Cal Poly Hall of Famer considering Mission Prep

Mission Prep boys basketball nearly has the man of its dreams. But it's costing the Royals precious time.

Sean Chambers seems like the perfect choice to replace former Royals coach Tom Mott, who led the team to three straight Southern California regional finals but resigned in May amidst a recruiting scandal.

Chambers is in the Cal Poly Athletic Hall of Fame. He's Mustangs basketball's first All-American. He played professionally for 14 years overseas. He has credentials that would make any athletic director swoon. And he's excited about the job.

“(Mission Prep has) got a good nucleus of kids coming back,” he said Wednesday. “I think they can win the state from what I’ve seen. They could be a state contender.”

Even Chambers' wife, Marina, is pumped about the possible move, but in the end (an announcement could come by the end of the week), the pair could decide that it's not the right time to relocate from the stable life they've built in Chambers' home town near Sacramento.

The worst part about that is it would leave a bunch of kids — which has already been stripped of two section titles and had its coach shockingly resign the week of prom — directionless with less than two months before the start of what could be a tumultuous season.

But to be fair, it doesn't seem the Chamberses are trying to hang the kids out to dry. Chambers said Marina has had two job interviews in San Luis Obispo since he applied for the Mission Prep coaching job. And he's even explored at least partially relocating his athletic jersey manufacturing outfit to the Central Coast.

Chambers is trying to make it happen. But it still might not. And it's not all his fault. First-year Mission Prep athletic director Brady Lock wasn't brought on until July, and when principal Rev. Charles Tilley resigned abruptly in August, Chambers said it only stalled the hiring process.

If Chambers comes on, it looks like a great hire. But if he doesn't, you can't blame him.

Or can you? Tribune readers left page after page of finger-pointing messages on sanluisobispo.com on the Mission Prep scandal, blaming whomever they felt like. Tell me what you think about this new development.