Romar to Take Pepperdine Job

The Lorenzo Romar sweepstakes finally came to an end Monday with Pepperdine being the UCLA assistant’s final choice.

After being regarded as one of the hottest college coaching candidates in the nation the last two seasons, Romar was hired by Pepperdine and will officially take over the Waves’ basketball program at the completion of this season.

Last year, Romar declined approaches--though no official job offers were made--at Nevada Las Vegas, Oregon State and San Francisco, and according to sources, he had been contacted by several other Division I schools before deciding on Pepperdine this season.

“Basketball is the flagship sport at Pepperdine and I am excited that we have hired an outstanding basketball coach to step in and direct our program,” Pepperdine Athletic Director Wayne Wright said in a statement. “Lorenzo will obviously be a tremendous asset.”

Romar, 37, is in his fourth season at UCLA under Jim Harrick--a former Pepperdine coach--but does not have any previous college head coaching experience.

Romar will succeed Tony Fuller, who resigned suddenly as Pepperdine’s coach on Jan. 20. Assistant coach Marty Wilson has served as interim coach since Fuller resigned and will remain in that position through the end of the season.

“I’m not disappointed at all,” said Wilson, who added that he has been asked to return as an assistant next season. “But it has only been a few hours since I found out. The only thing I am thinking about is finishing out the next two weeks. . . .

“When Coach Fuller first resigned, there were a lot of rumors, I knew Lorenzo would be one of the top candidates from day one. He has a good reputation, especially by being a Southern California guy. I think he will do well.”

The loss of Romar means another shake-up of Harrick’s staff after the Bruins won the national championship last season. Former assistant Mark Gottfried became head coach at Murray State this season.

The Waves, 9-15 overall and 2-10 in the West Coast Conference, complete their regular season at home this weekend with WCC games against San Francisco on Friday night and San Diego on Saturday night.

Romar played at Cerritos College and Washington before playing four years in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors and Milwaukee Bucks.

He played seven years for Athletes in Action (1985-92) and was co-head coach of the team for three seasons (1989-92).