Beating the University of Hawaii has apparently been a whole lot easier for Joe Callero than explaining his growing mastery of the Rainbow Warriors.
Callero is the head basketball coach at Cal Poly and he has had UH’s number, which, right now, is a head-shaking 5-0.
His Mustangs have beaten the ’Bows at home and on the road. They’ve produced a 29-point victory and a one-point nail-biter. They helped usher out one UH head coach, Bob Nash, with a revealing victory and have frustrated another, Gib Arnold, with four of them.
Heading into tonight’s game at the Stan Sheriff Center, they have always managed to prevail.
The secret? “Good luck,” Callero suggests.
In 27 years climbing the coaching ladder, with stops at high school, junior college, Division III and D-II, the 51-year-old Callero said, “These type of things just break your way sometimes. The older you get (and) the more you coach, you realize that there is less that you can control. I don’t have any magic formula, I’ll tell you that right now.”
If he did, chances are the Mustangs wouldn’t be 4-4 in conference (8-14 overall) and on a three-game losing streak.
If they could do unto UC Santa Barbara or Long Beach State what they’ve inflicted upon the ’Bows, the Mustangs might be Big West champions and last season would not have been their first into the postseason.
Still, be wary of investing too much into Callero’s aw-shucks theory of good fortune. Even Rick Majerus and Billy Tubbs, two of the ’Bows’ biggest tormentors over the years, didn’t get off to 5-0 starts against UH. And their Utah and Texas Christian teams had a lot more horses and resources.
Cal Poly ranks toward the bottom of the none-too-lavish Big West in hoops budgets. Its 3,032-seat home, the 54-year-old Mott Athletics Center, is more of a throwback to McCabe Gym.
They play coast-to-coast guarantee games — this year going to Pittsburgh, Arizona, Oregon and Stanford — to pay the bills and sharpen their skills for the stretch run.
One thing that money can’t buy is the way they consistently play together. It is a reason Cal Poly is sixth among 345 D-I teams in fewest turnovers per game (9.5), 36th in defense (63.6 points) and invariably competitive.
It is a reflection of their coach, who learned something about teamwork as the eighth child in a family of 16 kids. “Remember that TV show ‘Eight is Enough’? We used to laugh that ‘Eight wasn’t enough, it was just warming up,’” Callero said. “We thought it was funny ‘The Brady Bunch’ had to combine two families just to get to six (kids).”
But Callero also says, “I think I learned a lot from family dynamics. I would say half of my coaching comes from my parents having been the leaders they were. When you have 16 children, you are, in essence a large team. You learn everybody is different and needs to be treated a bit differently, but everybody needs to be treated fairly. You learn to put the family ahead of the individual and work together.”
That last lesson is one UH would do well to practice if it is to end the Mustangs’ mastery.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
