Ben Howland and UCLA
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SportsAndLadyHere's the SI article:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/02/28/ucla/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a1
I'm almost positive this is just UCLA boosters forcing SI to find some dirt on Howland and the program to get him booted, as it was obvious Howland's 3 FF's was a ticket in Westwood for a long, long time.
But still, some of this is just odd.
One player said if he saw Howland waiting for the elevator he would take the stairs.The players were puzzled by some of their coach's idiosyncrasies. Howland seemed obsessed with the temperature in the film room. If it was not exactly 76º a student manager was certain to feel Howland's wrath. The water bottles handed to him had to be just cold enough and not too large.
He occasionally kicked players out of pregame walk-throughs held in hotel ballrooms if the players weren't executing properly. Two players recall being tossed, on different occasions, for failing to get low enough on defense even though they were wearing jeans that constricted their movements.
In a game during the 2007-08 season, several players on the bench noted Howland's frustration with the shot selection of Westbrook, whose freelancing had resulted in several baskets. But rather than substituting for him, Howland informed one of the officials that Westbrook was wearing socks bearing an NBA logo, which violated NCAA uniform guidelines. Howland told the official he had an obligation to remove Westbrook from the game because of his socks. The official claimed to be unaware of the rule and let play continue.One evening the partying started at the Beverly Hills mansion of a wealthy UCLA fan. The Bruins were then chauffeured in a Rolls-Royce to a West Hollywood club, where several players were ushered past a long line of people and given VIP treatment at a table in the back. Says one player, "We'd go back to the campus bars and students would say, 'Where have you been?' We'd be like, 'If you only knew.' "
The players on those Final Four teams were a mature group, however, and they showed self-restraint. They knew that to achieve their goals on the court, they had to discipline themselves off it. That simple realization can separate winning teams from losing teams. And at UCLA, it did. -
centralbucksfanRead this today. Pretty interesting stuff. Sounds like Howland sold his soul to the devil, win at all cost, turning a blind eye, whatever u want to call it. I don't believe he will lose his job this year. But if things dont' start to turn around by next year, he will be gone.
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Azubuike24Sounds more to me like Howland has just been exposed for being "strange" and "unable to relate" to the typical college athlete/student.
This isn't a knock on Howland, he is what he is. It's also not damning against UCLA. Maybe it's magnified because of it being Los Angeles, but this type of partying, use of drugs/alcohol goes on at every college.
What this means, IMO, is that UCLA has to can Howland and move on. After an article like this comes out, documenting numerous run-ins with players for the last 5 years, both on and off the court and seeing almost half of his recruits for the past 5 years transferring or being kicked out, I'm not sure how the program can continue to thrive in recruiting with him steering the ship.
Lost on all this is the nations top recruit for next year is from Los Angeles and reportedly had UCLA as his leader (as of 2 weeks ago). I can't see how this even keeps them in the running for Shabazz unless a coaching change is made... -
centralbucksfan
Who knows. As Sports, said, this could be some disgruntled booster trying to stir the pot. We know arleady from past articles from SI, that they haven't been the most reliable in terms of reporting and facts. If there is a "story" to be made, they will try to do so.Azubuike24;1100351 wrote:Sounds more to me like Howland has just been exposed for being "strange" and "unable to relate" to the typical college athlete/student.
This isn't a knock on Howland, he is what he is. It's also not damning against UCLA. Maybe it's magnified because of it being Los Angeles, but this type of partying, use of drugs/alcohol goes on at every college.
What this means, IMO, is that UCLA has to can Howland and move on. After an article like this comes out, documenting numerous run-ins with players for the last 5 years, both on and off the court and seeing almost half of his recruits for the past 5 years transferring or being kicked out, I'm not sure how the program can continue to thrive in recruiting with him steering the ship.
Lost on all this is the nations top recruit for next year is from Los Angeles and reportedly had UCLA as his leader (as of 2 weeks ago). I can't see how this even keeps them in the running for Shabazz unless a coaching change is made...
Bottom line is its about winning. The 3 FF bought him time. How much? Thats the question. -
Laley23
They do look for angles for stories they can print. But journalists that high up didnt get there by printing false quotations/examples/making anything up. I would put money on what is written as being true.centralbucksfan;1100485 wrote:Who knows. As Sports, said, this could be some disgruntled booster trying to stir the pot. We know arleady from past articles from SI, that they haven't been the most reliable in terms of reporting and facts. If there is a "story" to be made, they will try to do so.
Bottom line is its about winning. The 3 FF bought him time. How much? Thats the question. -
PrescottI don't like "stories" based on unidentified quotes. If you believe it, own it and put your name on it.
Reeves Nelson reminded me of the thug in the movie "One on One". -
centralbucksfan
Well, one only needs to look at the "credible" sources and reporting on OSU football when they had Tressel on the cover. Many things they claimed, were in fact FALSE or come from VERY shadey, unreliable sources. So don't kid yourself.Laley23;1100568 wrote:They do look for angles for stories they can print. But journalists that high up didnt get there by printing false quotations/examples/making anything up. I would put money on what is written as being true. -
Laley23
Did they quote anyone wrong or mistell stories they were told? Thats all Im saying. The quotes from former players/coaches/whatever are likely all true. SI, may very well have run with those and chased the angle like I said, with some bad info.centralbucksfan;1100624 wrote:Well, one only needs to look at the "credible" sources and reporting on OSU football when they had Tressel on the cover. Many things they claimed, were in fact FALSE or come from VERY shadey, unreliable sources. So don't kid yourself. -
reclegend22Bottom line, UCLA sucks and Ben Howland needs to be given his walking papers. That's the real story here.
