New basketball coach Brian Katz was ready for the job before the job was ready for him. Without a set of office keys, a desk or even a OneCard, Katz dove into his first day of work on April 10 to take command of and turn around a team that finished its last season with a 4-24 record.

“If you can meet a coach and he’s ready right then and there, he’s a good coach,” point guard Vinnie McGhee Jr. said.

Katz has spared no expense in trying to identify himself to the team as a coach who is about as punctual and precise as a finely-tuned watch and is quickly developing the reputation by honoring all of his time commitments. McGhee said he was impressed by his organization and the enthusiasm he brought to the team. Shooting guard Loren Leath said “he’s a hands-on” kind of coach who is “very up front and direct” with his players.

“Everything we do, he’s there,” Leath said.

“I think it’s working. Everyone is starting to buy into it,” McGhee said.

And to McGhee, the fact that Katz is trying to spend as much time as he can to get to know his players is a very positive step for the team. The loss of a coach can have an emotional impact on a team because the loss of the relationships and bonds created between the two can have an effect on the team’s chemistry and morale.

“We need somebody to be there for us in the ups and downs,” McGhee said.

Having earned a master’s degree in English from Sacramento State and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Santa Clara University, Katz gives no slack in regards to his athletes’ education. One of the first programs he implemented after he was hired was a mandatory study hall that starts at 6 a.m. every day at Yosemite Hall.

McGhee explained that Katz had a grading rubric from a scale of one through five and he graded his athletes by how much effort they put into the study hall. Katz sits with the team to offer advice and help, especially within the realm of essays and compositions, and if an athlete made full use of the time to study and complete homework, Katz graded him highly and wrote the opposite for an athlete who displayed lackluster performance and effort.

In addition to getting acquainted with his team, Katz also had other things to grind through within the administrative side of his job.

“He had to hit the ground running,” Deputy Director of Athletics Bill Macriss said.

Although every morning from 6 to 7:30 is for study hall and every afternoon from 3 p.m. and onward is dedicated to practice, every other minute of the day for his first two weeks has been packed with meetings and events. Katz has been busy attending academic adviser sessions to determine the status of his players to being present at his own introduction ceremony at the Radisson Hotel and even attending the Distinguished Alumni Service Awards.

Balancing his players’ academic, athletic and personal needs with constant analysis and evaluations of his team to ensure productive recruiting coupled with a hectic introductory period to the workings of the Sac State administrative system created a schedule that has resulted in little sleep or free time for Katz. Macriss said Katz hasn’t had any time to ease himself into the job, but said Katz understands the pace he’s going through and others understand what he’s going through.

And coming from the junior college level, Katz also had the NCAA D-I Coaches Certification Test looming over his head. Despite the hectic schedule, Katz aced the test with a perfect score, which Macriss said was an impressive feat because of the difficulty of the test. The certification test allows Katz to be recognized by the NCAA as a coach and, among other things, conduct off-campus recruiting. His first action after passing the test was to recruit one of his former San Joaquin Delta College players, Aaron Wilson, on April 16.

Macriss said Katz is a coach who won’t settle for less and is willing to push hard to get the results he wants and that great attitude is something the program needs.

Justin Tejada can be reached at [email protected]