Job Hunt Is Not Elementary for Watson

While Jim Keating celebrates his hiring Tuesday as the Ventura College men’s basketball coach, his predecessor can hardly get a job interview.

Virgil Watson, whose contract was not renewed to teach or coach at Ventura next school year, is looking for employment without much luck.

“I’ve applied for different jobs,” Watson said. “I haven’t even gotten interviews. . . . That’s part of the whole character assassination [that took place].”

Ventura fired Watson for supposedly being a poor teacher. College district officials also cited nebulous recruiting violations and Watson’s relationship with a 41-year-old female student at the school as contributing factors in his dismissal.

Watson, who is appealing the firing, contends he was denied due process. He says there were sinister motives and hidden agendas that triggered the action.

Some claim race was a factor. Some say Watson was a scapegoat who paid dearly because a few influential school and district officials resented the basketball program’s immense success and popularity.

Whatever the case, Watson, who is black, is not willing to discuss it.

He has more pressing matters, like convincing someone to consider giving a chance to a coach who won a state championship and who had a 59-10 record the past two seasons.

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For the second time in little over a year, Glen “Red” Hefferman came up just short of landing the Ventura men’s basketball job.

Hefferman, the Columbia College coach last season, was considered a top candidate for the position. He was one of five finalists interviewed by Larry Calderon, Ventura’s president.

But Hefferman, a former assistant at Loyola Chicago and Central Michigan and a finalist when Watson was hired full-time in May 1996, said he was never offered the job.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t want the job,” Hefferman said.

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Although he says the ongoing turmoil in the Cal State Northridge athletic department played only a small role in his decision, Tony Davila apparently figured this would be a good time to seek other adventures.

So Davila, who coached the Northridge women’s tennis team the past 17 years, is switching gears. He is retiring to start his own pool maintenance business.

“I always wanted to have a business of my own,” Davila said. “I like the hours and I like working outdoors with my hands. . . . It was time for me to look around.”

Davila, 54, finished with a 175-157 record and guided the Matadors to the Division II national championship in 1982. That team, Davila said, featured players mostly from the Valley and not one was on scholarship.

“Their work ethic was unbelievable,” Davila said. “They would work out on their own and they worked as hard as they could. I would just put on the finishing touches.”

Davila, who played baseball at Northridge from 1962-64 and was an assistant to former Coach Bob Hiegert from 1968-80, said he’s planning to also hit the school books.

“I’ll probably go back to finish my doctorate in education [at the University of La Verne],” Davila said.

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Finally, this news flash from the department of incidental information: Pepperdine is one of 31 schools to win Division I national championships in three men’s sports.

The Waves reached the hat trick by winning the men’s golf title in May to go with a championship in baseball in 1992 and four in volleyball--1978, 1985, 1986 and 1992.