Tran in it to win
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In just his third game as a Division II men’s college basketball coach, Metro State assistant Duy Tran will try to sit quietly today at the Anaheim Convention Center and resist the urge to talk trash.
The verbiage Tran has already exchanged with players from today’s opposing team will have to suffice, until he meets Cal State San Bernardino’s Lance Ortiz, Reggie Brown and James Estrada in the handshake line afterward.
Today’s 5:35 p.m. game in Disney’s Division II West Coast Tip Off Classic, the finale of the three-day, four-team event, will pit the three former Orange Coast College players against the former OCC assistant with more than victory at stake.
“I saw them at dinner [Thursday],” Tran said of his former players. “We were just talking smack.”
Tran figures to capture bragging rights, since Denver-based Metro State is ranked No. 13 in the National Assn. of Basketball Coaches’ preseason poll, although Ortiz, a part-time starter at guard last season, helped the Coyotes finish 26-6.
But regardless of today’s outcome, Tran said he is thoroughly enjoying his new position. A former Costa Mesa High player and assistant coach, he played one season at Orange Coast, under then-first-year coach Steve Spencer in 2000-01.
Tran, who took two years off before playing at OCC, during which time he grew two inches and physically matured, elected to transfer to Cal State Fullerton after one season on the team, effectively ending his playing career.
But he so impressed Spencer, the Pirates coach offered Tran an assistant coaching position.
Five years later, Spencer helped Tran get the job at Metro State. It’s the first step in a career path Tran hopes will one day lead to running his own college program.
“It was an opportunity to go to a program that has pretty much been in the top five in the nation every year [in Division II],” Tran said. “The tradition, and the coaching staff is why I wanted to come here.”
Metro State Coach Brannon Hays played at Cal Lutheran, where Spencer was an assistant coach. Hays was also a graduate assistant at Cal Lu, while Spencer was still on the staff. The mutual connection helped Tran land the job.
Since arriving in Denver last summer, Tran said he has worked in all facets of the program, from instructing the guards, to recruiting, community outreach, just about everything.
“The whole staff works so hard,” Tran said. “We usually get to the office at 4:45 a.m. [to prepare for 6 a.m. practices] and we usually leave around 7:30 p.m.”
Tran said he has learned much about the game already, which has only fueled his desire to make coaching his career.
Tran was introduced to coaching at Costa Mesa High, where he played one varsity season (1998-99) under then-coach Erich Allen. When Allen’s replacement, Bob Serven, saw Tran scrimmaging with the 1999-2000 team, he liked the way Tran counseled the younger players.
“I guess [Serven] saw something in me and figured I’d make a coach,” said Tran, who was a varsity assistant for two seasons under Serven. Tran also coached the Costa Mesa eighth-grade boys’ team both seasons.
“I knew I loved basketball and I loved being around it,” Tran said. “But some of my friends were still playing and I missed playing.”
Tran became a part-time starter at point guard at OCC, before returning to the bench under Spencer, the man he considers his coaching mentor.
“Once I started working under Coach Spencer, I started to think about coaching as a career,” Tran said. “Coach Spencer is a phenomenal coach. As time went on, he gave me more and more freedom.”
Tran said the best two players he coached at OCC were Ortiz and fellow first-team All-Orange Empire Conference performer Brown, a 6-5 guard who redshirted at Cal State San Bernardino last season.
Tran said his favorite part of coaching is being a part of a team.
He said he is looking forward to being in a successful program, after fighting the underdog label at both Costa Mesa and Orange Coast.
Tran said the allure of running his own program is something that drives him to get out of bed every day. That and an alarm clock set for 4 a.m.
BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].
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