Sam Scholl named head coach

USD men’s basketball assistant coach to take over the Toreros for good

Anderson Haigler | Sports Editor | The USD Vista

In his search for a new men’s basketball head coach, University of San Diego Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis vowed to leave no stone unturned.

“It’s a wide-open search that’s not limited by number and not limited by profile,” McGillis said in an early March interview. 

His best option for the position, however, ultimately came from within the Toreros’ locker room. 

Last week , USD announced the hiring of one of their own — Sam Scholl — as the new head coach. He will succeed Lamont Smith as the 13th coach in program history. Scholl, 40, who played basketball from 1998-2000 at USD, had been an assistant coach with the Toreros since 2015. He was named acting head coach following the conclusion of the 2017-18 regular season and the arrest and subsequent resignation of then-head coach Smith. In his time as acting head coach, he led the Toreros to two wins in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. 

That fortuitous postseason run may have pushed Scholl into being a frontrunner for the position. During Scholl’s introductory press conference, McGillis said that he was impressed with his performance as acting head coach. 

“The grace, the poise, the professionalism from the moment that I asked Sam to be the acting head coach, it was remarkable to see how he reacted in a challenging situation,” McGillis said. “The way he managed the team, managed the program, I thought was important.”

The three-game stretch of home contests saw Scholl rally the team from being in a state of shock after losing their then-head coach to looking like a well-oiled machine as they played late into March. 

A first round, 88-72 victory against the University of Hartford followed by a dramatic 67-64 win over Portland State University demonstrated perhaps both Scholl’s value to the team, as well as the wealth of talent that Scholl will inherit as he moves to a permanent role as head coach. An ability to immediately take advantage of that young talent likely also factored into the selection of Scholl. 

Prior to making his decision, McGillis emphasized a desire to hire a candidate who could continue the momentum that the Toreros had as they came off one of their most successful seasons of the last decade.

“We have an excellent team, talented players, great character on that roster,” McGillis said as he began his search. “I’m interested in hiring a head coach who can take this group of young men and lead us to championship success, and build a program that will be strong for the next decade.”

By that metric, Scholl certainly fits the bill. His hiring will maintain a sense of continuity within the team, and shows a commitment to the athletes currently in the program. 

Scholl, who played with previous head coach Lamont Smith during the 1999-2000 season, will provide an easy transition from a coaching standpoint for a team that will lose only one graduating senior. 

Following a 20-win season that featured a run into the quarterfinals of the CIT, the Toreros are clearly building something within the Jenny Craig Pavilion (JCP). And with Scholl at the helm, USD believes they can take the program to the next level. On Tuesday, Scholl reiterated a desire to win, and win now.

“We are going to win every way, every day,” Scholl said. “Being champions in every way is our mission, and we can’t wait to start tackling that mission.”

McGillis shared Scholl’s sentiment, adding how he weighed a lot of different factors in his decision.

“As we were completing the process of interviewing candidates, and we were approaching the finish line last week, I thought about a lot of things,” McGillis said. “I thought about the opportunity for competitive success that we have in front of us, right now, in 2018-19 and beyond. I thought about what we’ve built over the last three years, going from nine wins to 13 wins to 20 wins and the postseason this year. We’re on a trajectory that is very, very exciting to me — that’s the reality of it.“

“This group collectively has restored order in terms of winning and in terms of building a culture in the locker room, and in our program that is everything that our faculty, our staff, our administration, our former players, and our fan base wants. It’s all right here. And I simply want to keep this train rolling, and build where we are today. That’s why we landed on Sam Scholl, among other reasons.”

Perhaps the most important of all reasons, however, is that Scholl’s stabilizing presence in the team will remain. In the chaotic days following the arrest of Smith, nearly every player cited Scholl as being a positive influence, both on and off the court, as they made their way through their conference tournament without their head coach. And after their season finally came to a close, each player that was interviewed expressed their hopes that Scholl would return in a more permanent capacity. 

Last Tuesday, what some players had hoped for became official, and they shared their feelings on their new head coach. Redshirt junior Isaiah Pineiro said he was happy with the decision.

“To know that we have the same coaching staff, and someone that we already have a relationship with — that as players we know, and trust, and love, and consider family — to be our head coach is something great,” Pineiro said. 

Junior Tyler Williams shared Pineiro’s sentiment. 

“It’s big-time for us because it’s an opportunity for our family to stay together,” Williams said. 

Redshirt first-year Joey Calcaterra expressed his enthusiasm for Scholl’s appointment.

“I was excited because we don’t have to start over,” Calcaterra said. “If we had a new head coach coming in we would have to start everything over, start from the bottom and build up. But as of right now, we just stay where we’re at, and just keep building up from where we finished in the postseason.”

The Toreros’ excitement for their new head coach seemed only to be matched by his own enthusiasm for them. During his first year as head coach, Scholl stated he is most looking forward to the players. 

“Our players, and what they have the opportunity to do, that’s the most important thing,” Scholl said.

Equal parts celebration and press conference, Scholl’s official announcement in University  Center Forum A offered an opportunity for the Toreros to turn the page on their former coach and his resignation once and for all. 

From Scholl’s arrival with his family in a bright yellow, vintage convertible to the impassioned, optimistic speeches from Scholl, McGillis, and President James T. Harris, Tuesday afternoon seemed to usher in a new era of Torero basketball. 

Even the minute details of Scholl’s hiring reflect this sense of optimism. According to Scholl, McGillis made things official by surprising him in his home in Gig Harbor, Washington last Sunday.

“It was Easter,” Scholl said. “I was outside with the girls. I come back inside, I walk into our living room, and there’s Bill. Standing there with a contract and a cake. And he offered me the job in my home, in front of my family. It was one of the most special things.”

This season has seen the Toreros’ head coaching position come into scrutiny for all of the wrong reasons. But after nearly two months of uncertainty, USD got their man, and can finally move forward toward their goals and regain a sense of normalcy in the program. They just didn’t have to look as far as they thought.