Roots are more than just hoops
The Maloofs are only one reason John Whisenant loves Albuquerque
By Melody Gutierrez -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, May 17, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE,N.M. - From the tinted window of John Whisenant's black Hummer, a clear picture of his life, work and relationship with the Maloof family can be found on the streets of Albuquerque.
Brush the dust off this high-desert town, and you can trace his basketball connections back three decades.
In his fourth season as the Monarchs' coach and third as general manager, Whisenant, 60, has cultivated roots in Sacramento, but Albuquerque remains home.
It was here that he developed his relationship with George Maloof Sr. and his family.
After leading the Monarchs to their first WNBA championship last season, and with his long-standing ties to the Maloofs, Whisenant has become an inside favorite to fill the Kings' head-coaching vacancy.
"I recognize that I'm one of the people mentioned, which I take as a compliment," said Whisenant, who has a 55-29 (.655) regular-season record with the Monarchs.
"But I have a job I really like. I don't have much time to think about it. I know Gavin and Joe and the Maloof family better than anyone in this area, and they will make a logical, well-thought-out choice for who is best for the organization."
It's an understatement to say Whisenant knows the Maloof family. The Maloofs operate in Las Vegas and Sacramento these days, but New Mexico is their home, the springboard that launched the family's beer distributorship and grew the family business into liquor, banking, hotels, gambling and basketball.
"First and foremost, when he gives his word, he gives his word," Joe Maloof said. "That's all there is to it. He's a man of integrity."
And that's why Whisenant is quick to quell rumors that he's interested in the Kings' coaching position. His loyalty at the moment is to the Monarchs.
Plus, he's a little busy.
On Saturday, Whisenant and the Monarchs completed their three-game preseason schedule in New York with a 76-64 victory against the Liberty.
Tuesday, Whisenant and the Monarchs were in Washington to meet President Bush at the White House, an honor for winning the WNBA title.
While his son will be getting married in Houston on Saturday, Whisenant will be at Arco Arena as he and the Monarchs accept their championship rings before the nationally televised regular-season opener against Phoenix at 1 p.m.
He called it a "sad reality" that his coaching obligations sometimes clash with his family priorities. "My whole family is quite disappointed," Whisenant said.
"It's the reason I got out of coaching in the first place."
He describes his relationship with coaching as turmoil. He got his start after his collegiate basketball career at New Mexico State ended in 1966.
Then came stints as an assistant at Coffeyville Junior College in Kansas and four seasons as head coach at Arizona Western in Yuma, before he returned to the roadrunner state for a job with the University of New Mexico.
He took a five-year hiatus in the early 1990s to just be dad. However, his kids never stopped calling him coach.
He became his son's club basketball coach, leading the team of 15-year-olds to a 176-16 record and a National Congress International national championship in 1995.
"I've had a love-hate relationship with coaching," he said. "I get nervous and can't sleep. I sometimes drive myself nuts."
But coaching is what defines him. He came to Sacramento in early 2003 by request of the Maloof family to be the Monarchs' general manager in-training behind Jerry Reynolds. Within months, Joe and Gavin Maloof fired coach Maura McHugh at midseason after the Monarchs fell to 7-11 and replaced her with Whisenant.
"He's a quick learner," Joe Maloof said. "He knows basketball, and he has won at every level." In fact, Whisenant has yet to have a losing season as a coach, from his days at Coffeyville and Arizona Western.
Then there were his glory days as an assistant to Norm Ellenberger at New Mexico, where the team finished 137-62 in seven seasons. Whisenant still is a Lobos season- ticket holder.
"I know it's inevitable," Whisenant said of eventually having a losing season. "You don't always win - even though I haven't experienced that."
The downside to his passion for coaching is his contradictory personality. Part of him appears laid-back, engaging and charismatic - words used by his players to describe him.
But there's the other side. The part of him that obsesses, that picks apart plays, that demands perfection.
"He had a cocky swagger when he first got here," said Monarchs center Yolanda Griffith, who has played for three coaches since joining the team in 1999. "We didn't get along. I have a lot of respect for him now. It took a long time."
