Ben Howland, your UCLA boss has your back

Ben Howland, your UCLA boss has your back

By Bill Plaschke
The Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2010


Don't let his teddy-bear demeanor fool you.

Dan Guerrero is more grizzly than Winnie.

The UCLA athletic director is quiet, courteous, professional . . . and unafraid to loudly tear through anything that doesn't work.

He fired Steve Lavin just one year after the UCLA basketball team reached the Sweet 16.

He fired Karl Dorrell just one year after he beat USC, and two years after he won 10 games.

If you coach for Guerrero, statistics won't save you. Cheers won't help you. Perception won't support you.

It's all about fitting into his carefully constructed culture of competitiveness. Do you play hard? Do you play smart? Do you play clean? Do you play to the end?

Which brings us to Ben Howland, whose basketball team has barely done any of those things in what could be the worst Bruins season since John Wooden left Indiana.

Their record is 8-10, so lousy even with the surprising victory over Washington on Thursday night, that it's become hard to distinguish one brick from another.

Was the low moment the school's first-ever loss to Cal State Fullerton? Or was it the 27-point loss to Portland (the Pilots, not the Blazers)?

Was it the 18-point loss to Mississippi State in the Wooden Classic? Or maybe the worst loss to USC in 65 years?

There was last spring's surprise NBA defection of guard Jrue Holiday. There was this winter's surprise exit of top post prospect Drew Gordon.

There have been admitted mistakes in recruiting. There has been an admitted lack of fundamental teaching. There is such a desperate lack of talent, the starting lineup features Nikola Dragovic, who is awaiting trial on felony assault charges for which he has pleaded not guilty.

A coach renowned for his adherence to the rules giving playing time to the word "felony"?

Howland is just two seasons removed from a third consecutive Final Four appearance, but light-years from meeting the competitive level that Guerrero demands.

The boss was surely ready to roar, so I called him Thursday and prepared to hold my ears.

Until I realized I was listening to a 20-minute bearhug.

In what might be called Howland's biggest victory this season, Guerrero wrapped the coach in a giant embrace.

"Ben Howland is a terrific coach," said Guerrero. "There are few coaches in country in the last five years who have performed at level that Ben has. He didn't just forget how to coach."

The support was just getting started.

"Ben is a fantastic coach, he's great to work with, we ran into a bad stretch this year," Guerrero said. "But the charge is to fix it, and the cavalry is on its way. We have some good kids coming in to help next year. We'll get this thing back on the right track."

Imagine that. Just when you thought the most struggling coach in Southern California in any sport was going to be scolded, he is saluted?

Good for Guerrero. This is why he works. This is why his department thrives.

He knows when to bash, but he also knows when to back off.

Just as he understood that 10 wins didn't make Dorrell a great college coach, he knows that double-digit losses in one season don't make Howland a bad coach.

I agree with him. You don't throw away three consecutive Final Fours for one lousy winter. You don't attack Howland without understanding the system.

"If you evaluate the culture of today's basketball landscape, it makes it difficult to sustain the level of performance that any school would want," said Guerrero, who was named athletic director in 2002. "It boils down to the early departures of our undergraduates."

Howland has turned six underclassman into NBA first-round picks in the last four years. Great for the kids, bad for the program.

"Losing that many players catches up to you, and this year it caught up to us," said Guerrero. "There are going to be cycles where marquee teams don't have the year everyone expects. It's inevitable. It happens to everyone."

Look at defending champion North Carolina, 12-7 and headed out of the top 25 for the first time in several years after losing the heart of its team to the NBA.

Look at Connecticut, another Final Four team last season, meandering at 12-6.

Look at Florida, UCLA's Final Four nemesis, scuffling at 12-5.

Of course, 12-6 is a long drive from UCLA's 8-10, which brings the conversation to Howland's acknowledged mistakes.

The instant loss of great players leaves a coach little margin for error in recruiting. One mistake on a prospect and you become mediocre. A couple more and you become a joke.

A mistake was made on Drew Gordon. A mistake was made in recruiting big men around him.

A mistake was made in thinking Holiday would not turn pro last spring. A mistake was made in recruiting point guards around him.

When Howland says he's made mistakes, it's hard to argue, and Guerrero won't.

"If that's his assessment, he's admitting what he feels to be the case, then . . . we have to make certain we are a little more prudent," said Guerrero.

What Guerrero will angrily contest, though, is the notion that Howland's deliberate style of play and demanding focus on defense and rebounding are scaring recruits away.

"That's garbage, I hear that all the time, I hear it from people who don't know the difference between a lamppost and a high post," Guerrero said. "The proof is in the pudding. Three Final Fours. Guys making great livings in the NBA."

Guerrero said Howland is coaching exactly the way he believes the team should be coached.

"It's tough, it's hard-nosed, it's about doing the things you need to do to make it work," said Guerrero. "It's about being able to pass, dribble and shoot. Being smart. That's the game of basketball, and that's the way he teaches it."

OK, Howland, so there's one Bruin out there openly cheering for you.

Appreciate it. Be inspired by it. But don't take it for granted.

The growl is always there, and your chances of long-term survival with these kinds of teams are equal to the number of times Guerrero has endured consecutive losing seasons by the same head football or basketball coach.

None.