[9/21/01]Big-name coaches are nothing new to Donny Fuller’s annual River City Hoops Coaching Clinic.

This year is no different.

Van Chancellor, the former Ole Miss coach who led the Houston Comets to four straight WNBA titles, highlights the weekend clinic at Harrah’s Casino.

Chancellor is scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“I’ve got some really good friends in the coaching profession that I go way back with,” said Fuller, who was an assistant coach of Chancellor’s at Ole Miss in the 1980s. “Some of them I have to beg, plead or con. Chancellor said I conned him because he didn’t tell me he’d speak at my clinic.

“I got a hold of him at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame when he was speaking over there last spring and wouldn’t let him out of it.”

Chancellor will be joined by Ole Miss’ Rod Barnes, the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball coach of the year. He will speak at the Warren Central gym on Sunday at 9 a.m. Chancellor and Barnes will speak for two hours each, while the others will get an hour.

“I’ve known Rod Barnes and his family for a long time,” Fuller said. “I’ve been trying to get him and finally, this year, I was able to.”

University of Arkansas assistant women’s coach Vic Shaeffer, Bernadette McDonald of Mississippi Delta Community College, Bubba Skelton of Northwest CC and Jackson Academy’s Bill Ball will also speak.

“Not only do we have quality speakers and give the coaches a lot of basketball, we give a lot of door prizes and such,” Fuller said. “We don’t have a big-name sponsor. We are not sponsored by Nike or anything like that.”

Two years ago, Georgia’s Andy Landers and Louisiana Tech’s Leon Barmore, considered as two of the top coaches in the women’s college game, spoke at the clinic.

“I told them last time that I didn’t think we could outdo ourselves with Landers and Barmore,” Fuller said. “Each year we scramble and beg and plead and the speakers have responded well.”

Fuller said he has about 60 coaches preregistered and expects between 30 and 40 walkups on Saturday morning. Coaches from as far away as Lake Charles, La., Pine Bluff, Ark., and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have registered already, Fuller said.

Late registration, which starts Saturday at 8 a.m., is $60. For information, call Fuller at 638-3372, or 636-1890.