Monitor 2014-10-16

OHLONE COLLEGE

MONITOR

THURSDAY OCTOBER 16, 2014 Vol. XLVIII No. 5 What’s the fastest way to get to Ohlone?

Find out on Page 4.

MEDIA

FREMONT, CA OHLONEMONITOR.COM

MIDDLE EAST

Imam to address Islamic extremism ALIZAIB LODHI Online editor In response to the violent acts committed by ISIS and others in the name of Islam, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has organized a multimedia presentation about the religion’s teachings on Sunday at Ohlone College.

“The event is to educate the public in response to whatever that is happening in the Middle East, from what is wrong and what is right,” said Idrees Munir, a member of the local chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

The keynote speaker will be Imam Azhar Haneef, the national vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He also serves as the regional imam for the Central East Region, which includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Continued on Page 3

ELECTION

Voice actor shares insights with students

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

Above: Gary Williams speaks to Ohlone students in Professor Bill Parks’ mass media class about his career as a voice actor. Below: Willaims explains that he is still receiving residual pay from his part as a voice actor in a single Christmas episode of “Married With Children.”

ALBERT REBOSURA Sports editor “Touchdown Raiders!” or “Coming up tonight on eyewitness news at five” are a few recognizable phrases in the Bay Area that came from the voice of Gary Williams, who spoke at Bill Parks’ mass media class on Friday.

The Fremont native’s voice has been everywhere – stadiums, television, radio, video games, corporate recordings and instructional videos.

Williams didn’t always want to be a voice actor.

He initially aspired to be in radio after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles. He worked on radio as a news writer and director, on Continued on Page 7

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

Board candidates speak at forum RYAN PARCHER Editor-in-chief Two of the three candidates for the Ohlone College Board of Trustees debated the planned development of the college’s frontage property, Measure G bond expenditures and other topics during a forum Wednesday afternoon hosted by the Faculty Senate.

Retired business executive Joseph Lonsdale is challenging incumbents Garrett Yee and Jan Giovannini-Hill in November for one of the two seats on the board allotted for Area 2, representing Fremont and Union City east of Interstate 880.

Yee, who is currently on a leave of absence Continued on Page 3

SCIENCE

Solar eclipse will be visible from Fremont

RYAN PARCHER Editor-in-chief It was easy to miss the total lunar eclipse last week, as the total eclipse did not occur until 3:21 a.m. Oct. 8. According to the Ohlone Astrophysics club, however, you still have an opportunity to see another one of the coolest and closest cosmic phenomena.

A partial solar eclipse will be visible from the Fremont/ Newark area beginning about 2 p.m., and reaching its maximum eclipse about 3:15 p.m. The moon will blot out a little more than 50 per-

cent of the sun at the point of maximum eclipse.

Alyssa Proudfoot, president of the club, said it is hosting a free viewing party at both campuses. Students and members of the public are invited to come to the Fremont campus quad or the Newark campus courtyard to learn about the eclipse. The tables will be set up from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The astrophysics club will provide solar glasses and professional telescopes with solar filters, allowing attendees to directly observe the eclipse, Proudfoot said.

Continued on Page 3

COURTESY OF NASA/SDO

This photo shows a partial solar eclipse, in which the moon blocks a portion of the sun.

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NEWS

MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

NEWS BITES Golf tournament raises $80,000

NEWARK COMMUNICATION LAB OPENS

The 30th annual Ohlone College Golf Tournament last month raised a record $80,000, nearly $30,000 more than last year.

About $50,000 will help support Ohlone College athletes of the 2014-2015 Season, as well as growing the Ohlone College Athletics Endowment.

Another $30,000 will be disbursed to other college programs.

Softball team captain Alyssa Raguini was honored as Female Athlete of the Year, and men’s basketball player Josh Egan was selected as Male Athlete of the Year. Both received $500.

Left: Kay Harrison cuts a ceremonial red ribbon at the opening of the Newark Communication Lab on Tuesday. Above: Signs welcome people to the Newark Communications Lab, which staff hope to have named after Harrison, a longtime Speech and Communication Studies faculty member. Below: Students and coworkers pose with Harrison for a picture with a cake celebrating the opening of the communication lab.