Whisenant also has been known to put coaching ahead of his health.
During the 2004 playoffs, Whisenant was spitting up blood on the sideline, and despite undergoing tests for what he thought to be cancer, he continued to coach.
"It scared me," he said. "Spitting up blood, that can make you nervous."
He later was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, a fungal disease that primarily affects the lungs. The condition can worsen when one is stressed.
"I've had no problems since, but there is no treatment," Whisenant said.
The condition is more commonly found in people from a select number of states, including portions of Oklahoma, where Whisenant grew up.
A former basketball and baseball standout, Whisenant said his roots go back to an "itsy-bitsy" town called Gore in eastern Oklahoma, where people knew him as "Johnny Boy."
His grandfather was a school superintendent and Methodist preacher. His grandmother's family owned several of the town's businesses.
"I grew up the prince of Gore," said Whisenant, who also roped calves in the rodeo.
His dad was a coach and principal. His parents, who are in their mid-80s, still live in Gore.
Whisenant was the first from Sequoyah County to get a Division I scholarship, which landed him at New Mexico State in Las Cruces.
"I was just a sports junkie," he said. "I always have been."
He shares that addiction with the Maloofs. From inside Whisenant's Hummer, he can point out where he first met George Maloof Sr., who was a booster club member at the University of New Mexico when Whisenant was an assistant coach there.
On the left is where the Four Seasons Hotel stood in 1977. It's the place Whisenant introduced George Maloof Sr. to two New York lawyers who in essence brokered a deal for Maloof to buy the Houston Rockets. The family sold the Rockets shortly after George Maloof Sr. died in 1980.
Just off Louisiana Boulevard is Ned's, a bar and grill that since has had a name change or two but remains the place Joe and Gavin Maloof first informed Whisenant of their interest in buying an NBA team.
This is home.
"I came here, and it grew on me," Whisenant said. "I like the bright, clear skies." And he takes in the dry air every offseason, when he changes his occupation hat.
His business card reads "Whiz Realty, Inc., Whiz-Davis Homes, Whizway Farms," representing his interests in commercial real estate, home construction and horse racing.
He runs the businesses out of Albuquerque, using his secretary to keep him on top of everything. She pays the bills at his homes in Albuquerque, where he lives in the offseason, and Sacramento.
He arrived in Albuquerque in 1973, bought land and over time built about 400 homes. Today, New Mexico's largest city is considered the No. 1 spot for businesses and careers when it comes to the cost of doing business, income growth, cost of living and other factors, according to Forbes magazine.
Whisenant has so many interests, he couldn't remember what the placard on the door to his Albuquerque office said. On the inside of the building - which he owns, and which also houses a Bank of America - is his office.
On the wall behind his desk are pictures of his five children, three from his first marriage and two from his current wife, Joyce. Ona file cabinet are stacks of photos of racehorses he owns.
Whisenant is one of the top breeders in New Mexico.
On the floor, yet to be hung, is a large black and white photo from his days as a 27-year-old assistant coach for New Mexico, which shows off a full head of brown hair and a youthful eagerness.
"He was an outstanding fundamental coach, especially at defense," said Jim Hulsman, a friend who was considered a legendary high school coach in Albuquerque before retiring. "The things he taught are things we still teach."
Hulsman, the National High School Coach of the Year in 2002, said he was excited to hear Whisenant would be in Albuquerque for a preseason game against Connecticut on May 9. He stopped by the Pit to say hello during shootaround.
"Anybody who has the chance to meet him, it's such an experience because of his effervescent personality," said Hulsman, who is now a professor of basketball theory at New Mexico.
Whisenant's theories on basketball weren't always well-received, Griffith said.
"(I thought) that he was crazy as hell with that defense he brought," Griffith said. "It's a totally different ballgame. It's tougher. It makes you aware of everything on the court."
Monarchs point guard Ticha Penicheiro said she could describe Whisenant in two words: "Defensive specialist."
For Joe Maloof, there's a simple reason to like Whisenant.
"He works really hard. And we appreciate that," Maloof said. "And the results with the Monarchs speak for themselves."
