April 5, 2000 9:21 PM Sportsticker

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Loyola Marymount today named Eastern Washington's Steve Aggers its new men's basketball coach.

Aggers was 71-82 in five seasons at Eastern Washington, his first Division I head coaching experience. However, after winning only 10 games in his first two seasons at the school, he guided the Eagles to a 16-11 record and a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference in 1997-98.

After slipping to 10-17 in 1998-99, Eastern Washington rebounded this season to go 15-12 for only its second winning campaign in 10 years. The Eagles captured a share of the Big Sky regular-season championship.

"Steve has a fantastic record of building and rebuilding programs," Loyola Marymount athletic director William Husak said. "He has been successful on every level of the coaching profession, but more important his emphasis on academics is very impressive. He also has a very strong and reputable track record in the recruiting arena, which is very important to our program."

Aggers will face another major rebuilding project at once-proud Loyola Marymount, which won only two of 28 games this season, prompting former coach Charles Bradley to resign at the end of the year.

"My staff and I are looking toward a very bright and dynamic future," Aggers said. "One of the reasons I accepted this job was the location of the institution, its proud past with a rich athletic tradition, strong academic reputation and the outstanding recruiting base it provides. Our goals and objectives are not to just be competitive, but to build a championship program."

In the late 1980s, the Lions posted three straight 20-win campaigns under Paul Westhead but have endured eight straight losing seasons. Loyola Marymount was only 20-59 in Bradley's three years at the school.

Aggers is familiar with the West Coast Conference, having served as an assistant at Pepperdine from 1990-94, during which time the Waves made three trips to the NCAA Tournament.

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