UC Irvine Notebook / John Weyler : Cadigan Continues to Impress : But Tennis Coach Almost Struck Out With Team Captain

Sometimes, even when you have two strikes against you, you can hit a home run. And that’s pretty much the way Greg Patton, the UC Irvine men’s tennis coach, looks at the “recruiting” of Mike Cadigan.

Now, Patton calls the three-time team captain “the heart and soul of the team,” and the “unsung hero.” He insists Cadigan is one of the main reasons the fifth-ranked Anteaters have achieved many of their goals. But four years ago he wasn’t exactly fawning over this slight young man from the tennis tundra of the great Northwest.

Cadigan was the No. 1-ranked 18-year-old in the state of Washington when he was a senior at Kentwood High School in Redmond, but when he wrote a letter to Patton expressing an interest in attending Irvine, he got a thanks-but-no-thanks form letter in return.

“I got the impression I had to be nationally ranked,” Cadigan said.

Strike One.

When Cadigan’s high school coach called a friend at UCLA about Southern California schools, Irvine came up again. So Cadigan arranged a visit at his own expense.

“It wasn’t exactly a great experience,” Cadigan recalled. “The two players I was staying with got in an argument over who had to take care of me for the night.”

Strike Two.

“But I liked the campus, I knew it was a good school academically and I really liked Coach Patton a lot,” Cadigan said. “I felt like he would provide me with the opportunity to improve to my potential.”

Going . . . Going . . . Gone.

Cadigan, who’s playing the Nos. 5 and 6 singles spots on the most talented Irvine team ever, has reached his potential . . . and maybe then some.

“I knew from Day 1 he had the right work ethic,” Patton said. “Mike has left a lot of skin, not to mention blood, sweat and tears on these courts out here.”

All of which proves you can’t judge a tennis player by his cover letter. Cadigan’s first letter may not have excited Patton, but some of the correspondence that followed certainly piqued his interest.

“I got letters from his coach and his teachers,” Patton said. “The guy was student body president of his high school. Everybody wanted to vouch for him. I figured he was a good athlete, even though I’d never seen him play, but, more important, I’ve learned that to build a good program you need a good leader.

“Mike is one of those people who makes other people great. He brings out the best in his teammates. They respect him. They elected him team captain when he was a sophomore. He transforms players. They see how he works and it instills self-discipline. Every good team has a leader who’s solid in his ethics.”

Meet Mr. Cadigan, the rock-solid foundation beneath the fast-growing Irvine tennis program. Cadigan accepts his role as spiritual leader with a self-effacing charm, however.

“When Coach decided to take me, he already had the players he needed and it was time to recruit a nice guy with a 4.0 GPA,” he says, smiling.

“I never lost in high school and I could’ve gone to a college where I would have been the best player around. But I wanted to see what the real competition was like.”

Up against the real thing, Cadigan has fared better than some might have expected. In 1987, he was conference runner-up in No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles. Last year, he won conference titles in No. 6 singles and No. 3 doubles. This season, he’s 5-6 in singles matches.

Cadigan not only works hard on the court. He earned a degree in economics in three years and is pursuing a masters of business administration at Irvine’s Graduate School of Management.

“In my next career, I want to be Mike’s campaign manager,” Patton said. “The guy is really marketable. He’s only got one fault: He’s got really smelly feet.”

Patton, always ready with a bizarre analogy, explains Cadigan’s importance to the Anteater tennis team like this:

“It’s like you’re training this bunch of wild animals. I’m on the other side of the bars looking in. But if you can get a man in a gorilla suit in the cage, it helps bring out the best in the monkeys.”

Center Mike Doktorczyk, who was struck in the thigh with a knee during the first game against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 2, is in worse shape now than the day after the injury.

“It looked like nothing on the tape,” Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan said, “but he can barely walk now. He was going about three-quarter to one-half speed Saturday night.”

Medically speaking, the 6-foot-9 senior has a severe quadriceps contusion and the only real cure is rest.

“What happens is the blood seeps down the leg,” said Paul Gardikas, Irvine’s trainer. “You can see the black and blue in the knee now. He was hit about mid-thigh but the blood spreads and causes pressure and pain all over the leg.”

Mulligan said he was debating whether to rest Doktorczyk until the Big West tournament or let him play.

“We could hold him out for three weeks, but then we’d be playing in the ninth-place game in the tourney,” Mulligan said. “As long as Mike wants to try, I’ll play him. In the meantime, I’m trying to find Oral Roberts to heal him.”

Anteater Notes

Former basketball player Steve Florentine is making an impact with the volleyball team. He set two school records and tied another as the 18th-ranked Anteaters beat 16th-ranked UC San Diego at San Diego. Florentine tied the school mark for kills with 27, and established records for solo blocks (six) and hitting percentage (.667). The old mark for hitting percentage was .556, set by Corky Carpenter last year. Irvine is 3-10 overall and 0-4 in Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. play. . . . Coach Bill Mulligan says the Anteaters’ goal is to finish in the top six in the Big West. (The seventh-place finisher plays No. 8 and No. 9 plays No. 10 on the first day of the conference tournament, while the top six get byes). Right now, Irvine (6-6) is in a three-way tie for sixth place with Fullerton and Fresno State. . . . Bulletin Board Fodder Dept.: “I would love to play Fullerton in the tournament,” Mulligan said. “I never would have said that a few years ago.”

The men’s and women’s track teams debut Saturday when they play host to Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona. Field events begin at 11:30 a.m. and the first running event is scheduled at 1 p.m. Returning All-American Beth McGrann, who holds school records at 5,000 and 10,000 meters, leads the women’s team.

Caron Pardee, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter from Long Beach Wilson High School, has signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Irvine. She was a first-team all-Long Beach City selection and a second-team all-Southern Section 4-A pick.