Voice and piano teacher honored Janet Holmes, an adjunct professor in voice and piano, has been named Ohlone College’s Faculty Person of the Month for October.

Holmes, who has a bachelor’s degree from USC and a master’s degree from Mills College, has sung throughout the area in recitals and as a soprano soloist with several regional orchestras.

Holmes has recorded with Hal Leonard Music Publishers, the Australian Broadcasting Company and KUSC in Los Angeles.

She has a vocal studio in San Ramon and is the organist for First Presbyterian Church in Livermore.

Space Shuttle talk planned Ohlone College instructor Eric Wegryn will speak about the NASA Space Shuttle on Friday on the Fremont campus.

Wegryn’s speech, “NASA’s Space Shuttle – Best Spacecraft Ever,” will be from noon to 1 p.m. in Room 3201.

As an aerospace engineer, Wegryn helped NASA launch the Space Shuttles. As an astronomer, he helped explore Mars and Saturn. He has written several books, including “Round the World in 32 Days,” “Eclipse Journey” and “Just Twelve Men.” Wegryn teaches astronomy, physics and engineering at Ohlone, and is faculty adviser for the Ohlone Astrophysics Club.

– Compiled by Monitor staff

O’Donnell elected student member of Board of Trustees MONITOR STAFF Ohlone students last week elected Daniel O’Donnell as the student member of the college’s Board of Trustees.

O’Donnell garnered 169 of the 394 votes cast. Alex Elabed finished second with 126 votes, followed

by Aditya Nekkanti with 91.

The election took place

Wednesday and Thursday.

Students in the Spring Semester had elected all but one of the Associated Students of Ohlone College representatives for this school year. The student member of the board of trustees had several write-in candidates in those elections, but none received the 50 required votes to obtain the position.

Career fair coming to Newark campus MONITOR STAFF The Ohlone College and Tri Cities One Stop Career Center Annual Fall Career Fair will be held next week on the Newark campus.

Employers from industries including manufacturing, information technology, biotech, retail, health care and logistics will be looking for parttime and full-time workers

at the event, which will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 24 The career fair allows students to network, explore career options and learn about job opportunities.

Organizers said students should wear businesscasual clothes and bring plenty of resumes.

The career fair is free. For a list of employers, go to www.tricitiesonestop.com.

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NEWS

OHLONE COLLEGE

MONITOR STAFF: Editor-in-Chief: Ryan Parcher Features editor: Mitchell Walther Sports editor: Albert Rebosura Online editor: Alizaib Lodhi Staff writer: Abigail Moneda Graphic designers: Emily Burkhardt Payal Gupta Photographer: Laura Gonsalves Adviser: Rob Dennis Printer: FP Press

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Online: 2005, 2013 CONTACT US: Offices: Room 5310 Call: 510.659.6075 E-mail: monitor@ohlone. edu Website: www.ohlonemonitor.com Facebook: www.facebook. com/OhloneCollegeMonitor Twitter: @OhloneMonitor Opinions expressed in the Monitor are those of the respective authors and are not necessarily those of the staff, the college or the Associated Students of Ohlone College.

MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

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Ohlone frontage development motivates new candidate for board Continued from Page 1 from the board while he serves as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve in Kuwait, was not able to attend the forum. He sent a statement, which was read to the attendees by Faculty Senate President Jeff Roberts.

Yee said in his statement that he first ran for the board in 2002 because of the college’s transparency issues at the time. He touted increased transparency since his election and his efforts to help pass two bond measures to create the Newark campus and upgrade the Fremont campus as evidence of his success as a board member. He said he wants to continue serving on the board to ensure Ohlone’s high quality.

In her opening statement, Giovannini-Hill said her 47 years of experience

working in higher education and work as a financial analyst make her the right person for the job. She said she plans to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency on the board.

Lonsdale spoke of his Harvard education and experience coaching a chess club in his opening speech, but really distinguished himself from the other candidates with his purpose for running.

“The only reason I am here is because of the plan to put 314 apartments on Mission (Boulevard),” he said, adding that he is concerned about possible overcrowding at area schools and increased traffic in the community resulting from the planned development of Ohlone’s frontage property.

Lonsdale said he attend-

ed a board meeting about the issue and “no one on the board gave a hoot about the community.”

