The wait was long enough

A summer and fall turned out to be too much time away for this

former Orange Coast College coach.

John Goldman, who guided the Pirates’ men’s and women’s cross

country teams to five state championships (four for the women and one

for the men) in six seasons, was named Cerritos College’s director of

cross country last week.

In addition to coaching both men’s and women’s teams, Goldman, 36,

will be responsible for recruiting and teaching distance runners for

the school’s track and field teams.

Goldman left OCC following the track and field season last spring

to spend more time with his wife, Susan, who gave birth to their son

Seth, Nov. 5, and devote more time to his racing business in Long

Beach, where he lives.

“I thought about (taking the Cerritos’ job) for awhile and

realized my batteries are recharged and it’s time to get back in the

game,” said Goldman, who had three coaching offers upon leaving OCC,

including Cerritos. “I missed being around the kids, the coaching and

the competition. College coaching is something not many people get to

be a part of.”

During Goldman’s tenure at OCC from 1996-2001, the men’s and women’s teams both won state titles in 1999. Goldman led his teams to

a combined seven Orange Empire Conference championships and four

Southern California championships while coaching 12 individual state

champions.

The past fall season saw the OCC women take first in the state

while the men finished second under first-year coach John Knox.

Sophomore Michelle Icban won the women’s individual state title on

the three-mile Woodward Park course in Fresno.

Goldman spoke with Pirates’ assistant Dave Fier just this week and

still speaks with former colleagues at Coast regularly.

“I’m always grateful that OCC gave me the opportunity for my first

head coaching job,” Goldman said. “OCC was very good to me and I met

a lot of wonderful people. I miss working with the athletes. Seeing

kids get recruited into the program makes you attached to them.”

Goldman gained OEC Coach of the Year honors seven times and was

the California Community College Coach of the Year in 1997, ’99 and

2001.

He believes Cerritos can achieve similar success.

“They have everything here to make it one of the best distance

programs in the state,” he said.

*

The Coast women’s basketball team is 4-0 in the Orange Empire

Conference (19-3 overall) and tied with Saddleback for the league

lead. But the toughest part of the schedule awaits, according to

Coach Mike Thornton.

Saddleback, 18-3, 4-0, beat Cypress, 69-67, in overtime Wednesday,

before downing Golden West Friday, 64-54.

OCC beat Cypress, 45-42, Friday and hosts Golden West Tuesday

before traveling to Saddleback Friday.

“Cypress and Saddleback are the two most athletic teams in the

league,” Thornton said. “They both present a lot of problems with

their athletic ability. I actually thought Cypress might win that

game. Anybody in the conference can beat anyone else. Fullerton,

Saddleback, Cypress and ourselves are the favorites but Irvine

Valley, Riverside and Golden West are so well-balanced.”

Irvine Valley didn’t pose much of a threat to OCC Wednesday. The

Pirates defeated IVC, 71-46, leading by as many as 32 in the second

half.

Coast shot 47.1% from three-point range and finished 46.3% from

the field.

The Pirates got starting forward Lauren Murray back after she

missed two games with the flu. Murray scored eight points and grabbed

nine boards against IVC.

Point guard Nancy Hatsushi scored 11 points and handed out five

assists, despite playing with a deep bruise in her foot that she has

had for the past six weeks, Thornton said.

“She’s a step quicker than she was a few weeks ago,” Thornton

said. “We’re all playing together and taking it one game at a time. I

know it sounds cliche but we have a good focus in that. We value

every possession no matter if it’s defense or offense.”