Jim Nielsen seeks high rating in Calabasas
New coach joins successful program
Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

After finding success as an assistant coach at Pepperdine University and as a head coach at Redondo High School, Jim Nielsen will try his hand as a first year coach of the Calabasas boys’ basketball team.

Nielsen takes over a squad that tied with Thousand Oaks for the Marmonte League championship last season and finished with an exceptional 12-2 league record. But there’s always room for improvement and Nielsen welcomes the challenge.

“The kids have been extremely responsive and fundamentally sound,” Nielsen said. “It seems as if good players make good coaches.”

The Coyote team that Nielsen inherits bring a balanced combination of size and speed to go along with their inexperience. The only returning varsity player is senior guard Andrew Schotz, but 10 of the 16 players on the roster are seniors.

One of the veterans is guard Shane Foster, who transferred from Taft High School a year ago. Foster made his presence known when he scored 18 points against Simi Valley last week in a 2-point Coyote loss.

“I think this year my mid range game has improved,” Foster said. “Last year all my shots were either lay-ups or behind the 3-point line. My dad and Coach Nielsen have been telling me to work on that part of my game.”

Nielsen has been impressed with Foster’s game.

“He’s been playing great,” Nielsen said. “He is an allaround good player and has also shown great leadership this season.”

Two other seniors that have impressed Nielsen early in the campaign are center Mike Field and forward Salleh Beitollahi.

“Salleh has been playing better by slowing down and letting the game come to him,” Nielsen said. “He is letting his athleticism take over.

“Mike has been playing good as well by handling a lot of pressure well,” the coach said. “The other night he scored 17 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked four shots for us. He takes care of the ball well in the post and is playing a lot better for us lately.”

The Coyotes have a twoheaded monster in the paint with Field and sophomore Evan Smith. Smith played last year on the varsity team as a freshman but was limited to only three games due to injuries. This year Smith is healthy and it shows by his play on the court. Against Simi Valley last week he scored 19 points.

“He has been playing great for us and I think he is already a Division 1 talent,” Nielsen said.

Smith attributed his success to the coach and the other players.

“Coach has helped a lot and so have the seniors on this team,” Smith said. “They have showed great leadership and are leading me down a good road.”

Even though Calabasas has begun with a 1-1 record in league play, Smith thinks the Coyotes will be one of the tougher teams to beat this season.

“I think we need to work on not turning the ball over as much and we need to keep playing with the intensity we have shown early on,” Smith said. “This league is a tough one and the game against Simi was a close game but if we play our game the games should not be close.”

Foster agrees.

“We need to let the game come to us and we also need to play our game,” he said. “We’re bigger than everyone else with good players like Mike and Evan in the middle. We also need to be able to beat presses with other teams. We have been working on that in practice by going five on seven or five on eight players to get used to it,” Foster said.

Nielsen believes that if Coyotes play better against the press they should fare well against other Marmonte League teams.

“There is a tough road ahead for us to win it,” Nielsen said. “Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley are very good teams. That being said, if we use our size inside with Field and Smith we should be all right.”

The Coyotes’ next game is at home on Jan. 5 against Royal.