The plan to develop the frontage property came up in Lonsdale’s responses to most of the questions posed during the forum.

At one point, Giovanninni-Hill responded by saying she did support the frontage development plan, pointing out that the $600,000 of stable income from the development would be valuable to the school.

Yee was not there to chime in, but he and GiovanniniHill both voted in favor of the plan when it was placed before the board in April.

The differences in how the candidates perceived this issue was reflected in how they answered a question about what the role of a trustee actually is.

Giovannini-Hill said she liked to sum up the role of a trustee with the phrase, “The board is not here to run the college, but to make sure the college runs well.”

In contrast, Lonsdale said a trustee’s role “is to stop the school from doing things that are not in the interest of the community.”

Lonsdale also criticized the current board’s spending of Measure G bond money.

“It’s shocking,” he said.

“Those buildings could be retrofitted for less than it costs to take them down, let alone rebuild them.”

Giovannini-Hill had a more positive impression of the current direction of Ohlone’s strategic plan, however.

“The school should just keep doing what it’s doing,” she said.

Imam tackles distrust

Club plans eclipse party

Continued from Page 1 “In the last few years there has been a great deal of negative sentiment and distrust that has risen against Islam,” Munir said. “Much of this negativity is the result of horrific acts of violence committed by some who incorrectly justify their actions through distorted interpretations of Islamic values and teachings.”

The multimedia presentation will be at 3:30 p.m. at the Smith Center on the Fremont campus.

Continued from Page 1 “It’s really cool,” Proudfoot said. “Most people don’t get the opportunity to see an eclipse because you can’t look directly at the sun, but with the filters you will be able to see the moon directly in front of the sun.”

The astrophysics club also will be selling “solarsized” pizza slices for $1 each in order to help raise funds for the newly revived club.

PAYAL GUPTA / MONITOR

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MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

FEATURES

EMILY BURKHARDT / MONITOR

Band performances coming next month Smith Center concerts will feature variety of composers MITCHELL WALTHER Features editor Music will be flooding the hills of Ohlone College next month. The fall term of concerts kicks off Nov. 2 with “Dance, Joy and Diversity,” in which the Wind Orchestra will offer a feature-filled night of masterpieces.

Compositions by Philip Sparke, EricWhitacare, Ralph Vaughn Williams and many more will fill the afternoon air. The performance begins at 2 p.m. at the Smith Center on the Fremont campus.

Admission is $15, or $10 for seniors, students and staff.

The Ohlone Community Band hits the stage next with a show at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in the Smith Center.

The concert, which will include music from British composer Ralph Vaughn

Williams and Canadian composer Michael Kamen, shapes up to be a fun Wednesday night. Tickets are $10 or $5 for seniors, students and staff.

The final show belongs

to the Mission Peak Brass Band, which will perform at 8 p.m.

Nov. 7 in the Smith Center. Music from “The Lion King” as well as “Summon the Heroes” by John Williams will be featured.

Gary Crandall will be one of the featured soloists, as he picks up his tenor horn and plays “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

John Monroe and Brian Taylor also will perform the operatic duet “Deep Inside the Sacred Temple.” Tickets for this last concert will cost $15, or $10 for seniors, students and staff.

For more information, go to www.smithcenter.com.

COURTESY OF LISA-MARIE MAZZUCCO

Neiman to perform Rachmaninoff at Ohlone MONITOR STAFF Pianist Adam Neiman will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff’s complete “Études-Tableaux” on Saturday night at the Smith Center on the Fremont campus.

Neiman has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Belgrade, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Slovenia, Umbria and Utah, as well as with the New York

Chamber Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. He has played in most major North American cities and toured internationally in Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Tickets cost $20 for adults, $15 for students and staff, and $12 for children younger than 12. Parking costs $2.

To buy tickets, go to www. ohlone.edu/org/smithcenter/box.html or call the box office at 510-659-6031.

FEATURES

MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

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Artist finds inspiration through mother Exhibition in Louie-Meager Art Gallery through Nov. 6 ABIGAIL MONEDA Staff writer For Victoria Wagner, art is about taking personal imperfections and translating them to tell the artist’s story.

