SoCalHoops News

The End Of WestCoastHoops--(Sept. 29, 1999)

Just about the time we were launching SoCalHoops, another website, WestCoastHoops was also coming online. Back then it was called "Michael A. Miller's WestCoastHoops," and Mike was the front-man, the guy doing most of the writing, but the real genius behind the scenes, the guy who made it all happen, was a UCLA graduate student, Rich Meyer. The site featured some of the best writing, the most complete coverage of high school and college hoops for most all of the western United States, and focused primarily on recruiting.

It became a model for a lot of other sites, including to large degree, our own.

About a year ago, Michael Miller decided to stop writing temporarily so he could focus on screenwriting (of course, he came back. . . he had to come back, and he's now at Pac-West Hoops, one of the many RivalNet sites). But when Mike decided to hang it up, a lot of other good people stepped in to provide the news, rumors, recruiting tidbits, and college and high school basketball news: People like Dave Lewis, Richard Lee, Becky Staley, Tracy Pierson, James Gibson, Terry Miller, Steve Robinson, Jon Ralston, Dave Harris, Bill Cagle, K. Petersen, Matt Smith, Adam Weintraub, Rinna Del Rosario, Dennis Suzuki, Chuck Hicks, Ryan Lansdowne, Allan Classen, Jeremy Tiers, Jerry Norley, Chris Paige, Ace Climaco, Steve Robinson, Dennis Vigil, Bob Hanson, Eric Browne, Peter Abraham, Sam Wood, and many, many others. If we've missed some, it's not intentional, it's just that there have been so many who have contributed to the success of this site

Oh, and of course, from time to time, there was Rich Meyer who also tried his hand at some writing when he wasn't busy with all the administrative and programming which made WCH so successful.

But the only constant in life is change, and sometimes, good things just come to an end. Such is the case with WestCoastHoops. Rich Meyer has announced that sometime near the end of this month, probably in a couple of weeks, WestCoastHoops will shut down. What will become of the archives and the message forum is unknown, but Rich has vaguely hinted at continuing to make them both available as a research tool, perhaps on another server. But right now that's an open question.

But since it's getting near closing time for WCH, we thought we'd pay a last tribute to Rich and the rest of the writers who made WCH the site on the internet, our daily check-in spot, a familiar place to meet with other good people.

So here it is, a collection of tributes to Rich and WCH taken from the WCH Message Forum (we figured we'd grab them before they scrolled off into never-never land), and Rich's announcement about the end of WCH. We'll miss everyone being in a single place. A lot of people will get their own websites, some already have their own. But there will never be another WCH. Adios. We'll miss you Rich. And good luck to you in the real world.

The End of the World as we know it
(Written by Rich Meyer on September 19, 1999)

Besides being an occasional basketball writer, I'm a graduate student, and I simply must graduate this year. (Besides issues like "getting on with my life," the school won't reimburse my tuition after this year.)

West Coast Hoops is a lot of work. Besides going to events (which I enjoy only in moderation), there's faxes that need to be typed into stories, email that must be rewritten, a myriad of questions I'm not equipped to answer, schedules, rosters, and statistics to update, passwords to manage, files to back up, people to pay, occasional legal worries ...

So, I have decided to leave WCH to concentrate on finishing school.

As of two weeks ago, I had decided to shut the site down altogether. Since then, a couple people have expressed an interest in taking over for me.

Unfortunately, besides writing articles, I write the code, own the machine the site runs on, am old friends with the owners of the ISP (who give me a very good deal) so handing off to someone else is not simple, and I think I have scared them both off.

Most likely, then, the site will shut down at the end of the month. Most of the writers you've enjoyed here on WCH will soon show up elsewhere, some have already signed up with Rivalnet, and others will probably soon follow. As their final destinations become known, I will create a list for all of you.

I would like to thank all of the people who have contributed to the site since I took over, and I would especially like to thank all of the people who have supported West Coast Hoops over the past two years. Thank you.

Rich

End of an era
(Written by Chuck Hicks on September 27, 1999)

As we all know, West Coast Hoops is about to shut down. It is a sad time for us all. We have all been informed, politely and with some degree of accuracy, that rivalnet sites will provide all the information and message boards that we have come to enjoy. Thus we can all interact and find out all the lastest recruiting tidbits that we so desparately need. :-) The best analogy that I can think of is the disappearance of the great hamburger shop that was our favorite stop on the way home from school. The shakes were the best and the hamburgers were unbeatable. But somehow the fast food burger stands started showing up everywhere, if not as good they were at least cheaper. After a while one appeared on the way from home. The old spot was always a little out of the way and it was more convenient to hit the fast food spot. Before we knew it the old spot didn't even exist anymore. We were told that they had been sold. Somewhere down inside we were saddened. The memories that the old spot had created wouldn't be quite the same now that it no longer existed.

