Pressure Rises on Sparks Coach

Willie West, the boys’ basketball coach at Crenshaw High, has won 16 City Section championships and eight state titles.

But does that mean he should be offered the Laker job?

Julie Rousseau heard that kind of question last summer, when, as an assistant to fired Linda Sharp, she was named interim head coach of the Sparks, then later when she signed a one-year contract as head coach.

She heard this question too: “How seriously can you take the WNBA when a high school coach becomes a head coach?”

Now, as she knew they would, the questions grow louder. The Sparks are 4-9.

“I know the jury is still out on me,” said Rousseau, who was coach at Los Angeles Washington High when she became Spark assistant in the spring of 1997.

“But I believe in myself. Always have, always will. I still trust my instincts about this team. This team can win--I know it can.

“I’m past worrying about what people think about me.

“For me to worry about my future. . . . I can’t control that. But I am in control of my team. And anything can happen. It’s not farfetched to me that we could win a dozen in a row.”

She was asked how much patience she expects from her bosses, General Manager Rhonda Windham and President Johnnie Buss: “Again, I’m not in control of that,” she said. “But whatever happens, I’m thankful they gave me the opportunity. . . . There wouldn’t be any hard feelings on my part whatever.”

THE WELDER DID IT

Seventeen months ago, the Sparks were almost christened the Sunrays. Instead, thanks to a Lancaster welder named Willie Bratcher, they became the Sparks.

According to Buss, he had a list of 25 nicknames under consideration the day before the league naming deadline, in February 1997.

“The league wanted our name by 9 a.m. the following day, New York time,” Buss recalled.

“I gave the list to my assistant, Brandi Bratcher, and told her my first choice was Sunrays. But I wanted her to show the list to people that night, to see if she could come up with anything better.”

What followed was an all-night session at the Lancaster home of her father, Willie, who spent part of the night working on a project in his garage welding shop.

Said Brandi: “At about 2 a.m., my dad came in from the garage and said to us: ‘Why don’t you call them the Sparks? Sparks fly, you know.’

“So Sparks it was. I called Johnnie at 5:30 the next morning and he loved it.”

AUG. 31 TURNING POINT

Two big-time ABL point guards remain unsigned and if both are unsigned after Aug. 31, when their contracts expire, the Sparks will be among those WNBA teams interested.

The players are Philadelphia’s Dawn Staley and New England’s Jennifer Rizzotti.

Staley is a friend of the Sparks’ Lisa Leslie and played on the U.S. Olympic team with her.

Rizzotti, believed to be asking for a hefty ABL raise, had problems playing for Blizzard Coach K.C. Jones last season.

The Blizzard apparently doesn’t expect her back. The club just signed the best point guard in the Israeli League, Limor Mizrachi.

NOTABLE

The nickname for the ABL’s expansion Nashville team is the Noise. Former StingRay Venus Lacy, the Noise center, is said to be close to re-signing with the ABL. . . . Carolyn Peck, former Purdue head coach, has been named head coach/general manager of the WNBA’s expansion Orlando team, which does not yet have a nickname. . . . UCLA’s women play mighty Tennessee in Knoxville on Dec. 21. The Bruins also host Connecticut at Pauley Pavilion Nov. 17. . . . Blizzard and Olympic team center Kara Wolters underwent shoulder surgery July 2 to repair a ligament. . . . Spark forward Pam McGee on her first overseas season, in Spain, 10 years ago: “My first phone bill was $3,500. I cried for a month.” . . . Largely lost in discussion about Houston’s 14-1 start is the fact the Comets have done it without their first-round draft pick. Bulgarian Polina Tzekova remains at home, caring for her ailing mother.