In Wagner’s new exhibition at Ohlone, “Interference at the Edge of the By and By,” she tries to promote faith in all that we do.Wagner, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Humboldt State University, realized during her early years there that she found her motivation through her mother.

“Each painting shows my perspective of my mother and growing up around her mental illness,” Wagner said Oct. 6 during a reception at the Louie-Meager Art Gallery in the Smith Center at the Fremont campus.

Wagner used the color, translations and schemes to symbolize hope and keeping faith. She wanted her viewers to “feel a certain vibration within her work” as if they were stepping into her life.

“It wasn’t about proving anything to anyone,” she said. “It was about doing it just to do it.”

One of Wagner’s paintings, “Apple,” tells the story

of her relationship with her mother and how it all began.

When her mother was eight and half months pregnant with her, she spontaneously decided to pick apples in the hot sun. During this adventure, her mother went into labor.

Wagner paints over apple wood in her piece to connect with that day with her mother. She carefully experiments with warm colors while still exposing the wood’s natural beauty, leaving the natural parts of the wood to hold together its integrity. She also uses all the imperfections of the wood to reveal the artwork’s difficulty.

Wagner, who also has a master’s degree in fine arts from Mills College, has taught at the California College of the Arts for 13 years. She said she had to go through many obstacles to get where she is today.

Her first painting was inspired by a dream she had of hundreds of chairs stacked on top of one another. The next day, she decided to paint a piece that she described as “a woman kneeling on the floor with all this horrific shit everywhere.”

“I think it is inspiring, after hearing about Victoria’s work and how beautiful the colors are,” said student Ellen Edgar, who attended the reception.

Ohlone art teacher Kenney Mencher, in an essay in the

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

Above: Artist Victoria Wagner talks Oct. 6 about her new exhibition during a reception at the Louie-Meager Art Gallery in the Smith Center at the Fremont campus. Wagner’s exhibition, “Interference at the Edge of the By and By,” will be on display through Nov. 6.

Right: Ohlone art teacher Kenney Mencher takes a photo of one of Wagner’s paintings.

pamphlet for Wagner’s exhibition, said he was touched by her work.

“I think her work is intri-

cate, and she uses colors to create a universal feeling,” he wrote.

Wagner’s exhibition will

be on display through Nov. 6. The gallery is open from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

GATHERING OF THE OHLONE AT COYOTE HILLS

LESLEY CAILLIER / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Above: Ohlone Indians from multiple tribes gather to share their music, songs, dances, stories, culture and history Oct. 5 at the 21st Gathering of the Ohlones at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. Top-left: Student volunteers from the Ohlone College anthropology club and classes taught children and other members of the public a traditional Native American game called hoopand-pole. Bottom-left: Shamil Patel, an Ohlone anthropology student, helps members of the public learn how Ohlones made jewelry from abalone shells by drilling holes in shell fragments with a hand-powered drill.

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MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

Letter: Keep Super Flea Market open

The administration at Ohlone is planning to close the 28-year Ohlone Super Flea Market; a letter has gone out to vendors announcing this. The reason?

There is so much construction going on that there are no parking lots available to house the heavy equipment and they must use all of the parking lots. In years past, through all the construction jobs, once a month the machinery was moved and the flea market went on.

This does not seem to be an option for them. I suggested we move the market to the Newark campus and was told there is construction going on there as well.

The flea market started 28 years ago for many reasons; it let the public know about the school behind those trees on Mission Boulevard – a great school. It was successful doing that. It provided hundreds of student jobs, especially for foreign students who cannot work off campus. It also gave senior citizens a place to make extra money to supplement their income. The flea market has operated through two economic busts, when hundreds of people came to make some money to avoid losing their homes, businesses and futures. I personally talked to many parents raising money at the flea market, who had welcomed their married children and grandchildren into their homes because of lost jobs and houses.

The Ohlone College Super

OPINIONS

Flea Market, an event on the second Saturday of every month for 28 years, and the construction company can’t push the heavy equipment back to the curb in two lots just one Saturday every month?

I retired from full-time employment at Ohlone about eight years ago, but was asked to continue to run the flea market – and I have. I did this because I felt this was an important part of the college. I also loved the students who worked for me; many became exceptional at their jobs and have since become professional people. Some continue their education at other schools but come back to work part-time at the flea market. Student programs have been advertised at the flea market, school clubs have booths at the flea market and, one year, registrations were done at the flea market.