Somehow the fun we had here at West Coast Hoops won't be quite the same at rivalnet. The memories may slowly fade, but the fun we had while West Coast Hoops existed will never be repeated. MM and Rich did a great job and we were all a little happier because of it. I wish all the best to MM and Rich. MM who is having fun with rivalnet and his screen writing and Rich who is about to take a great job for IBM (or someone like that) will both be successful. I wish them all the best and am glad that I got to play a small part of West Coast Hoops while it existed.

May MM and Rich always Bear Down, Chuck

Goodbye Ya'll
(Written by Bill Nance on September 22, 1999)

I wanted to officially say goodbye to the West Coast Hoops faithful and thank all concerned for a fun and rewarding two years.

I've had the good fortune to meet many good people ranging from coaches to athletes to parents to just plain old hoops junkies like myself and I look forward to continuing those relationships. After all, I'm not dying. I'm just moving on to a new venture, a new home and a new opportunity to do something I love to do, share the stories of young people participating in athletic endeavors and my quest to smell as many of the roses as I can along
life's highway.

To Rich, thanks for creating the beast that is West Coast Hoops. In the vernacular of West Texas, ya done good. To Michael Miller, bless your heart for opening the door. To Terry Miller, thanks for all the kindness and laughs. I'm up to page 124 and still don't like Rupp. To Kermit, Larry, Harry, Marc, Tracy, Eric, Gregg, Scott, Nick, Paul, Albert, Brian and all the other "usual suspects", I'll no doubt be seeing you bubbas around the gym and around the net.

I have a new home and you are all invited to drop in any time. The new place is at http://washingtonprep.rivals.com and goes by the name of Washington Prep Report. I'll continue to attempt to keep you all informed of the happenings in hoops as well as dabble in some football and other stuff. It's not a "recruiting" site, just a place for sports nuts to get a fix. Oh, and one final shameless plug, tell your friends, neighbors, relatives and people you pass on the street about the new place. Thanks.

Adios mi amigos.

My Final Take
(Written by David Goussev on September 29, 1999)

It's been a great run here at WCH, just wanted to say thanks to Rich and all the other writers here that made this the best damn website on the net.

If anyone's interested, you can find my musings on UNLV, MWC basketball, and west coast happenings in general at my own website at Runnin' Rebels Online.

And for what it's worth, here's my prediction for the upcoming MWC season:

1. Utah - Still the top dog until further notice. Miller's loss will undoubtedly hurt, but JUCO Whiting adds athleticism. 2. New Mexico - Lamont Long is a prime candidate for MWC POY. 3. UNLV -A ton of newcomers, but UNLV should finally run, run and run some more. 4. Wyoming - McClain is an underrated coach, and Udezue may be the best big man in the MWC. 5. BYU - Cleveland is slowly improving this program. 6. Colorado St. - Personnel losses hit the Rams hard 7. SDSU - Fish will bring respectability back to SD. Just not this year. 8. Air Force - Bringing up the rear. Cadets, march!

Take care.....

Posted by Jon Ralston on September 21, 1999 at 16:53:42 from 208-25-58-146.stk.jps.net:

I like everyone else want to thank Rich for his hard work on this site and for allowing me to cover Pacific basketball. Also, thanks for giving us Big West fans a forum to get stats and news. Good Luck to you Rich and thank you once again.

Posted by David on September 21, 1999 at 10:40:07 from www.sfglaw.com:

Just wanted to extend my thanks for giving me my first writing break covering UNLV the past year. It was very rewarding, and I appreciate the opportunity.

Good luck in all your future endeavors, and take care...

David Goussev (Runnin Rebels Online)

Posted by James Gibson on September 21, 1999 at 14:17:29 from quadrupole.chem.psu.edu:

I've enjoyed the site and I enjoyed my writing columns for the WAC last year on this site. Thanks for asking me to write and for maintaining this site. I've enjoyed it.

New Mexico Lobos basketball history

Posted by go card on September 20, 1999 at 14:42:33 from bio-ww4.stanford.edu:

I haven't been on this site as long as a lot of folks...but I've really enjoyed the time. It's been great to interact with other fans of west-coast ball and jaw about everything from recruiting prospects to tourney chances.

You've done a great job on the site! I've got 4 more years of grad school to fight back the real world, so I guess I have to find a new forum.