So whether or not Reeves Nelson and the rest of the Bruins are out consuming mass quantities of shrooms and jumping off of frat houses into kiddie pools (oh, wait that's Tyler Hansbrough lol) is beyond the issue. UCLA simply sucks. It is time for both parties to move on. -
centralbucksfanArticle in support of Howland.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-02-29/ucla-bruins-ben-howland-kevin-love-shabazz-muhammad -
Azubuike24
It does not surprise me that people will support Howland. I'm sure he will have a lot of this after the article. However, how will it REALLY affect things? These are the kind of things that you keep in-house. Once they come out, even if fabricated or even flat out untrue, is going to affect you going forward.centralbucksfan;1100744 wrote:Article in support of Howland.
http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-basketball/story/2012-02-29/ucla-bruins-ben-howland-kevin-love-shabazz-muhammad
I guess we will see how it plays out. -
centralbucksfanHowland being retained by UCLA as I thought he would. Obviously, he will be on a short leash to turn things around.
http://www.cnnsi.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/03/13/howland-ucla.ap/index.html?sct=hp_t2_a10&eref=sihp -
Classyposter58With Kyle Anderson coming next year and his explosive skill set, they better win the Pac-12 at least. With that being said they've sucked the last few years. I mean 19-14 this year with a 20 point loss to Middle Tennessee State? Last year they were okay but the year before that 14-18? This program needs to step it up, especially considering how bad the conference is
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SportsAndLadyI really just can't believe that...I mean just fire the fuckin weirdo
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Azubuike24The West Coast isn't exactly screaming with candidates who would want to take over at that program either.
It is no longer a "benchmark" program. It's a great job, don't get me wrong, but it's not much better than Arkansas, Illinois or Arizona which were all recent.
If there were a home run hire out there that UCLA could hand a blank check too, like Brad Stevens or Sean Miller, I can't imagine they wouldn't have really pondered firing Howland. -
reclegend22I think UCLA is a better job than Arkansas -- not only based on championship history, banners and Wooden but also because of location and the beach -- but I definitely have no qualms with placing it on the level of Arizona. Which really is no knock. Lute Olson built an iconic basketball brand in the desert.
This probably hits this all on the head. As sports said above, it just seems crazy to keep Howland around after the recent media storm and the fact that, rather than implement Wooden's fast break, Howland has the Bruins playing golf. It's not only a mess in the locker room, it's also a mess on the floor. There must have been no one else. Sad situation for UCLA.Azubuike24 wrote:If there were a home run hire out there that UCLA could hand a blank check too, like Brad Stevens or Sean Miller, I can't imagine they wouldn't have really pondered firing Howland. -
Manhattan BuckeyeI think UCLA is still a benchmark program, the recruiting ground is fertile and with the recent renovations to Pauley it's an envious position. UCLA will never have the student/alumni involvement of UK/Duke/UNC/Kansas but it should still attract blue chip recruits every year. Crazy what has happened with Howland, he went from being a basketball genius to a major league weirdo. I don't see him lasting much longer. A Mike Montgomery hire would be an excellent coach for 3-5 years until a younger A-list hire comes up.
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SportsAndLadyUCLA isn't a better coaching job than ARKANSAS?!
looooooooooooooooool -
Azubuike24Where did I say that...
I said it is only slightly better than Illinois, Arkansas and Arizona.
Read folks! -
Heretic
Just the simple fact they're keeping Howland is proof of that. I remember a number of years ago, reading a Sports Illustrated article about the UCLA job and how coaches were essentially chewed up and spit out by it because NO ONE could remotely compare to Wooden. This would have been right around when Harrick took over, I think. A year like this, where the team was barely over .500 despite playing in a weak conference AND had issues as illustrated in the original post, would have meant the end of his tenure without a doubt back then. They've kind of gone from being elite to just another good program. That happens to be west coast, while the current basketball environment is concentrated from the midwest to the east coast.Azubuike24;1115638 wrote:The West Coast isn't exactly screaming with candidates who would want to take over at that program either.
It is no longer a "benchmark" program. It's a great job, don't get me wrong, but it's not much better than Arkansas, Illinois or Arizona which were all recent.
If there were a home run hire out there that UCLA could hand a blank check too, like Brad Stevens or Sean Miller, I can't imagine they wouldn't have really pondered firing Howland. -
centralbucksfan
Come on now. I might give you Arizona because of what Olsen built up there. But Ark and Ill are more than slighty below this job. Howland took them to 3 final fours not long ago. Pauley Pavilion is being renovated as well. Tradition/ name certainly means something and they also have a fairly decent recent history with 3 final four appearances in a row.Azubuike24;1115782 wrote:Where did I say that...
I said it is only slightly better than Illinois, Arkansas and Arizona.
Read folks!
Say what you want about Howland, but the guy has won where he has been at. Has won at UCLA. 3 straight final fours is one hell of an accomplishment. I personally think the guy can coach and will turn things around. -
reclegend22I think Billy Donovan's style of play would blend perfectly with the city of Los Angeles and the type of basketball that the fans of the Lakers were in love with for so long. Wonder if Donovan has forever given up on his dream of coaching at a blue blood? At one time, his dream job was said to be Kentucky. He turned them down (and justifyingly so) after winning back-to-back national titles with Florida. I wonder if he'd turn down another?
Purely speculation but it's always fun to guess.