Hard to believe Cal lost to UCLA like 50 games in a row during that streak. The football equivalent was Bruce Snyder's 1990 team that beat UCLA for the first time in 18 seasons. It's ironic that Bob Bockrath fired Campenelli and later became a complete buffoon who would not renew Snyder's contract after that magnificent 91 season. Bruce Snyder is my favorite football coach at Cal, and I loved watching his teams play even during the first three losing seasons. RIP, Bruce.
Kuchen was the last of a string of bad coaches (for my money Jim Padgett was the worst of the lot) and Campanelli was a breath of fresh air who finally got the Bears back in the post season. We need someone like him to come along now -- sans the abuse, of course.
Requiescat in pace, Coach. I too was one of the Cal fanatics in the 80’s screaming my lungs out in the bandbox that was Harmon Gym. You may recall that Bockrath was the AD who ran Bruce Snyder out of town right after the 1991 Citrus Bowl win, the high water mark of Cal football since the 1950’s.
Rest in Peace, Lou. You were my Cal coach during my student years. I was there when we beat UCLA for the first time, and Harmon exploded. It was after another great victory I magically met a woman across the gym who became a soul mate. It was you more than anything else, that made me such a fan of Cal basketball. I know you ended on a sour note, but who among us should only be judged by our failures? Harmon was a rockin, rollin, happening place during my years, and you were our coach.
There's no doubt Campinelli's style would not fly today, and his getting axed kept the most talented roster at Cal from imploding. Even early on, he carried a certain imperiousness that was off-putting to me. However, I did feel like the guy got more punishment than he deserved. He never got another HC job, which is nuts. Though inappropriate by today's standards, his sort of behavior was pretty commonplace among coaches at that time.
If you find it upsetting that Fox has managed to squeeze four utterly worthless years out of Cal, it could be worse: Kuchen got seven. Feels like we're in a similar moment, although I remember Harmon alone made Cal basketball worth attending even in the darkest years.
If Knowlton can fire McKeever, one of the most successful coach in Cal Athletics history, for her wrongdoings then why can't he fire Fox for all the wrong things he's doing? I can't wait 3 more years.
"...replacing Dick Kuchen who never finished with a winning record over the previous 7 seasons."
That's not entirely true. The 1981-82 team went 14-13. I still remember the chants at old Harmon when we got that final win to clinch a winning season--over Furd, capping off a 3-game winning streak to get over .500 for the season.
While Kuchen's overall record was nothing to write home about, guys like Mark McNamara, Michael Pitts, and Michael Chavez, among others, made the 1980-1983 squads fun teams to get behind and root for.
Why do I always feel so much older than you, even though we were both at Cal at pretty much the same time? I had 2 years of Kuch, followed by 2 more with sweet Lou.
Memory lane trip:
- I may have been inside Harmon around 9AM on the day of the Ucla game, hung out in a classroom somewhere with donuts & coffee, then timed my entrance when the doors opened for the students; managed to save a few seats center-court, front row, feet stomping on the hardwood; never sat down once. Still ranks among my all-time greatest sporting events witnessed in person. Am I losing marbles or was Eddie Javius on the cover of SI after that game?
- I still have the post-season media guide from my time as co-Sports Director for KALX my sr year. That 86-87 team was fire. Too bad LT got hurt. For all that talent though [KJ, Wash., Butler], we still only made the NIT & lost to wasn't it Ark-Little Rock, at home?!
- Speaking of KJ, wasn't he drafted in baseball too? I convinced him to play on a co-ed softball team for intramurals, just a few games, but the looks on some of the faces when he came up to bat. Priceless.
Thanks to Coach Campanelli for some great memories.
I think we lost to LMU that "first" NIT year. My family moved to the Bay Area in '79 and we bought tickets in the 6th row behind the Cal bench, which we held until the renovation. I remember we'd get to the games early before tip-off and there were occasionally intramural games being played while we got comfortable in our seats. I used to smuggle in one of those red rubber balls as kid and would shoot hoops after the game ended. They use to let fans hang around on the court and chat after games.
Good catch on the 81-82 record. I missed that. All those 13- and 14-win seasons blended together as I was researching the history :-). I'll correct the article later today.
Not a problem--Kuchen eventually had quite a few textbook "mediocre" seasons that all ran together. But it was my Sophomore year, and winning that 14th game--clinching a winning record--against Stanfurd, of all teams, was absolutely glorious. That's the sort of thing that you wind up remembering.