Vendors become lifelong friends and people have even met their future wives at the flea market. Case in point: A vendor selling extraordinary jewelry was taking care of a customer, and they soon began dating and then married. Lots of stories like that. These are personal bonds of friendship due to the Ohlone College Super Flea Market over the past 28 years.

Let the college and Board of Trustees know that the Ohlone College Super Flea Market should continue.

Elaine Nagel

CAMPUS COMMENT

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

A couple carries an exhausted dog down the Mission Peak trail. Increased use of the park has caused problems for park police who respond to 911 calls. Last year, five dogs died of exhaustion on the trail.

New park hours stir controversy ALIZAIB LODHI Online editor Mission Peak Regional Park has cut its hours due to noise, litter and other problems.

The entrance used to be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Now the hours are 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The tighter curfew has caused more controversy than it’s resolved. The hordes of people are still coming – up to 3,000 people on some days. And some hikers are angry at the new hours.

I think setting a curfew is not the best way to tackle the problems that Mission Peak is having. A curfew is not going to solve littering or graffiti. Noise will still be there, and parking will remain a mess during the day.

What park district officials need to do is have a couple

of security guards at night patrolling the neighborhood, looking for the hooligans who are urinating in people’s yards, blocking people’s driveways, or doing something else they are not supposed to be doing.

Park police already have issued 475 curfew tickets at the park entrance from midJuly to mid-August, according to a story by Bay Area News Group. The penalty is at least $300 per ticket.

Then there’s the problem of hikers who experience difficulties and call 911 about 20 times a month, dragging park police and firefighters away from other duties.

Last year, five dogs died of sunstroke and exhaustion at Mission Peak.

The Stanford Avenue entrance with 42 parking spaces was only lightly used until a few years ago, when suddenly it got busy and

then swamped because of people taking selfies at the summit.

Park district officials are looking at options to build a much larger parking lot farther up the hill, or to limit visitors at the Stanford Avenue entrance through some form of permit and fee system.

But even if the parking fee is $4 and hikers don’t want to pay that, we might be looking at the same problem again if people park on other neighborhood streets or use the other park entrance here at Ohlone, where a $2 fee is charged.

Still, there are other options for park-goers if things get too crazy. As Mark Ragatz, the park district’s interim chief of operations, told Bay Area News Group: “We have 65 regional parks, and they are good outdoor places to go, too.”

What is the scariest thing in the world right now?

NICHOLAS GRAHAM Undecided

“Living in a society that just doesn’t care. When no one cares things tend to get worse” GINA BRUNELLI Undecided

“Chimpanzees, I’m terrified of them because they rip people’s faces off ” ZAKARIA WAN MUHAMMAD Engineering

“The war in Syria. Kids are dying, and they kill innocent people” DAVID MARTINEZ Undecided

“Not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow”

IVANN GELICO Communication

“The great unknown. In the future, we don’t know what will happen to us”

SPORTS

MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

7

Raiders’ announcer explains career path to NFL COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS HARDER (TO ANNOUNCE) THAN THE NFL - GARY WILLIAMS Continued from Page 1 television as a reporter, and as a copywriter for his father’s ad agency. Nothing seemed to fit.

Then, out of nowhere, someone offered him a voice job, and another voice actor there suggested he pursue it as a career.

Williams got his first break announcing for KPIX Channel 5 for 10 years in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“That was an awesome, awesome job,” Williams said about his time on Channel 5. “It was great and it got me exposure.”

One of his memorable jobs was doing the voice of a “cheesy” announcer on the sitcom “Married with Children.”

“I had one line in the show,” Williams said. “The beauty of it is (that) you get residuals. I think the last

check I got – it was a rerun – was for $5.”

Williams has been the stadium announcer for the Oakland Raiders for eight years, and is doing his first year with Cal’s football team.

“College football is harder (to announce) than the NFL,” Williams said. “There are three No. 11’s, two No. 2’s, two No. 3’s … there are over 100 players dressed for Cal.” “In the pros, it’s 53 (players) and they don’t substitute that much.”

