Part four of a five-part series by Steve Kelley, former Seattle Times sports columnist
Cameron Dollar was reading the newspaper at breakfast one morning when he saw that Seattle University was announcing it was transitioning from a Division II athletic program, to Division I. Dollar put the paper down, shook his head and said to his wife Maureen, “Poor Callero.”
Callero was Joe Callero, the Redhawks’ basketball coach who would be charged with navigating that transition. Dollar knew that coaching such a program was as difficult as coaching an NBA expansion team. Patience, it would take Job-like patience.
“I said it tongue-in-cheek, but it made me want to seek him out and say, ‘hi,’” Dollar said recently. “We’re all in this coaching fraternity, but this guy, at the time I just thought, ‘poor guy.’ These jobs, when they’re transitioning, nobody knows what to expect,” Dollar said recently. “Nobody knows.”
In 2008, the year the transition began, Dollar was an assistant coach at the University of Washington, part of the school’s hoop Renaissance under head coach Lorenzo Romar. The Redhawks’ job wasn’t on his radar until. . .
“Now fast forward a year,” Dollar said, finishing his story. “Now I’m that guy.”
Callero left in 2009 to coach at Cal Poly and Dollar was named his replacement. It was a perfect match. Dollar was a proven winner. He was a point guard on UCLA’s national championship team and was a major reason the NCAA tournament had become a fixture on Washington’s schedule.
Seattle U had its own rich basketball history - the O’Brien Twins, Eddie and Johnny, Elgin Baylor, Clint Richardson. It was a collegiate power in the 1950s and a West Coast Conference contender in the 1970s.
Just as important, it was a highly-regarded academic institution in a thriving city whose sports landscape was very familiar to Dollar. It was the perfect next step for him, but there still was the matter of that transition.
NCAA rules dictated there would be three years without the chance to play for a conference championship or experience the madness of March.
And as important as the Xs and Os of the game are, it is also part of a coach’s job to educate departments in the university such as admissions, financial aid and housing about the timelines of the NCAA and the special needs of the athletes.
And there was the challenge of changing the perception of Redhawk basketball in the eyes of recruits, making them understand that Seattle U was a legitimate DI option.
“Those three years of purgatory, I didn’t know the effect of that until I was in it,” Dollar said recently. “It was a difficult change. Recruits would ask if we were for real, if we were serious about being a legitimate program.”
Now Dollar is in his eighth season as the Redhawks’ coach, He’s a bulldog of a competitor. The same guy you saw on the floor at Pauley Pavilion is the guy coaching at Seattle U.
“Cameron’s got what it takes,” said Seattle U Executive Vice President Tim Leary. “There’s no question about that in our minds, and obviously we are continually looking at ways that we can support him.”
Dollar tells another story on himself about a recent meeting with a nationally known sportswriter and network analyst, who asked him if he still was at that small school in Seattle.
When Dollar said he was, the sportswriter asked him, “How are you holding up? When are you going to get another job?” Dollar asked the writer to remind him of that story when Seattle U begins winning conference titles and going to major postseason tournaments. Because Dollar strongly believes that is a matter of when and not if.
“In a couple of years,” Dollar said to him, “I’m going to talk about this conversation with you on TV. I’m going to remind you what you said to me.”
Dollar compares Seattle U to a small-market baseball team. Think Kansas City Royals. It took the Royals three decades to recapture the glory of the mid-1980s. They were American League bottom feeders and there were hundreds of stories that speculated whether the Royals could ever win again.
But they learned from their mistakes. They didn’t go after big-name free agents. They developed their own players. They found a way to build depth and they began to win again. The Royals have been to the past two World Series and are reigning world champions.
Dollar is making similar strides.
“Right now, we’re not where we want to be, but we’re not where we used to be,” he said. “This job has humbled me in a good way. It has made me realize why I really do this. I do it to help young men.’
