The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 54

I mmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm wmmmmmm Wooden Likes What He Is Seeing in Westwodd These Days -4. 1 The Old Wizard on the New Wizard: xl Like Larry and Now I Like His Team' I own coaching style a power, inside game while trying to exploit player mismatches. Why such glowing optimism about Brown's team in the wake of a defeat? Wooden said UCLA really "won" the game in the sense that Brown's young Bruins outplayed the Fighting Irish most of the way only to falter in the final two minutes with missed free throws, some ill-advised shots and careless fouls. UCLA, with four freshmen and three sophomores, was expected to be blown out by the fourth-ranked Irish while playing before a raucous and toilet-paper-throwing crowd at the Athletic and Convocation Center. Instead, such players as guard Rod (Rocket) Foster and Michael Hoi ton and By MAL FLORENCE Tlnrn Staff Writer Many famous coaches are credited with originating the saying, "Winning isn't everythingit's the only thing." But John Wooden, college basketball's coach of coaches, takes a broader view.

In discussing UCLA's 77-74 loss to Notre Dame Tuesday night at South Bend, Ind. Wooden said: "Larry Brown will never win a game in which he will be more proud of his players than he was against Notre Dame." Wooden, the legendary retired UCLA coach, worked the game as an expert analyst for Metro Communications, a cable-TV sports network. And he liked what he saw. "The style of Larry's team and overall philosophy is similar to the way I liked to coach," Wooden said in an interview. "By that I mean the transition game, getting off quickly on the fast break, pressure defense, emphasis on team play and conditioning.

"Now Larry uses more players (11 played against Notre Dame) than I did. And I probably wouldn't be doing what he is doing (free substitution), but his method may be better. "I like Larry personally and now I like his team." Even though Gary Cunningham, Brown's predecessor at UCLA, was a longtime Wooden disciple, the present team has more of a Wooden look than Cunningham's teams. Gene Bartow, who became UCLA's coach in 1975-76 after Wooden retired, had his Darren Daye and forward Cliff Pruitt all freshmen-and sophomore forward Mike (Slew) Sanders made contributions. They also made mistakes, but that is to be expected of a young team playing in a pressure game on the road many of them for the first time.

"I've never seen a game in which so many young players had such a significant role," Wooden said. Foster, of New Britain, was particularly impressive. He accelerated so quickly on drives to the basket that it seemed the other players were standing still. He's 6-1, but with his leaping ability he plays 6-6. "Foster reminds me of Phil Ford (former North Carolina Ail-American now with the Please Turn to Page 10, Col.

1 I I I mmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm San Diego's Other Mountain Man This One Plays; Fouts Is the Instrument of Coryell's Success Hoe Anflctes Slimes pons BUSINESS CC PART III FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1979 By BOB OATES Tlmn Stiff Writtr SAN DIEGO-Under quarterback an Fouts and Coach Don Coryell, tnej San Diego Chargers are about to take over as one of the great passing teams of all time. For one thing, Fouts has had six 300-yard passing days since September to tie a single-season National Football League record set by the AFL'sJoeNamathin 1967. And if he throws for another 156 yards against Denver here Monday night, the tall, quick-armed San Diego quarterback will become the first passer in the NFL's 60 years to exceed 4,007 yards in one season. He is now only the second to exceed 3,747. Is Fouts really this good? Have the new rules helped? Why are the Chargers such a successful passing team? "Rules have very little to do with something like this," Fouts says.

"Ninety percent of it is coaching Tiere are few superstars. The rest of us have about equal ability, and the winners are those who get the that is, the attitude of the head coach, wanting to pass, teaching it properly, working on it by the hour. Passing is the best way to win football games because it's the only way you can average 9 or 10 yards a play. As Don Coryell will tell you, the Chargers are a passing team for that one reason: average yards per attempt. But passing is hard to coach much harder to coach than running and I think that's why there have always been more running teams than passing teams." The San Diego quarterback suspects that if Coryell had his current defense and any good passer, he could win any NFL division.