Prior to Cal, Williams spent 10 years announcing for Stanford and has announced a few games for the San Jose Earthquakes and Oakland A’s.

Williams has also been announcing Niles-Centerville Little League games for the past 20 years.

LAURA GONSALVES/ MONITOR

Voice actor Gary Williams speaks to journalism Professor Bill Parks’ class on Friday morning.

“You have to learn how to be a decent writer and a good communicator,”

Williams said about students interested in his line of work. He also suggests

taking mass media, communications and theater classes.

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SPORTS

MONITOR OCTOBER 16, 2014

Kerr is the answer

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

Above: Desiree Jones streaks away from a Las Positas player on Sep. 23. Below: Eliana Varela avoids an oncoming player.

Lady Renegades shut out Evergreen ALBERT REBOSURA Sports editor The Lady Renegades shut out Evergreen Valley 2-0 Tuesday night, improving their record to 7-4-1.

Ohlone had an impressive first half, holding the ball and keeping play on Evergreen’s third of the field.

Melissa Urena scored her team-leading eighth goal in the 15th minute. Dina Ramos scored the second goal five minutes later; it was her first this season. Urena also picked up the assist on Ramos’ goal.

The Lady Renegades have been on a tear lately and haven’t lost a game since Sept. 16. They’ve outscored their opponents 19-5 during that span and haven’t allowed a goal in the past four games.

They are tied with San Francisco City College atop the North Coast division with a divisional record of 4-0-1.

LAURA GONSALVES / MONITOR

Upcoming Renegades games MEN’S SOCCER

VOLLEYBALL

Friday, 1:30 p.m. vs. De Anza College, Accinelli Park, Union City

Friday, 6:30 p.m. vs. Gavilan College, Epler Gymnasium, Fremont campus

Oct. 31, 4 p.m. vs. Foothill College, Central Park, Fremont Nov. 7, 1:30 p.m. vs. West Valley College, Accinelli Park, Union City

WOMEN’S SOCCER Tuesday, 4:30 p.m. vs. West Valley College, Tak Stadium, Fremont Oct. 31, 1:30 p.m. vs. Chabot College, Central Park, Fremont Nov. 11, 4:30 p.m. vs. Cañada College, Tak Stadium, Fremont

Nov. 12, 6:30 p.m. vs. Skyline College, Epler Gymnasium, Fremont campus Nov. 14, 6:30 p.m. vs. Foothill College, Epler Gymnasium, Fremont campus

MEN’S WATER POLO Wednesday, 3 p.m. vs. De Anza College, Swimming Pool, Fremont campus

WOMEN’S WATER POLO Canceled.

Steve Kerr will be a more successful coach than Mark Jackson.

The Golden State Warriors’ management gave Jackson his walking papers and hired Kerr after being eliminated by the Los Angeles Clippers in the last playoffs. Much like Jackson, Kerr is another former TV analyst with no previous coaching experience, but I believe he’ll be the better coach in the long run.

Kerr, 49, has played for some of the most successful coaches of all time: Lute Olsen at the University of Arizona, Phil Jackson for the Chicago Bulls and Gregg Popavich for the San Antonio Spurs. He served as the General Manager of the Phoenix Suns from 2007-2010 and has been TNT’s lead color analyst.

As much as some players loved Jackson, his last year with Golden State was anything but smooth.With the firing of an assistant coach and demotion of another, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes trouble within the organization surrounding Jackson.

Jackson didn’t have a great relationship with the owners, butted heads with some players through the media, failed to develop younger players and didn’t utilize players that management provided for him.

Kerr will be able to ease into his first head-coaching gig with the support of experienced assistant coaches: Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams.

Kerr’s previous experience as a General Manager will help him deal with different personalities as well as understanding the coach-management relationship a lot better.

In terms of X’s and O’s, Kerr’s playing experience under Hall of Fame coaches will benefit all players – not just the starting five. Kerr will implement Phil Jackson’s triangle offense, a system that gives players clear roles, which will help players like Harrison Barnes and Marreese Speights.

For those of you who were Mark Jackson believers, relax. I’m guessing you were also among the many who were devastated after the Warriors traded Monta Ellis for Andrew Bogut.

Trust what management has done and trust that Kerr will propel the Warriors further than Jackson did.