Two years ago, the Redhawks had their first all-Western Athletic Conference first-team player, point guard Isiah Umipig. They were one win away from a WAC tournament title, losing to New Mexico State in the championship game. They beat Pepperdine and Colorado in the post-season CBI tournament. And they beat Idaho in the first-round of the 2016 CBI.
These are small necessary steps in the evolution of the program.
“Some of the steps are painful,” Dollar said. “But you keep moving forward. Keep that right perspective.”
Dollar is developing his players. Senior Brendan Westendorf replaced Umipig and has become one of the best point guards in the conference. Aaron Menzies, a seven-foot-3 redshirt sophomore, slowly is maturing into a quality big man, replacing fellow Englishman, six-foot-11 Jack Crook.
“We love how he’s developing young men,” Leary said of Dollar.
The history of smaller, successful programs help explain the optimism Dollar feels.
South Dakota State was 6-24 in its final transition season of 2006-07. But since the 2011-12 season it is 119-50 and has been to three NCAA Tournaments.
Belmont was 11-17 in its first season after transitioning to the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001. But it has won at least 20 games in 10 of the last 11 years, won 30 games in 2010-11 and has been to seven NCAA Tournaments.
“You’ve got to put your faith in a guy who knows how to get better,” Seattle University President Stephen Sundborg, S.J. said. “Cameron knows what he’s talking about. I’m a steady guy. I believe in the long haul and we’ll keep seeing it through.”
The goal of Redhawks’ basketball isn’t to become the next Kentucky. It is a unique school with rigorous academic demands. There are no courses such as “The History of Field Hockey” to shelter athletes.
“Academically our profile is different from everyone else in the (WAC) conference,” Dollar said.
He calls his system, “a holistic process that is connected to the university. We want to develop the whole person. Give them options beyond their college days. Develop them from young men into men so that they leave here knowing more than just bouncing a ball.
“We have to keep developing our players. The hardest part of the job is building depth, but we get older, more mature. We develop a system of play. We have guys who are growing up in our system. It becomes like your own farm system.”
And on the floor? What is the “Redhawk Way?”
“We want to play the game the right way,” Dollar said. “Relentless defense and rebounding. Valuing the basketball, great shot selection.”
Shooting is the great equalizer. Every March we see Cinderella mid-major programs upsetting teams from the so-called Power-Five conferences by raining three pointers. Dollar says he wants four or five guys on the floor at all times who can shoot the ball and “stretch the floor.”
He wants to run, while still keeping his big men on the floor. And he has installed a pesky 1-2-2 zone that is long and tall and can rebound.
Dollar had proven this isn’t a stepping-stone job for him, as that national-TV analyst tried to suggest. Indiana coach Tom Crean said something that has resonated with him. Simply put, Crean said, “Coach your team.” In other words, don’t coach with your eye on some other, shinier program. Don’t do this job so that you can go get the next job.
“I have to stay true to what I say I want to do and how I want to do it,” Dollar, 40, said. “It doesn’t matter what level I do it. I want to do it right. As you get older you start to define your life. You define how you want to live. This job lets me do that. Lets me define why I do what I do.
“I can’t worry about what’s going on, on the outside. We just have to tweak, poke and question. Keep defining how you get it done and upgrade what we’re doing. We have to keep telling the truth about our program. Keep chipping away.”
Dollar was asked how close he believes his team is to the real madness of March.
“Real close,” he said. “Two years ago we were 40 minutes away (against New Mexico State). We can compete with every team in our league. We have a system in place of developing our players. We have an older core of guys. We have depth.
“Can we climb that mountain and get there on a Monday night (championship game) like Butler? Well first we have to value getting into the tournament. We have to get our butt into the tournament.”
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The 2016-17 men's basketball schedule has been released! Included in the 16-game home slate are 10 contests at KeyArena and six in Seattle U's newly renovated Connolly Complex. Secure your tickets today by contacting the SU Athletics Ticket Office at 206-398-4678, or email Zach Habner, Coordinator of Tickets and Fan Experience, at habnerz@seattleu.edu.