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Richard Stevens: Lobos love, venue keep T-Birds' attendance down
The Ruland File
Who: Jeff Ruland, 48
What: Albuquerque Thunderbirds head coach
NBA career: Eight seasons averaging 17.4 points, 10.2 rebounds. All-Star in 1984, 1985.
College: All-American at Iona College, 1978-80
Recently: Head coach at Iona for past nine years. Took Gaels to three 20-win seasons and three MAAC titles. Fired after 2-28 in 2006-07 season.
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No offense to Jeff Ruland, but the turnstiles at Tingley Coliseum won't be spinning out of control now that he is the head coach of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds.
No offense to Lobos and L.A. Lakers basketball legend Michael Cooper, but the Tingley gates won't be growing cobwebs now that he has jumped ship to coach for the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
The T-Birds' attendance woes have little to do with who is or isn't coaching the Birds.
Actually, Ruland might be a good change. Cooper obviously was in Albuquerque biding his time until he could jump to a bigger ship.
The WNBA is bigger. Los Angeles is bigger.
Ruland has a reputation as an outgoing, gregarious personality and probably will approach the Albuquerque community with genuine excitement for his product.
But the product the T-Birds throw onto the court probably isn't the answer to stimulating fans for this NBA D-league franchise.
The T-Birds offered the best basketball in Albuquerque last year, especially considering the ho-hum product produced in The Pit by ex-Lobos coach Ritchie McKay.
The talent in the NBA D-League is good. The game leans heavily to run-and-gun, jack-it-up ball, but Coop's T-Birds actually played some defense and ran a few plays.
The rap against the T-Birds - and probably much of the problem - is that Albuquerque is the land of the Lobos and Steve Alford's men and Don Flanagan's women are the main attraction.
Steve Alford, McKay's replacement, should produce a rise in Pit attendance which can't be good news for the T-Birds.
But even if you don't think the T-Birds' problem is all this love for Lobos, you can't ignore the main sore spot - Tingley.
It's still not a favorite destination for sports fans and probably won't ever be - unless you want to see steer roping or bull riding.
The T-Birds need a new venue. They need an uptown or downtown arena as much as Albuquerque needs one.
The current leadership in Albuquerque doesn't give much promise that the big gym will become reality.
So, the T-Birds need to take some small steps to generate interest in their game.
Here's a suggestion: Give ex-Lobo Mark Walters a tryout. If the former Highland High star makes the team, he just might turn a few more turnstiles.
Probably just as many as Coop's name turned.
