Fresno State basketball, Walberg finally unite. More NIL money to start flowing in? | Opinion

It took nearly two decades, but Fresno State finally scratched the Vance Walberg itch.

The innovative Clovis West High basketball coach and former NBA assistant, as well as the creator of the dribble-drive motion offense that spread from northeast Fresno to gyms and arenas throughout the world, has long coveted the Fresno State job.

Likewise, Walberg has long been a favorite of influential Bulldogs boosters and a segment of the fanbase.

In 2005, Walberg was fresh off a state championship at Fresno City College when the Fresno State job came open. He applied and felt great about the interviews, but the position ultimately went to Steve Cleveland.

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“The night before the hire I got a phone call from somebody pretty close who said, ‘You got the job,’ ” Walberg told me in December 2016, shortly after his return to Clovis West. “The next morning – bam – it was Cleveland. It was tough. I’m not going to deny it.”

In 2011, when Rodney Terry replaced Cleveland, Walberg’s name was not on the list of finalists presented to then-president John Welty. However, according to a source involved with that search, word came down from “the fourth floor of the library” (where the president and other administrators have offices) that Walberg had to be interviewed.

Walberg wasn’t interviewed in 2018 when Justin Hutson succeeded Terry in 2018. But he wanted to be.

This context is necessary to understanding why Fresno State handed its desolate men’s basketball program to a 67-year-old who hasn’t coached at the college level in 13 years and whose only prior Division I head coaching experience (14-35 at Pepperdine from 2007-08) was a disaster.

Walberg got the job because he convinced university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval that he wanted it more than anyone else. And because people in positions of power and influence over this hire badly wanted him to have it.

Both of those factors help explain why Walberg was formally introduced Friday as the 20th men’s basketball coach in Fresno State history – even though he was not among three candidates forwarded to Jiménez-Sandoval by a campus search committee, as reported by The Bee’s Robert Kuwada.

No shock there.

Favored by key admin, donors

Walberg, according to multiple sources, was the favored candidate of Debbie Adishian-Astone, the university’s vice president for administration and chief financial officer, as well as several prominent donors. Adishian-Astone also chairs the Fresno State Athletic Corporation, the nonprofit that operates Bulldogs athletics.

Following Walberg’s introduction, I asked Jiménez-Sandoval about his decision to set aside the search committee’s recommendations.

“The committee we put together had a lot of great energy and ideas,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “But ultimately, committees recommend. Their job is to recommend to the hiring manager, which in this case is myself, of what direction they think we should go.

“I have to evaluate everything, and what I saw with Walberg was this incredible drive, this deep-seated passion and hunger. Like real hunger for reaching that next level of excellence … while being focused on the Valley. The Valley, specifically, is what drives him. And for him, Fresno State is the center of that universe. His entire ethos for the past 30 years has been Fresno State. When I saw that, I saw the potential for what the next level of basketball can be.”

The Bulldogs have a lot of ground to make up to reach that next level. In 2024, college basketball success hinges on name, image and likeness money necessary to attract the top talent. That’s true no matter who draws up the plays.

The top seven Mountain West Conference men’s basketball programs reportedly have NIL pools in excess of $400,000. New Mexico is believed to have $1.5 million with each starter receiving $250,000.

Fresno State, by contrast, had an NIL total of roughly $150,000, according to multiple sources.

Want to know why the Bulldogs have fallen so far behind the competition? There’s your answer.

NIL donations needed

Based on their comments Friday, Walberg and Jiménez-Sandoval seem to understand that reality. Meaning, the same influential donors that backed Walberg during the search must reach into their wallets so that the new coach doesn’t begin his tenure with an empty cupboard.

When I asked Walberg if the Bulldogs had enough NIL money for him to offer recruits or whether more was needed, he quipped, “How much do you have on you?”

If Fresno State announces several signings over the next few weeks, or players currently in the transfer portal opt to stay, you’ll know those donors came through.

If not, the Bulldogs will remain in the bottom half of the MW and Save Mart Center will remain empty and listless. Regardless of any innovative offense the new coach installs, or how hard the team plays.

In my experience covering college sports, donor-driven hires generally don’t go well. But to look at Walberg simply from that prism, or view him as just a high school coach, would be too simple a read.

No ordinary high school coach would have been able to attract someone with John Welch’s qualifications to be their lead assistant. Or would’ve convinced Jiménez-Sandoval to disregard the search committee.

Walberg and Fresno State have circled each other for nearly 20 years. I’m intrigued to see whether this works.

“When you live in the Valley, Fresno State is everything,” Walberg said. “We don’t have pro sports – this is everybody’s main focus. I was hoping one day to be able to get that (chance), and after the last time I didn’t think it was going to happen.

“So for this dream to come true has been amazing … and I know the people here are dying for good basketball and excitement.”