Those were the teams I cut my teeth on. Harmon made every home game worth attending. My dad talked Pitts into coming out to my little Catholic School in Pleasant Hill to put on a clinic for the school.
Same here. Those Cal basketball teams often had to punch above their weight class, especially against uclol. I also remember the tremedous hazing Cal gave U$c's Stuart Gray, who chose the Trojans over us, despite the fact that his parents were Golden Bear alums.
And, of course, Mark McNamara was his own unique force of nature. It seemed that once he got the ball in the paint, he was going to score.
To be fair to Kuchen, he was able to do what Mark Fox wishes he could--restore some stability to Cal's basketball program--one that had struggled in the mid-1970s. It wasn't great basketball, but we always competed. And to his credit, Kuchen also recruited Kevin Johnson, Chris Washington, and Dave Butler--players who wound being the backbone of Campanelli's first Cal squad that upset Uclol and went to the NIT, our first postseason appearence since the 1960 NCAA tourney.
I'm not trying to take anything away from Campanelli, who was once the hero before he coached too long and became his own villain, but his early success at Harmon was built upon the foundation that Dick Kuchen left for him.
You're right! I realize now that I kept getting him confused with Wayne Carlander, also a highly touted recruit out of Huntington Beach, who wound up going to U$c.
We couldn't understand it. It's not like USC basketball was that good at that point.
In fact, in the early 1980s, we were playing the Trojans. Harmon still had the old hand-operated scoreboard, in that the names had to be placed by hand, using individual letters to spell out the team name, such as "CAL" and "USC".
Well, that particular game was ugly, as befitted two middle-to-bottom Pac-10 programs, and by the middle of the second half, some jokester had managed to sabotage the scoreboard, and rearragned the names to read "LAC" and "SUC".
Hard to believe Cal lost to UCLA like 50 games in a row during that streak. The football equivalent was Bruce Snyder's 1990 team that beat UCLA for the first time in 18 seasons. It's ironic that Bob Bockrath fired Campenelli and later became a complete buffoon who would not renew Snyder's contract after that magnificent 91 season. Bruce Snyder is my favorite football coach at Cal, and I loved watching his teams play even during the first three losing seasons. RIP, Bruce.
Kuchen was the last of a string of bad coaches (for my money Jim Padgett was the worst of the lot) and Campanelli was a breath of fresh air who finally got the Bears back in the post season. We need someone like him to come along now -- sans the abuse, of course.
Requiescat in pace, Coach. I too was one of the Cal fanatics in the 80’s screaming my lungs out in the bandbox that was Harmon Gym. You may recall that Bockrath was the AD who ran Bruce Snyder out of town right after the 1991 Citrus Bowl win, the high water mark of Cal football since the 1950’s.
Wow, welp, for all you Mozilla fans, it took seven years before the AD, then, fired Kuchen.
Rest in Peace, Lou. You were my Cal coach during my student years. I was there when we beat UCLA for the first time, and Harmon exploded. It was after another great victory I magically met a woman across the gym who became a soul mate. It was you more than anything else, that made me such a fan of Cal basketball. I know you ended on a sour note, but who among us should only be judged by our failures? Harmon was a rockin, rollin, happening place during my years, and you were our coach.
I was at the Cal/UCLA game too. Electric. Nothing like it for me since in years of following the Bears.
Then you and I might have high fived and shared in the joyous moment. Forever memories.
Still remember the band playing Louie, Louie and people storming the floor. Amazing night!
There's no doubt Campinelli's style would not fly today, and his getting axed kept the most talented roster at Cal from imploding. Even early on, he carried a certain imperiousness that was off-putting to me. However, I did feel like the guy got more punishment than he deserved. He never got another HC job, which is nuts. Though inappropriate by today's standards, his sort of behavior was pretty commonplace among coaches at that time.
If you find it upsetting that Fox has managed to squeeze four utterly worthless years out of Cal, it could be worse: Kuchen got seven. Feels like we're in a similar moment, although I remember Harmon alone made Cal basketball worth attending even in the darkest years.
If Knowlton can fire McKeever, one of the most successful coach in Cal Athletics history, for her wrongdoings then why can't he fire Fox for all the wrong things he's doing? I can't wait 3 more years.
"...replacing Dick Kuchen who never finished with a winning record over the previous 7 seasons."
That's not entirely true. The 1981-82 team went 14-13. I still remember the chants at old Harmon when we got that final win to clinch a winning season--over Furd, capping off a 3-game winning streak to get over .500 for the season.
