Remember When?: Picking up the pieces at Cal

By JEFF OLIVER

Sports Writer

At the California University basketball team’s banquet, Jim Boone told his players about the potential job openings at Marshall University and Robert Morris that presented themselves before him.

So, as the members of the 1996-97 Vulcan team went through their normal off-season regimen of weightlifting and playing basketball, they knew the possibility was there that they could lose their highly successful coach.

Then, on Monday, word came out that Boone wanted to meet with his players for a meeting at 3 p.m. Really, just that announcement was all they needed to know. There was no need for the meeting itself.

“Once I found out there was a meeting at 3 p.m., I kind of figured  what it was all about,” sighed Jimmy Arnold, a freshman from Monessen and backup guard. “I knew he was leaving.”

“I kind of figured that was what it was about,” added Eric Watson, a redshirt freshman from Ringgold who became one of the key players the past season.

“I’m disappointed,” Arnold said of Boone’s departure. “But I have a few years left. I wanted to play for him, but he did what he had to do.”

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