"There are few superstars," Fouts says, speaking on the experience of seven years in the league. "The rest of us have about equal ability, and the winners are those who get the coaching. To me that's obvious. With a few exceptions now and then, the same handful of coaches win all the time in football, year in and out." This is a philosophy you don't hear has seemingly fooled the defense by running a sophisticated sideline route or slant-in pattern. Is that the way it is? Not quite, says Fouts.

"In Coryell's pass offense," he says, "the throw and the catch are the two simplest things about a pass completion. Even the quarterback's reads aren't hard. The two hard parts are the pass blocking and predicting or anticipating the other team's defense coverages. That's where all the work and effort goes." Who does it? "The blockers and the assistant coaches," Fouts says. "The blockers are under Jim Hanifan.

The offensive coordinator is Joe Gibbs whose understanding of the other teams' defenses is the key to our success." Whats there to understand? "What we want to know is how they're planning to cover every pass we have. Once we know that, we can throw on any team, the answers are all in the films if you work hard enough. There must be five good ways to cover a slant-in to John Jef- Vn Coryell's offense there's a bomb built into every play. I check for that first, then make my checks with the other receivers. If Joe Gibbs has been right on his anticipation, something will be ferson.

If you're a defensive coach, you'll do what your particular personnel does best against that play from the formation we're in. The job of our offensive coaches is to anticipate all that." Won't a good dejense cover Jefferson in different ways? "Yes, but the key is that some defensive players are better than others. They might use their better players to cover a certain pattern in a certain way 75 of the time in the same situation same down, same formation, same conditions." you've anticipated correctly, will you still be able to throw to Jefferson in that situation? Please Turn to Page 16, Col. 1 every day from an athlete especially a good athlete. And Fouts is definitely that.

He has excelled as a forward passer from junior high through collegewhere he set some all-time records as an All-Coast quarterback at Oregon and into pro ball. Last year he was the third-ranked passer of the NFL's 28. Now nearing his prime at age 27, Fouts, the son of a San Francisco sports announcer, has the dimensions (6-3, 205) and appearance (black hair, black beard) of a Hollywood pirate captain. But not the bluster. To the contrary, he is a man of dignity, mild deportment, good manners and.

good humor. He probably wasn't always so he has probably worked to polish the image but he's had the-sense to see the value in it. His ability and approach, have made him the leader of the; Chargers the best leader I've ever known," says San Francisco coach Bill Walsh) and have doubtless' made him receptive, as well, to Coryell's singular brand of football. The unusual thing about it, this year, is that the Chargers are passing and winning with a very ordinary running attack. In Coryell's St.

Louis years, his teams won with a very ordinary defense. And the question is, how? What makes this offense so different and successful? At game time, it looks like most other college and NFL offenses, in which the passer drops back and throws quickly to a fast receiver who THE DAN DON SHOW-Dan Fouts, who heads for the Oregon mountains in the offseason, can be found, as he is here, on the fir ing line during the on -season, running Don Coryell's offense for San Diego. The Chargers will be at home Monday night with Denver. Times photo by Melanie Kaestner Despite Dim Outlook, Italy Martin Told Excited by Davis Cup Final to Watch His But United States Is Rated a Prohibitive Favorite to Win Matches Starting Tonight in San Francisco By ALAN GREENBERG Tlnrn Staff Writtr floor, is very fast and favors the serve-and-volley tactics of the Americans, particularly McEnroe. Panatta is the only Italian truly comfortable on this kind of surface.

The others, most notably Barazzutti, whose forte is defense rather than aggressive play, are far more adept on slower surfaces such as clay. The surface is the United States' choice, because it is host and defending champion, having defeated Great Britain, 4-1, last December at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage. Until then, the United States hadn't won the Cup since 1972, when it beat Romania, 3-2, in Bucharest. Please Turn to Page 8, Col. 1 Tongue Again NEW YORK (UPI)-Former New York Yankee manager Billy Martin, continuing his war of words with team owner George Steinbrenner, Thursday was cautioned by American League President Lee MacPhail about making any further public statements reflecting on his former team.

