Tention back in Bay Area

Credit bulldogseventy for originally posting this at the InsideTheSpartans basketball message board: "At a lunch function Monday at Harry's Hofbrau, word that Rodney Tension hired as new assistant. Any confirmation of that? He is very experienced. Loyola as Head Coach I think."

According to two contacts, one from the north of here and the other from the southland, this is true.

With two stints as a head coach, Tention brings background and understanding regarding both leading a program and assisting. That should be beneficial in making Coach Dave Wojcik feel a greater level of comfort with his overall group.

Another aspect is Tention has recruiting credibility throughout California. There won't be any 'who is this calling?' when he dials up a coach to discuss a recruit.

The 2014-15 Toreros roster has a number of southern California guys on it as well as -- and this is intriguing -- four foreign talents from The Netherlands, Serbia, Germany and Georgia respectively but it's impossible to identify the lead recruiter for each.

With San Diego being a West Coast Conference member, Tention is also already likely familiar with a number of prospects possessing the potential to play in the WCC and thus also the Mountain West Conference.

This hire also goes a long ways towards getting the demographics of the Spartan coaching staff right.

Mike Burns, another San Diego assistant who was let go when Bill Grier was fired in mid-March, just landed at Pacific. None of the Torero coaching staff was retained when new Head Coach Lamont Smith took over.

Tention's playing/coaching career:

Played: USF

Coached:
1988–1989 Skyline CC (assistant)
1989–1991 South Florida (assistant)
1991–1994 College of Notre Dame (assistant)
1994–1997 College of Notre Dame head coach
1997–2005 Arizona (assistant)
2005–2008 Loyola Marymount (head coach)
2008-2011 Stanford (assistant)
2011–2015  San Diego (assistant)

As for his running the Argonauts and Lions programs, Tention enjoyed some degree of success. Now this is not making excuses but nobody has been able to be a consistent winner at either place.

For those interested, here's a fascinating longform look at the LMU program for the last 30 years and why success has been fleeting.