May 10, 2001

By Scott Bell
The Daily Herald

PROVO, Utah - Needing to fill one coaching position, Steve Cleveland decided to go ahead and overhaul half his staff.

The BYU basketball coach announced Wednesday the hiring of former Cougar player Andy Toolson and Pine View High coach John Wardenburg as assistant coaches.Also, administrative assistant Brian Santiago will become an assistant athletic director, and assistant Nate Call will fill Jeff Judkins' old role as director of basketball operations.

"In this business, the more success you have, the more changes there are going to be," Cleveland said. "People get opportunities."

After four years of stability, the first shuffle of the Cleveland era was triggered when Heath Schroyer accepted an assistant's position at Wyoming. With Call desiring more time to work toward an MBA, Cleveland began the search for two assistants.

Judkins was one of the candidates Cleveland talked to initially. In fact, Cleveland said Judkins "probably would have been involved with our program" had he not taken the job as women's basketball coach. Judkins replaced Trent Shippen, who accepted an assistant's job with the women's program after meetings with BYU athletic officials last month.

Cleveland has known Wardenburg since they were both high school coaches more than 10 years ago. Wardenburg was an assistant to Dave Rose, BYU's associate head coach, at Dixie College for four years.

"I want guys who will help me win games," Cleveland said. "John is the kind of guy who will watch film at 2 a.m. He has no agenda other than to win. The fact that he hasn't coached at this level doesn't bother me at all. None of us had any experience at this level when we came here."

Wardenburg, 42, took Pine View, a St. George school, to this year's Class 3A state title in his second year with the team. Prior to coaching at Pine View, he was the athletic director at Dixie for two years.

"This is a great opportunity and truly a dream come true to be able to come back to my alma mater and coach," Wardenburg said. "I'm grateful to Steve and the administration for allowing me this opportunity. I believe I bring knowledge, enthusiasm and a great work ethic, and I look forward to helping Steve's program achieve further success."