Cheers and good luck,

go card
aka paul wright

Posted by Char on September 20, 1999 at 15:02:14 from spider-te023.proxy.aol.com:

In Reply to: Rich, I echo all the sentiments below..(more) posted by go card on September 20, 1999 at 14:42:33:

Like Go Card, I didn't find this board until later, but it has been one of the places that I've visited daily since last November or December. I've enjoyed the articles, and I've especially enjoyed the message boards.

Since I don't live in Tucson, I have to rely on the internet for a lot of my information, and this has been my favorite spot. It absolutely saved me while I was deep in SEC country...at least now I'm west of the Mississippi so I may get a few Arizona games on regional TV.

Rich, I wish you all the wonderful things that life has to offer. Good luck with school, and with your chosen career.

Becky, Chuck, TR, Go Card, and everyone else, it's been a lot of fun, and I'll look for you folks elsewhere. The boards that I know are CatTracks, AFO and AOL...are there any others that you can recommend?

Char

Posted by go card on September 20, 1999 at 17:48:50 from bio-ww4.stanford.edu:

In Reply to: Re: Rich, I echo all the sentiments below..(more) posted by Char on September 20, 1999 at 15:02:14:

: The boards that I know are CatTracks, AFO and AOL...are there any others that you can recommend?

: Char

Thanks for the kind words. There's a board run by rivalnet called PacWestHoops with a pretty similar focus to this one (as the name implies). I have not visited it often b/c I don't have the time for chatter on two board (lord knows I blow enough on this one). But my guess is that's where I will go know to talk some smack with other west coast b-ball fans.

Come over to the bootboard (www.thebootleg.com)anytime you want a stanford perspective on the pac-10. It's mostly football talk right now(by the way nice game on Saturday, sorry had to get that one in) but the hoops will start up when the season does. There are a few boneheads on the board, but it's mostly a thoughtful and interesting crowd, and they're pretty gracious to posters from other teams as long as they aren't just flaming us. (we had amazingly friendly interactions with the longhorns crowd before and after Texas slaughtered us). BTW I post as darwin on that board since "go card" is not an entirely original name on a stanford board.

cheers,
go card

Posted by edgar on September 20, 1999 at 14:36:47 from atlwebproxy1.core.hp.com:

Rich,

Wanted to express my thanks as well.

The opporutunity you gave me to maintain and update the Stanford page was just a great and FUN experience.

Take care and good luck with your future endeavors.

Edgar

Posted by Becky on September 20, 1999 at 06:53:41 from pc111.fm.arizona.edu:

This forum has meant a great deal to me as a basketball fan because I always knew I could come here to find solace in defeats and fellow gloaters in times of victory! Plus I could always find out the *real* story behind hirings, firings, suspensions, injuries, transfers, and other assorted rumors. I've made some good friends here and have enjoyed the sense of humor displayed even when things get a bit out of hand.

It has been one heck of a great experience and I will forever measure all other message boards by the standards set by this one. Thanks so much, Rich, for all your hard work keeping it going to this point. Good luck to you in your future endeavors. I have no doubt you will find great success.

See the rest of you on the other boards!

My Homepage

Posted by TR on September 20, 1999 at 10:22:24 from 12.9.1.129:

In Reply to: Goodbye, Rich, and good luck! posted by Becky on September 20, 1999 at 06:53:41:

As usual, Becky said it all. And a personal thank you for your time and (almost) thankless devotion. Best of luck in your full time career as an intellectual.

Tom R.

Posted by Pac 10 Fan on September 20, 1999 at 06:26:51 from pool0172.cvx15-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net:

Thanks for providing THE SITE for all of us west coast fans. You have done a terrific job and your site will be sorely missed.

Posted by NYCLarry on September 20, 1999 at 05:44:55 from w155.z216112232.nyc-ny.dsl.cnc.net:

Rich,

Like many others, I've been there with WCH from the very beginning (when you rescued Mike Miller from being a long-winded contributor to Jim Downs' website). Didn't even complain, having to click those banners everytime I logged on. Sometimes, even when I didn't see any posts worth reading.

I realize Mike probably gets most of the kudos for generating the initial "content" of WCH, but you've done an equally great job since... and I still appreciate all the thankless (penny-less?) time you put in to get this gig going, what with the programming and maintenance of the site.

Since I know you'll graduate with flying colors and strike it rich with some sort of computer hardware/software programming invention, you'll surely have gobs of time down the road to raise WCH like the phoenix and hire a lot of recruiting guru wannabees like me to spend 20 hrs/day of their summer watching teenagers run around trying to score a hoop and a D1 ride.

Great knowing you, guy.

