Shifting Into Overglide

HOUSTON —  Sophomore guard Chad Hendrick and a couple of Houston teammates had just finished basketball practice when they looked at their new coach and wondered if he still had it.

After listening to a few digs and put-downs, the first-year coach decided to take the players up on their challenge. Despite being dressed in slacks and street shoes, Clyde Drexler didn’t even have to warm up to answer their question.

With a couple of sweet moves to the rim, Drexler threw down different variations of his trademark dunks, and the debate was over.

“We were just shooting around telling him that he was too old and that he was washed up,” Hendrick said. “He showed us.”

After a 15-year NBA career good enough to be selected on the NBA’s 50th anniversary All-Time Team, Drexler has put away his game uniforms and sneakers.

In a move that caught many in the basketball world by surprise, Drexler last March accepted the head coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Houston, and rekindled memories of his days leading a group of high-flying dunkers known as Phi Slama Jama to two Final Four appearances.

Drexler’s impact on Houston’s struggling program was felt well before the team’s first game. Season-ticket sales tripled in the first three days after he was hired and have gone from 1,250 to 4,000. All 24 of the new luxury boxes have been sold at $45,000 each and 265 $1,000-per-season courtside seats are also gone.

After averaging only 2,838 in 13 home games last season at the on-campus, 9,000-seat Hofheinz Pavilion, ticket sales have quadrupled and Houston officials expect to have standing-room-only crowds for every game this season.

“It’s great to have a chance to revive the program, [which has] had its share of trouble the last few years,” said Drexler, 36, who takes over a team that finished 9-20 and tied for last in Conference USA last season.

“Coaching is a natural progression after being involved with the game for 20 years. . . . But at the same time, it is like being a parent for the first time. How do you know that you’re going to be a good parent?”

By the time former coach Alvin Brooks was fired by Athletic Director Chet Gladchuck on March 1, the once-proud Houston program had sunk to the lower levels of college basketball. Drexler inherited a senior-less team with no player taller than 6 feet 8. He is not expecting any miracles this season.

“I’m really not too worried because basketball is the same sport I’ve always been with,” Drexler said. “It’s nothing new. Now, if I was taking over as hockey coach, then I’d be worried because I don’t know anything about that sport.”

Drexler signed a five-year contract for a reported $300,000 a year, a far cry from the estimated $6 million he made in the 1997-98 season with the Houston Rockets. He knows it will take time to turn things around.

Houston (2-2) opened the season with a 71-69 victory over Texas in front of a capacity crowd at home, then lost to Rice and Sam Houston State before squeaking past Indiana Purdue Indianapolis on Saturday, 72-71.

From the start, Drexler began surrounding himself with familiar people. He insisted on having former Cougar coach Guy Lewis, who won 592 games and took five teams to the Final Four in 30 years at Houston, as a consultant. Lewis is a regular visitor at Cougar practices and is photographed with Drexler on the cover of the Houston media guide.

Drexler convinced former teammate Reid Gettys to give up a promising legal career to become an assistant. He persuaded George Walker, an assistant coach during Drexler’s college days and more recently the head coach at South Florida Community College, and Michael Young, a former college teammate and roommate who had played overseas the last 14 years, to join his staff.

Drexler thinks of himself as a players’ coach, but a demanding one.

“I don’t believe that you have to yell in order to communicate effectively,” Drexler said. “But at the same time, you want [your players] to know what to expect.”

Said Hendrick: “He’s very laid back. He doesn’t have to yell because we all respect him so much. We know he’s telling us the right thing whenever he tells us something. He pulls you to the side when you’ve done something wrong and he gives you suggestions on how to make the play better. Of course we’re going to listen. I mean, he’s Clyde Drexler. Everyone knows what he’s meant to Houston and the game of basketball.”

Drexler’s first team features full-court pressure with an assortment of traps. The Cougars look to score off the break whenever possible, which is why Drexler worked his team so hard during fall practice.

The Cougars went through daily two-hour nonstop practices and at least four times a week, the players had to go through various drills under the hard-nosed Young, who is also the team’s assistant conditioning coach.

Junior forward Kenny Younger is the top returning scorer and rebounder, with Hendrick, a 6-6 small forward, the second-leading returner in both categories.

Two players expected to lead the backcourt are sons of former NBA players. Point guard Gee Gervin, son of George, signed with the Cougars after a celebrated junior college career at San Jacinto College in Texas. Moses Malone Jr. reconfirmed his commitment to Houston after asking for his release following the firing of Brooks.

“When I first committed to Houston, my father really didn’t approve because he didn’t like where the program was headed,” said Malone, one of the nation’s best prep shooting guards last season at Friendswoods High in Texas. “But once Coach Drexler took over, my dad wanted me to go to Houston then. Coach Drexler is the person who can help me get to my dream of getting an education while putting myself in position for an NBA career.”

So far, Drexler’s name has increased the program’s visibility.

“It seems like everyone wants to walk on,” Walker told Basketball Times. “It’s crazy. For a while we were getting all these calls from parents and alumni telling us about players. Thirty, 35 calls a day. You take a look at all of them, but it’s crazy. Everyone wants to be associated with Clyde.”

For now, Drexler is happy to get more time to be home with his wife, Gaynell, and their four children. Next summer, he will start taking courses to complete the 40 hours he needs to get his bachelor’s degree in education. After his junior season in 1983, Drexler was drafted in the first round by the Portland Trail Blazers.

Drexler, who averaged 18.4 points for the Rockets in 70 games last season, says he doesn’t miss playing at all. He plays tennis daily, but his last full-court basketball game was Game 5 of the first round last May, when the Utah Jazz ended the Rockets’ season.

“This is really fun for me,” said Drexler, who was never on an NBA team that failed to make the playoffs. “At the time when you’re playing, you have a million options. You have to sit back and reflect before it even comes time to do anything. You look for something that you enjoy doing and at the same time you have a chance to make a difference.”