The UCI-Fullerton Rivalry
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Updated 12-13-99
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Bittersweet Memories of UCI vs. CSUFby Bill Mulligan, OC Hoops, February 1999 Last Saturday’s UCI – CSUF game brought back a lot of memories from what a one time was one of Southern California’s better rivalries. Some of the memories are more fond than other, however. UCI always had a lot of success against Fullerton during the regular season. In my 11 years, we were 13-9 against CSUF, but when it came time for the tournament, it was a different story. The Titans beat us in each of the five times we played. This hauntingly familiar pattern began in the 1982 PCAA tournament with the best team we ever had (23-7). We advanced to the second round of the PCAA tournament with a 90-64 win over Utah State, setting up a showdown between Kevin Magee and Leon Wood. 
Late in the game, we were ahead by one and Randy Whieldon, who was a bout a 90 percent free throw shooter for us, missed a one and one. They called time-out and we elected to double Leon and not let him get the shot. A kid by the name of Davis (Gary), who was a freshman, ended up with the ball and hit the shot to beat us at the buzzer.I think that one of the reasons that the game attracted so much attention in those days was because of George McQuarn (CSUF head coach 1980-88). George was a very intense guy and a very good coach. I remember the first year we played them, after George got the job, we beat them in the first meeting by about twenty-five points. In the last game of the year we go over to Fullerton, and George had decided that he was going to foul everybody on everything and see how long before the refs finally said, “Hey that’s not a foul, we can’t call that.” And it was one of the most aggressive games I’ve ever seen, and we managed to win it anyway. That was an unbelievable game. The media used to like to pit George and I against one another, but I’ve always liked George. In fact, he was going to to be my assistant when I took the job at UCI. He wanted to leave Tarkanian at UNLV, because Jerry kept him captive. He wanted to go out on the road and recruit, so he asked if he could be my assistant. I was all for it, because I knew him from Vegas. Many people forget that the Fullerton coaching job was also open at the same time I took the UCI job. And when Mike Mullally, the Fullerton athletic director at the time, asked me who I’d hire if I was in their shoes, I said George McQuarn. And darned it they didn’t. I think that the intensity of the game between the two schools has died down somewhat in the last few years, and I don’t know why. I don’t know if there’s as much competitiveness as there used to be between the players. (Bill Mulligan is the former head men’s coach at Irvine Valley CC, UCI, and Saddleback CC, who now scouts for the Portland Trail Blazers.) |
