Cameron Dollar perfect choice to lead Seattle U.

As early as third grade, when he should have been listening a little more carefully to his English teacher or being more diligent about his math assignments, Cameron Dollar often sat at his desk, diagraming basketball plays, moving X's and O's around a sheet of notebook paper, already preparing for this day.

Since he was 4 years old, Dollar had wanted to be a head coach, wanted to follow in the path of his father, Don, a high-school coach in Atlanta.

"He was always an old soul. He had a wise, old spirit," said Steve Lavin, who was the head coach at UCLA in Dollar's senior season.

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, then an assistant at UCLA, remembers a 17-year-old Dollar wearing a suit, coming off the plane on a recruiting trip to Westwood.

"I had never seen that before, and I haven't seen that since," Romar said.

On that recruiting trip, Dollar was told he would be point guard Tyus Edney's understudy for the first two years at UCLA. "I understand that," Dollar told the coaches.

Not once on that trip did Dollar ask about playing time. Instead, he asked if he could attend the coaching meetings, when strategies are discussed and game tape is digested.

"He wanted to know if we could win a national championship. And he wanted to know if he could use the program to better advance himself in terms of being a coach," Romar said. "He wasn't just talking it. He really wanted to be a basketball coach."

And Thursday afternoon, with Romar watching on a stairway at Seattle University's Student Center, Dollar, 33, was announced as the Redhawks' new head men's basketball coach.

It seems like the perfect fit. An assistant coach at Washington under Romar since 2002, Seattle has become Dollar's home. So much good has happened to him here.

He was the point guard in UCLA's 1995 NCAA-championship win over Arkansas inside the Kingdome. He has assisted Romar in the rejuvenation of the Huskies' program. And Dollar met his wife, Maureen, and started a family in Seattle.

Now he has been given the chance, as he says, "to do something great" — return Seattle U. to Division I basketball.

How badly did Dollar want to become a D-I head coach?

When he finished at UCLA, he lined up tryouts with seven NBA teams. He hired a personal trainer. He worked out with his mentor, Magic Johnson.

But when he got the call from Pat Douglass asking if he was interested in becoming an assistant at UC Irvine, Dollar dropped his NBA dreams and started the journey that led him to Seattle U.

"He was born to coach," Lavin said by telephone Thursday. "At UCLA, even before he had played a game, you could see that he had a unique understanding of the game of basketball and what it takes to direct a team from the point-guard position.

"I think he's a steal of a coach for them. His pedigree, as an assistant coach, is impeccable. His knowledge of the game and with the way he works with kids, I think he's capable of being a very good coach at a BCS conference school right now."

This isn't an easy job. Dollar has to recruit kids who know the school isn't in a conference and won't be eligible for the madness of March until the 2013 NCAA tournament.

And although the Redhawks won 21 games last season, the road gets more difficult this season as the school passes through purgatory toward D-I heaven. The competition gets tougher. The Division III schools will be eliminated from the schedule, and Seattle U. will make man-eating trips to places like Marquette.

Dollar, however, is accustomed to tough. When he played at UCLA, Lavin said, he was "Joe Frazier in high-tops. He played with a boxer's mentality."

When Edney was hurt before the NCAA championship game, sophomore Dollar stepped in and coolly ran the show. He also won a game against Washington with a half-court buzzer-beater.

"He was an OK shooter," Romar said, "but when the game was on the line, it seemed like he never missed. He just knows how to win."

Dollar graduated from UCLA in 3-½ years. He was a member of the Honor Society. At 22, he was named the head coach at Southern California College.

"He knew all the little things," Lavin said. "He understood the subtleties of point-guard play. He had the thought processes of a great athlete. He knew better than anyone how to hold a guy. How to pull the guy's jersey, off the ball. Or just the right time to belt him.

"Not in a way that was out of bounds, or would border on poor sportsmanship, but he had a way, with his knees, or elbows, of making it uncomfortable for the guys he was playing against."

Dollar was the senior point guard when Lavin replaced the fired Jim Harrick at UCLA.

"It was like having an extra coach," said Lavin, a basketball analyst for ESPN. "He was in lock-step early with us. There was no one more ideal than Cameron to help us. He always asked a lot of questions, but also he'd bring his own perspective to the table. I was grateful he was there."

He also understood the importance of team chemistry, and early in his senior season, when some players were reluctant to give up their starting roles, Dollar volunteered to come off the bench.

"It was a very turbulent, emotional time for our program," Lavin said. "His willingness to come off the bench, it just gave us the right mind-set. It showed you the kind of kid he was, the selflessness.

"He wasn't a real gifted athlete. He reminded me of the way Jim Plunkett used to play quarterback. You know, just win. He doesn't overwhelm you with the grace and athleticism. He just gets it done. He had the intelligence, the decision-making, the desire and appetite to learn."

The appetite never left. Dollar has been hungry for the opportunity he was given Thursday. He has spent a lifetime preparing for this role, and he is absolutely ready to lead Seattle U. back to the big time.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com