Northridge’s Theus brings big-time credentials

When rumors that Reggie Theus might become the basketball head coach swept the Cal State Northridge campus last spring, it was: Gentlemen, start your search engines.

“As soon as I got the job, I guarantee you every player, they Google you,” said the 56-year-old Theus. “They may have never seen you play, but they know what you’ve accomplished.”

Which is why there was probably as much disbelief on campus as elsewhere in the basketball world about the stunning hire.

For what members of the downtrodden Matadors program discovered was one of the few people to score 19,000 points and contribute 6,000 assists in an NBA career was their new coach. Somebody who had helped take three teams — Nevada-Las Vegas, Kentucky and New Mexico State — to the NCAA Tournament as a player or coach and been an NBA head coach, TV commentator and actor, was getting the keys to the 1,500-seat “Matadome.”

As Theus comes to the Stan Sheriff Center for tonight’s Big West game against Hawaii, much of the incredulity remains.

CSUN, a commuter school in the San Fernando Valley, or “C-Sun” as Theus calls it, will never be mistaken for a coaches’ launching pad to the big time. It has two NCAA Tournament appearances in almost a quarter-century. Or, if you are counting, fewer than UH. 

The Matadors have been on the NCAA sanction list more than the Top 25. In an area that has the Lakers, Clippers, USC and UCLA, it is an afterthought, if it is thought of at all.

Whatever Theus is doing there — and he says he is energized being back in college — he’s doing it pretty well, all things considered. While three promising transfers await eligibility, the Matadors are 11-11 (3-4 Big West), with one of their victories being a 79-78 triumph over UH last month.

Theus admits to no timeline and says, “You gotta get a little lucky with a couple of things and you have to be good at what you do in terms of recruiting, but I think that things can change very quickly.”

They did at New Mexico State, where he took a team that had been 6-24 and led it to 16-14 and 25-9 seasons. NMSU’s Pan American Center rocked as “Reggie Nation,” as the ubiquitous t-shirts and banners proclaimed it. 

That earned him a two-season head coaching gig with the Sacramento Kings, where he was 44-62. 

Why UNLV and USC didn’t pick him up when they had the opportunities isn’t known, but it has made for the Matadors’ good fortune. And, Theus will tell you, his.

“It has been great (being back in college),” said Theus, who grew up in Inglewood, Calif. “I love college basketball. Ever since I left Sacramento and went to Minnesota, I’ve been trying to get back to college.”

Meanwhile, now aware of their coach’s reputation, some players like to test his shooting skills. “I tell them, ‘You’ll have to make a lot of shots, and if you can’t talk and shoot at the same time, don’t come shoot with me.’ ”

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.