SPOKANE, Wash. — On the eve of his team’s opening game in the NCAA tournament, Cal coach Cuonzo Martin said the firing of assistant coach Yann Hufnagel will not be a distraction or obstacle for the Bears.
Martin took at least a half-dozen questions related to the scandal that broke Monday, and did his best to calmly deflect them while painting a picture of focus in his team’s locker room.
“We talk about how things happen in life, whether it’s basketball, the classroom, family members,” he said of how he addressed the issue with his players this week. “It’s a bump in the road, you keep moving forward.
“We don’t spend a lot of time on it. We’re not consumed by it. We talk about it, deal with it. That’s life.”
Hufnagel was fired following a campus investigation in which he acknowledged inappropriate dealings with a female reporter. The university has since said it will review the entire situation, including whether Martin promptly reported the news to the university after learning what happened.
“I’m not going to deal with that right now because we’re playing in the NCAA tournament. It’s a university issue right now,” he said during a podium interview. “Right now the biggest concern is our basketball team in the NCAA tournament.”
Asked if he’s concerned there could be fallout that could put his own job in jeopardy, Martin said it’s not his priority right now.
“I don’t worry about those things, to be totally honest with you,” he said. “My job with this basketball team is to win games, graduate young men and develop young men. Anything else is a waste of time.”
Players were coached on how to respond to reporters’ questions and all said they will not allow Hufnagel’s firing to be a distraction when the Bears play Hawaii on Friday at 11 a.m. at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s in the past,” junior guard Jordan Mathews said. “We came to Spokane to win a ballgame, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
Martin said Hufnagel’s game-day duties will be shared by the entire coaching staff.
“The biggest thing that all of them do, they have their hands on all our players. They have great relationships,” Martin said of his assistants. “(Hufnagel) impacted our practice with passion, energy enthusiasm. We just have to pick up those pieces.”
Martin said his routine discussions with players on issues aside from basketball are intended to give them a broader view of life.
“Make them understand there are more important things than just putting the ball in the basket,” he said. “So, when the situation took place we talked about it and moved on. We’re not spending days and days on the same topic.”
Cal athletic director Michael Williams declined to answer any questions about the Hufnagel case.
For more on Cal sports, see the Bear Talk blog at ibabuzz.com/beartalk. Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter at twitter.com/Jeff Faraudo.
