It has been a few years since he has been on the sidelines as a coach, but Ernie Wheeler has not been out of touch with the game of basketball.

The most successful head coach in Cal Poly men's basketball history has come out of retirement and will assist Head Coach Ralph Gorton with the Allan Hancock men's basketball team. It is where Gorton has wanted Wheeler to be for several years.

“I've known Ernie for about 25 years,” explained Gorton. “I asked him if I ever got a head coaching job would he join me. He said we'd talk about it. That was a conversation we had about 15 years ago.”

So when Bob White stepped away after Gorton's first season last year to spend more time as head of the math department, Gorton made the call.

“He was the first and only choice I was going to make,” said Gorton. “So I called him when he was on a fishing trip up in Vancouver.

“He said to give him a day or two and he called me back the next day and was angry with me because he lost about four hours of sleep - He said he was lying there awake in bed and started drawing up plays.”

It is something that a coach never loses -that desire to teach. Even though Wheeler has been out of coaching for several years, once that fire was re-lit, he has come at it 100 percent.

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From 1972 through 1986, Wheeler set a standard for excellence at Cal Poly. His record of 254-138 in 14 seasons has not been threatened. Beginning in 1979 - one season removed from his only losing season at the school - Wheeler led the Mustangs to an unprecedented five straight 20-win seasons. In his 14 seasons Wheeler's teams averaged over 18 wins a year.

Wheeler followed that success winning 60 of 87 games at Eastern Montana during a three year period. He also served as the athletic director at Eastern Montana from 1988 to 1990. Following stints as an assistant at Boise State and Idaho, Wheeler completed his coaching career as an assistant in the Continental Basketball Association for the Idaho Stampede in 1998.

Now living at Cypress Ridge Golf Course in Arroyo Grande with his wife Margaret, Wheeler has no desire to leave the Central Coast and coach again, so the offer from Gorton was just too good to pass up.

“I've always enjoyed coaching, it was never a job to me,” Wheeler said. “I had been offered other jobs since I came back to the Central Coast, but I would have to move again.”

So he was intrigued when Gorton made the call.

“I've known Ralph forever and he called me and asked if I would come and help him,” Wheeler said. “Then he called and called over and over again. But it was really interesting that when Ralph called me all these things started coming back.

“I thought it would be interesting to come back and see if we could run our old multiple defenses. And when I walked back into the gym here the first of the week, I knew I did the right thing - it was a thrill coming back in.”

Wheeler believes in teaching fundamentals.

“If you have a certain period of time to teach these kind of things and you can sell it to the kids, it will make the team better,” he explained.

Even though he was not happy about how he and Cal Poly parted ways, Wheeler has fond memories of his time in San Luis Obispo.

“It was a wonderful experience, I was very fortunate to have really good kids,” Wheeler said. “We graduated over 95 percent of our kids and I have great memories of the things we did there.”

Wheeler is looking forward to working with Gorton and the players and is completely satisfied with where he is.

“I love to coach, I'm an X's and O's guy,” he explained. “I love practices. I have no desire to again be a head coach, I'm just here to help Ralph any way I can.”

And he is excited to see what he can still offer to a program.

“This is a challenge to me,” Wheeler said. “Because I've sat back for the last five or six years and watched basketball and wondered if I could put some things that I used to do and can I add some of the things I have learned.

“Can I put those things together? Now I'm given the opportunity to see if I can do it.”

And while Gorton is thrilled to have Wheeler as part of his staff, he still felt it was neccesary to dispell one rumor.

“Ernie is not quite the golfer he claims to be,” Gorton said with a smile on his face.

Sports writer Brad Memberto can be reached at 737-1055 or by e-mail to bmemberto@lompocrecord.com

August 26, 2008