3 Pepperdine Players Leaving Over Conflicts With Coach

Three Pepperdine basketball players, all citing communication problems with first-year Coach Tony Fuller, have announced their transfers to other schools.

Junior Joey Ramirez and freshmen Josh Merrill and Jamar Holcomb have asked to be released from their athletic scholarships and will leave Pepperdine at the end of the semester in April. They have yet to decide on future schools.

Ramirez, a point guard, and Merrill, a 6-foot-5 forward, were part-time starters on last season’s team that finished 8-19, 4-10 in the West Coast Conference. Holcomb, a 7-1 center, was a little-used backup.

The departures will leave Pepperdine with six returning players for next season. The Waves lost another player in January when sophomore forward Kirk Goehring, a transfer from Louisiana State, left school and transferred to Union University, an NAIA school in his hometown of Jackson, Tenn. Goehring’s parents wrote a letter to Pepperdine President David Davenport complaining about their son’s treatment by Fuller and his staff.

Ramirez, recruited by Fuller after playing two seasons at Ventura College, said he grew disenchanted with his new coach as well as Pepperdine. Goehring, Merrill and Holcomb were all recruited by former coach Tom Asbury, now at Kansas State.

“I don’t like the place and I don’t like the coach,” said Ramirez, whose playing time was cut toward the end of last season. “I didn’t feel that my relationship with (Fuller) was about basketball. It started to get personal for some reason. I’ve only got one year of eligibility left, but I can’t handle another year (at Pepperdine).”

Fuller, in Seattle for the Final Four, said he would contemplate the players’ criticism.

“I always look at myself,” Fuller said. “I can always blame myself. I always try to improve. You never like a situation like this. You have to understand it and move on. I wish them well.”

Pepperdine has six available scholarships.