- Poohkh

Say it ain't so, Rich!!! WCH 1997-1999

Posted by AMRapista on September 20, 1999 at 03:51:08 from 1cust78.tnt2.ontario.ca.da.uu.net:

I've enjoyed this site ever since you and Mike Miller had the balls to start this over 2+ years ago. Although it's tapered off some over time, this was still one of the original sites ambitious enough to give West Coast recruiting and it's fans a platform. That's quite a legacy, Rich. I'm sure a lot of people are thankful.

But, alas, priorities call.....

Best of luck to you. ;^)

P.S. It's been 3 years since I completed my MA, and I must say the "real world" ain't that bad. In fact, I've found "life" to be much more interesting and rewarding than basketball ever was. Imagine that...

--Albert Rapista

Posted by Lemming on September 27, 1999 at 20:45:55 from pm3-3-dyn46.skagit.fidalgo.net:

Thanks for all the great posts and arguments, but I'm moving north with Bill to WPR. It's been a great run, hope to see ya'll there.

Posted by Getto Superstar on September 26, 1999 at 17:45:27 from ip944.m4net.ips.techline.com:

Dis site was da bomb! Thanks to yall at westcoasthoops. I love you guys

And because we know that the web page below will just fade off into the sunset shortly, we had to grab at least the part of it related to the staff and preserve it for posterity, just in case you really want to know who the guys were behind WCH:

West Coast Hoops Staff

The WCH staff includes a handful of regional scouts who produce the bulk of the reports, and a number of others who cover their own college.

Richard Meyer -- Designer, Acting Director

Rich is a 6'1", 165lb C who makes a clean 10% of his layups, but has no handle. Currently moonlighting as a computer science graduate student at UCLA, he started a Pac 10 basketball web page in 1996. He then co-founded West Coast Hoops with Michael Miller in 1997, acting primarily as the site's designer. His duties now include design, reporting, and most management related tasks. He will be responsible for the Pac 10 section when it comes on line.
email: rich@westcoasthoops.com
Rich's home page at UCLA.

Dave Harris -- Scout, Reporter

Dave is a 5-9 PG/SG with enough skills to hoop it up on the playground, but apparently not good enough to make the high school JV team. He got over that, and is currently a college student studying graphic design, and going to as many basketball games as possible, while still wishing that one day he will touch the rim. He covers the Oregon region for WCH. email: dave@westcoasthoops.com

Bill Nance -- Scout, Reporter

Bill Nance is in his second year of covering Washington for West Coast Hoops. A native of El Paso, Texas, he is a retired Navy Master Chief who developed his love for hoops "when I was about 10 years old and Don Haskins became the coach at Texas Western College, now UTEP. I still get chills thinking about the 1966 NCAA title game when Lattin, Cager, Flournoy, Shed, Hill, Artis and Worsley did it to Kentucky and Rupp's Runts." Bill is the Executive Director of North Whidbey Help Inc., a United Way human services agency in Oak Harbor, Washington. email: bill@westcoasthoops.com

Greg Perry -- Scout, Reporter

Greg Perry submits frequent articles on Las Vegas tournaments.

Jerry Norley -- Scout, Reporter
email: jerry@westcoasthoops.com

Jerry covers the state of Arizona.

Team Specialists

Big West
Keith Braunwalder	Boise State
Jon Ralston	Pacific
Jim Cox	Cal State Fullerton
Emil Barycki	Cal Poly
Dean Powell	UC Irvine
Pac 10
Adam Weintraub	Pac 10 Overview
Chuck Hicks Becky Staley	Arizona
Eric Browne	Arizona State
Richard Lee	California Bay Area HS ball
Chris Koda	Oregon State/Oregon
Edgar Quilala	Stanford
Dennis Suzuki	Washington
Bob Hanson	Washington State
WAC
James Gibson	WAC Overall
Kevin McCarthy	San Jose State
Matt Smith	Utah
Steven Lansdowne	Fresno State (recruiting)
David Goussev	UNLV
Dennis Vigil	New Mexico
WCC
Dave Lewis	Santa Clara
Chris Paige Terry Forte	San Francisco
Steve Robinson	Gonzaga
Other Teams
Terry Miller	Women's Hoops in Washington
Mark Butcher	Olympic College
Bert Wethers	Murrieta Valley HS
Rinna Del Rosario	St. Ignatius HS

Michael A. Miller -- Founder, Scout, Reporter

Michael Miller is a lawyer and a screenwriter, and the founder of West Coast Hoops. He tried to cover high school basketball and recruiting up and down the Pacific coast, and was largely successful. He's currently on sabbatical from WCH in order to pursue his screen writing career.