Seattle U. picks UW assistant Dollar

Published 11:15 pm Thursday, April 16, 2009

SEATTLE — Thursday afternoon on Seattle University’s campus, mentor and student shook hands then shared an embrace that was emotional for both men.

Starting next season, however, they’ll be trying to beat one another on the basketball court.

Long-time University of Washington assistant coach Cameron Dollar was introduced as Seattle U’s head coach, and in an unusual scene, his former boss, Lorenzo Romar, and the rest of Washington’s coaching staff were on hand to watch as Dollar was introduced at the Jesuit school.

Seattle University, which just completed the first year of a five-year transition to Division-I athletics, hired Dollar to replace Joe Callero, who left Seattle U after eight seasons to take the head coaching job at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The Redhawks, who were 21-8 against a mixed D-I and D-II schedule this season, aren’t eligible for NCAA tournament play until the 2012-2013 season, though they could play in other postseason tournaments such as the NIT as soon as next year. Seattle U is also currently without a conference. Neither of those things deterred Dollar from taking the job, however.

“I don’t have any qualms about that all,” said Dollar. “First of all, the school is unique because of the tradition and because of the market. I think you can be fine as far as the transition. For us it will come down to really picking the right [conference]. I think we’ll have some suitors, I think we’ll be able to do that.”

Dollar acknowledged that the process of bringing Seattle U back to Division-I will be difficult at times. One of the short-term goals he mentioned was playing in the NIT and making it to Madison Square Garden, which is where the semifinals and final game of that tournament are held.

“Obviously there’s a process,” he said. “Sometimes we can get hasty and want it to come so quick, but you’ve got to enjoy the journey … As we break mini markers here and there, we go from year three to year two to year one, we’re going to make it a point to celebrate every one of those landmarks as the revival unfolds.”

Dollar, 33, has been an assistant under Romar for the past 10 seasons going back to Romar’s time at Saint Louis. Their relationship goes back even further than that, however, as Romar recruited Dollar and coached him while an assistant at UCLA.

“I learned a long time ago that you’re only as good as your mentors and the people that have invested in you and put their time in you, and it does get a little bittersweet for me that I leave my guy Lorenzo Romar,” Dollar said. “I haven’t had enough time to decompress to where I don’t still get choked up to think about leaving him and the players that put me and our program at Washington in the place that it is now.”

Romar admits that it will be a bit strange coaching against Dollar — Washington and Seattle U agreed last year to play once a season for at least the next five years — but isn’t surprised to see a talented assistant move on.

“You can’t have him forever,” Romar said. “Like a Jon Brockman, a Brandon Roy, those guys stayed four years, they’re living their dream now. Brandon’s in the NBA, Jon’s going to be in the NBA. You can’t have them forever.”

Seattle U athletic directory Bill Hogan said that he heard from Dollar frequently during the hiring process. He also received glowing reviews from numerous people in the college basketball world, including UCLA coach Ben Howland. Hogan said after a meeting with Dollar at the Final Four in Detroit, he was pretty certain he’d found his man.

“When this all started, the guy that kept calling me and bugging me was Cameron Dollar,” Hogan said. “He is without question one of the top recruiters in the country, he’s done an outstanding job at the University of Washington bringing that program to an elite level … We just can’t be more thrilled to have him with us.”

Dollar has been considered an up-and-coming coaching talent for a few years now, and has had his name linked to a number of mid-major coaching vacancies around the country, including the Portland State job this offseason. He was not, however, in a hurry to leave Washington for the first head coaching job that came along.

“I was getting settled in, I was pretty settled in,” he said. “It’s funny how life does that to you. I was getting to the stage where I had a lot of responsibility at Washington and I was comfortable with my contribution to the program. I love the guys, and was wholly indebted to them. I was just fine, I didn’t want to do anything. But as soon as you do that, here comes the opportunity that you never thought would come.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.