WALLA WALLA, Wash. - James S. "Jim" Mastin, a charismatic and widely respected coach who led the Whitman College men's basketball team to a trio of championships in the 1980s, died Sunday in Seattle at the age of 73.
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Mastin suffered a dissected aorta on Thursday, Jan. 6, at his home in Mount Vernon, Wash., and a stroke on Friday. Surrounded by family and former players, he died Sunday night at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.
A memorial service for Mastin is planned for Saturday, Jan. 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Reid Campus Center on the Whitman campus.
Mastin, who played collegiately at the University of San Francisco with future NBA stars Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, came to Whitman in the fall of 1979, armed with an engaging personality, sharp wit and 11 seasons of coaching experience in California's high school and junior college ranks. Mastin sparked the Missionaries to a Northwest Conference title in just his second season at the coaching helm.
During the 1985-86 academic year, Mastin guided the Missionaries to a school-record 21-8 season and an NAIA District I regular season championship. Mastin's son, Dave Mastin, now a Walla Walla attorney and former five-term Washington state legislator, was a key player on that team, which defeated Pacific Lutheran in the first round of the district playoffs. The Missionaries then lost a best-of-three series to Central Washington Wildcats, who advanced to the NAIA national championship tournament.
The Mastins, father and son, enjoyed another banner year during the 1986-87 season, when the Missionaries finished in a three-way tie for the NWC championship. Under Mastin's leadership, Whitman again qualified for the NAIA playoffs at the end of the 1988-89 season, advancing to the second round.
Mastin earned NWC coach-of-the-year honors three times in his 15 seasons at Whitman. He was twice named Northwest Small College Coach of the Year, and he earned top coaching honors in NAIA District I on one other occasion.
In the spring of 1994, Mastin retired from his role as men's basketball coach and associate professor of physical education. As he retired, Mastin said his coaching philosophy was based on the concept that "athletics are no different than any other academic subject. The same innate ingredient that makes a student achieve academically -- self-respect -- can be cultivated so that an athlete can compete with those who have more size, speed, ability and talent."
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Mastin said he encouraged his players to give maximum effort at all times on the basketball floor, regardless of the fatigue or pressure situations that come with any basketball game or practice. "When you can walk off the floor every time and still respect yourself for what you've done, when you've developed your self-respect to that point, the winning will take care of itself."
Other coaches in the NWC noted Mastin's retirement with praise for his coaching abilities. Bob Gaillard, who still coaches at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., and who first met Mastin four decades ago in California, said Mastin epitomized "what the coaching profession is all about. As much as any other coach, he instilled in his players the work ethic it takes to be successful both on and off the court."
"You always knew that if you didn't bring your best to the floor, his teams would outwork you," Gaillard added. "Nobody's team worked harder than his. That was his trademark."
Gordy James, the veteran coach at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., said Mastin had a "unique ability to get his players to play exceptionally hard, and to play within his system, to believe in it and execute it on the floor. That was the thing that always made Whitman so tough -- they always played as a team, and that's the bottom line."
Mastin's style of play, known simply as "The System," gave the highest priority to the basics of rebounding missed shots. As any shot was launched toward the hoop, his players looked not for the rebound but for an opposing player to block or screen away from the basket. If all five Whitman players had themselves placed between an opponent and the hoop, they would automatically lay claim to the rebound.
When executed properly, Mastin's system generated multiple shots (if needed) for his team during a single possession, but conversely limited the opposing team to no more than one shot for each of its possessions.
Every basketball coach tells his players to take the same basic approach to rebounding, Mastin was fond of saying, adding as a kicker that the "big difference is that mine do it."
Mastin and his coaching style were featured in December 1989 in an article in the Wall Street Journal. In that article, Mastin said that when his players missed shots on offense, his hope was for "air balls," the term given to shot attempts that fail to hit the backboard or the hoop. "If we have the basket surrounded (for rebounding), as we should, an air ball is like a pass for us," a smiling Mastin told the Wall Street Journal reporter.
As often happened, the reporter also compared Mastin's physical appearance and baritone-voice to motion picture actor Lee Marvin.
In addition to basketball, Mastin coached the men’s golf team at Whitman for 18 seasons, continuing through the spring of 1997. His teams won three conference golf titles, and Mastin was three times named Coach of the Year.
Following his Whitman retirement, Mastin took part in basketball coaching clinics throughout the U.S. and a number of countries around the world, including China, Germany and Belgium.
Mastin, who was born in Hammon, Okla., and graduated from high school in Salinas, Calif., finished his bachelor's degree in physical education at San Jose State University. His career before Whitman included a three-year stint in the U.S. Army's fabled 82nd Airborne Division and 11 seasons of coaching in California at Gavilan College and Mendocino and Atascadero high schools. He also coached one season of professional ball in Puerto Rico.
Mastin is survived by his wife, Barbara, in Mount Vernon; a sister, Ann Amati of Salinas; sons Randy and Dave; daughters Rochelle, Christina, Cynthia and Jessica; a stepson, Art Larvie; and eight grandchildren.
Jim Mastin is the subject of Walla Walla Union-Bulletin sports editor Jim Buchan's Jan. 12 column. To read that column, please click here.
Dave Holden, Whitman Sports Information,
(509) 527-5902; holden@whitman.edu