Martin, defending his right to freedom of speech, met with newsmen Thursday afternoon and indicated he feared no repercussions from baseball officials over comments he made about Steinbrenner as a guest lecturer at the University of Rhode Island earlier this week. While MacPhail took no action against Martin, he advised him to put a curb on his tongue in the future. "I met today with Billy Martin and cautioned him about making further public statements reflecting upon the Yankees," MacPhail said in a prepared statement. "I also pointed out to him that as anxious as I personally was to have him back in the American League, he had not received complete exoneration from the commissioner; that this situation would most likely be reviewed by the commissioner and that his future public behavior and statements must be circumspect." Martin indicated he would continue to speak his mind but try to steer away from anything controversial. "I still love the Yankees," Martin said.

"I just hope the words come out all right." What concerns Martin most is getting paid by the Yankees for the next two years. Martin has a standard American League contract which says he must be paid for the length of the contract even if he is fired. So far, the Yankees have been making their payments. "Knowing George, he might try to stop that," Martin said. "He might think I violated being a Yankee.

But how would he know what it means to be a Yankee? He never played for Please Turn to Page 16, Col. 4 SAN FRANCISCO-A member of the Italian Davis Cup delegation shouted something and slammed the heavy black door of Suite 720 at the St. Francis Hotel. Mildly irritated, 38 reporters 36 of them Italians who had traveled nearly halfway around the world to report on a few of their countrymen hitting tennis balls-stood around in the red-carpeted hallway and waited. At 7:30 p.m., a half hour after the scheduled time, the door opened and the crowd was ushered in.

The players sat around looking bored. Adriano Panatta, teen-age heartthrob and Italy's best player, stretched out in a doorway and puffed on a cigarette. Gianni Ocleppo, Italy's best junior player last year and an alternate, sat on the television cabinet and entertained himself with a computer basketball game he'd just bought. The media people produced pads and microphones, but few questions. They had appeared, it seemed, not so much to ask questions as to avoid being left out.

After all, similar press conferences had been held nightly since the Italians arrived last weekend. Everyone was pretty much talked out. But no one was playing down the import of Italy's Davis Cup finals competition with the United States starting tonight. "Italy," Panatta said, "is very excited." So excited that much of the country will be watching on Italian television when play starts at the Civic Auditorium at 5 PST. It'll be 2 a.m.

in Italy. "I don't see any possibility that the United States can lose," said Vitas Gerulaitis, who will open singles play against Corrado Barazzutti. John McEnroe faces Panatta in the second match. One reason for that is the Supreme Court surface on which the final will be played. The green-textured vinyl, placed over the auditorium's concrete 77 PL 1 iQj P-- Liu- "12 N.Y.

SUSPENDS BOXING PENDING A SAFETY PLAN NEW YORK GR-Boxing in New York was suspended indefinitely Thursday night by the State Athletic Commission, pending the implementation of new safety procedures. The commission action came several hours after a State Senate committee investigating the death of middleweight Willie Classen called for the suspension of boxing until a six-point plan proposed by the committee could be implemented. "Immediate action is essential. It will be taken and boxing will be stopped until it is," said Sen. Roy Goodman, who chaired the committee.

Only the State Athletic Commission had the authority to put a suspension into effect, and it did. In a statement, Jack Prenderville, athletic commission chairman, said, "We are in the process of completing Please Turn to Page 12, Col. 1 THE SHOT FALLS And so does the shooter. Denise Curry (12) of UCLA gets her driving STORY ON PACK 1 layup to drop just before she does against Tennessee at Pauley Pavilion Thursday night. Times photos by Lirry SharVey.