay in Portland and come to Pilot nation may be a stretch. The comments of some parents of current players indicates to me they may be happier with him (Walberg) gone anyway...this is a team that's at least two years away from even being very competitive, as their top scorer from last year was dismissed this year (rules violation) and two of their best players quit the year before that, when Walberg was hired. (They were Westphal recruits, and didn't want to run I guess) --anyway, now the coach's son, Jason Walberg, and their only other senior are not on their trip to the bay this weekend, and it's unknown why. My guess is that Jason is no longer with the team, but the other guy I just don't know---Purple power!

Hey everyone... here's an update on McCoy and Tinsley from today's Portland Tribune:

Grant guard Paul McCoy says he was surprised by the resignation of Pepperdine coach Vance Walberg last week, and McCoy will consider asking for a release from his letter of intent with the Waves.

“The situation is a little confusing right now,” says McCoy, who has talked with buddy (and fellow Wave signee) Brad Tinsley of Oregon City about the resignation. Benson’s Ameer Shamsud-Din also has signed with Pepperdine. The three hoped to be part of Walberg’s up-tempo, run-and-gun team.

Walberg’s assistant, Eric Bridgeland, has taken over on an interim basis. McCoy says he may or may not stay with the Waves, even if Bridgeland returns as lead man. “We’re all up in the air now,” he says.

Not really an encouraging quote at the end there if you're a Waves fan. But then again, of course they would be confused by what's going on down there.

Definitely something to keep an eye on, although chances are if Pepperdine does release them it would be under the condition that they not sign with another WCC team.

A bit depends on whether the WCC considers them part of the USF team now. if they do, they probably have to lose a year's eligibility to go to another WCC team. according to one site I saw, there aren't exceptions. But who really knows, since there don't appear to be published WCC rules.

edit: I guess it also depends on whether the WCC received the NLI from the school. They are supposed to send them to the league office within 21 days.

The WCC site has all kinds of other info, though. Here's the most informative piece I found:

Little Known Fact:
The NCAA has ruled that
student-athletes can dress
up as clowns and dive into
pools in the summer for
money without
endangering their
eligibility...
NCAA Interp, Feb 1, 1990

A direct quote from today's Trib:

Last week’s resignation of coach Vance Walberg means that Oregon City standout Brad Tinsley says he will “probably not” choose to play at Pepperdine.

“I’m getting my release,” the senior guard says. “I kind of don’t want to play for a new coach there. I have no clue where I’m going now.”

Scroll down towards the bottom of the article: http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=120121184549170000

wow - "no clue". It will be interesting to see what happens.