While Kuchen's overall record was nothing to write home about, guys like Mark McNamara, Michael Pitts, and Michael Chavez, among others, made the 1980-1983 squads fun teams to get behind and root for.
I would love a 14-13 record this year!
Why do I always feel so much older than you, even though we were both at Cal at pretty much the same time? I had 2 years of Kuch, followed by 2 more with sweet Lou.
Memory lane trip:
- I may have been inside Harmon around 9AM on the day of the Ucla game, hung out in a classroom somewhere with donuts & coffee, then timed my entrance when the doors opened for the students; managed to save a few seats center-court, front row, feet stomping on the hardwood; never sat down once. Still ranks among my all-time greatest sporting events witnessed in person. Am I losing marbles or was Eddie Javius on the cover of SI after that game?
- I still have the post-season media guide from my time as co-Sports Director for KALX my sr year. That 86-87 team was fire. Too bad LT got hurt. For all that talent though [KJ, Wash., Butler], we still only made the NIT & lost to wasn't it Ark-Little Rock, at home?!
- Speaking of KJ, wasn't he drafted in baseball too? I convinced him to play on a co-ed softball team for intramurals, just a few games, but the looks on some of the faces when he came up to bat. Priceless.
Thanks to Coach Campanelli for some great memories.
I think we lost to LMU that "first" NIT year. My family moved to the Bay Area in '79 and we bought tickets in the 6th row behind the Cal bench, which we held until the renovation. I remember we'd get to the games early before tip-off and there were occasionally intramural games being played while we got comfortable in our seats. I used to smuggle in one of those red rubber balls as kid and would shoot hoops after the game ended. They use to let fans hang around on the court and chat after games.
damn my memory still sucks. Had to look it up, you are correct, Sir, yes!
Lost to LMU at home, 86 NIT
Beat Fullerton at Harmon, then beat OSU in Corvallis, then lost to ALR away, 87 NIT.
I'll be misplacing my keys any minute now.
Good catch on the 81-82 record. I missed that. All those 13- and 14-win seasons blended together as I was researching the history :-). I'll correct the article later today.
Not a problem--Kuchen eventually had quite a few textbook "mediocre" seasons that all ran together. But it was my Sophomore year, and winning that 14th game--clinching a winning record--against Stanfurd, of all teams, was absolutely glorious. That's the sort of thing that you wind up remembering.
Those were the teams I cut my teeth on. Harmon made every home game worth attending. My dad talked Pitts into coming out to my little Catholic School in Pleasant Hill to put on a clinic for the school.
Same here. Those Cal basketball teams often had to punch above their weight class, especially against uclol. I also remember the tremedous hazing Cal gave U$c's Stuart Gray, who chose the Trojans over us, despite the fact that his parents were Golden Bear alums.
And, of course, Mark McNamara was his own unique force of nature. It seemed that once he got the ball in the paint, he was going to score.
To be fair to Kuchen, he was able to do what Mark Fox wishes he could--restore some stability to Cal's basketball program--one that had struggled in the mid-1970s. It wasn't great basketball, but we always competed. And to his credit, Kuchen also recruited Kevin Johnson, Chris Washington, and Dave Butler--players who wound being the backbone of Campanelli's first Cal squad that upset Uclol and went to the NIT, our first postseason appearence since the 1960 NCAA tourney.
I'm not trying to take anything away from Campanelli, who was once the hero before he coached too long and became his own villain, but his early success at Harmon was built upon the foundation that Dick Kuchen left for him.
Stuart Gray went to UCLA
You're right! I realize now that I kept getting him confused with Wayne Carlander, also a highly touted recruit out of Huntington Beach, who wound up going to U$c.
Seriously, the entire Fox debacle, I just can't.
"U$c's Stuart Gray, who chose the Trojans over us, despite the fact that his parents were Golden Bear alums."
Proto-NIL? USC was so far ahead of our time.
We couldn't understand it. It's not like USC basketball was that good at that point.
In fact, in the early 1980s, we were playing the Trojans. Harmon still had the old hand-operated scoreboard, in that the names had to be placed by hand, using individual letters to spell out the team name, such as "CAL" and "USC".
Well, that particular game was ugly, as befitted two middle-to-bottom Pac-10 programs, and by the middle of the second half, some jokester had managed to sabotage the scoreboard, and rearragned the names to read "LAC" and "SUC".
No one complained, because it was exactly right.
I miss those days.
Yes, I do remember when SC basketball really SUCked.
Interesting seeing this news paired with McKeever, another coach terminated for abuse.