# Source: UCLA to fire Ben Howland



## 29380 (Feb 23, 2009)

> UCLA is expected to announce on Sunday that basketball coach Ben Howland has been fired, a source with direct knowledge of the situation said late Saturday night.
> 
> Howland completed his 10th season with the Bruins on Friday night when UCLA lost to Minnesota, 83-63, in the NCAA tournament's round of 64. UCLA finished the season 25-10 and won the Pac-12 Conference regular-season title. But the blowout loss and early exit from the NCAA tournament were the latest in a line of embarrassing moments over the past few seasons that led to the end of the Howland era.
> 
> ...


http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9090636/source-ucla-bruins-fire-coach-ben-howland


----------



## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens.

If I was them I'd call Thad Matta too.

UCLA is the #1 job, the absolute gold standard and apex of the profession.


----------



## hobojoe (Jun 20, 2003)

Time flies, can't believe he's been there 10 years.


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

UCLA is absolutely not the number one job because the fans are delusional. Howland took them to 3 straight final fours and he was fired. If I was a big-time coach, I wouldn't want the job. Since John Wooden's last title in 1975, the Bruins have been to the Final Four six times and won one title. Howland took them to half of their final fours. They have one title, in 38 years. The John Wooden era is NEVER coming back.


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Forget about wins and losses. If all these reports and stories are true, he should have been fired a while ago. You can't lose control of your program and expect anything worthwhile to come out of it.


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

croco said:


> Forget about wins and losses. If all these reports and stories are true, he should have been fired a while ago. You can't lose control of your program and expect anything worthwhile to come out of it.


But he's only getting fired for wins and losses. None of these people care about the off the court stuff, so bringing it up is moot. They only care about wins and losses.


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Sadly, they may not act as long as they are winning and everything stays in house, but once the reports started to emerge the train was rolling and the outcome inevitable. You think a school like UCLA doesn't care when they are being embarrassed in public?


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

croco, I live in LA. No one cares about anything but wins and losses here. They only care if UCLA can get to the Final Four. If you look at the Bruins history, they have fired coaches with some excellent records. This program is a title or bust program (which is ridiculous because the only reason Wooden won so many titles is because they were paying players).


----------



## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Yeah, well, I guess I really shouldn't expect a high ethical standard.


----------



## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

croco said:


> Yeah, well, I guess I really shouldn't expect a high ethical standard.


I mean, college basketball is a dirty game. USC wants a new coach too, because they want to win. As long as no one gets probation, no one gives a damn about ethics.


----------



## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Fans are delusional at all the top programs. You have to win or they fire you at Kansas, Kentucky, UNC, and Indiana too. Howland's teams were embarrassing on the court, and 3 Final Fours and then 5 years of crap ball doesn't keep your job at UCLA. It doesn't even keep your job at Illinois.


----------



## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

Posted elsewhere:



2008-09
J'mison Morgan - *Transferred*
Jrue Holiday - One and done
Drew Gordon - *Transferred*
Malcolm Lee - NBA after junior year
Jerime Anderson - Deadweight, ok backup PG in his senior year

2009-10
Mike Moser - *Transferred*
Anthony Stover - *Dismissed*
Brendan Lane - *Transferred*
Reeves Nelson - *Dismissed*
Tyler Honeycutt - NBA after soph year

2010-11
Matt Carlino - *Transferred*
Josh Smith - *Transferred*
Tyler Lamb - *Transferred*
Lazeric Jones - Stayed and was actually ok

2011-12
De'End Parker - *Transferred*
Norman Powell - Still around, still completely average.


16 Players: *10 transfers or dismissals*, 3 early defections.
Record: 107-61
NCAA Tournament wins: 2


----------



## Mrs. Thang (Apr 14, 2011)

Yeah, at the end of the day it's about wins and losses, but there is a difference between having down years because you are rebuilding and having down years because you've completely lost control of the program. I think the fact that he even made it this far shows UCLA was willing to give him a lot of rope because of his early success. The program has been an embarrassment for 3 or 4 years now. Most coaches at most schools, 'elite' or not, would have been fired after the Sports Illustrated story.

Howland leaves a confusing a legacy. He's a guy I used to think was a pretty good coach at Pitt, and his UCLA teams played defense when they had guys like Afflalo and Mbah a Moute, but it's almost like he forgot what made him successful and started worrying more about recruiting class rankings than actually putting together a team that made any kind of sense.


----------



## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

I was reading somewhere else that Howland might just struggle to keep big egos in check, and can't get really large personalities to buy into what he's selling. Paradoxically, he was extremely successful at both Pitt and UCLA when he didn't have very highly ranked recruits. Look at that first Final Four team, he started: Collison, Afflalo, Farmar, Mbah a Moute, and Bozeman. All good players, but also all guys who worked their ass off to get to the NBA with the possible exception of Farmar. Except for Farmar I don't think any of those guys were highly regarded recruits. Farmar bolted to the NBA and Bozeman graduated, but his next Final Four starting 5 added Josh Shipp (another famously hard worker) and Lorenzo Mata(-Real).

His final team added Westbrook and Love for Afflalo and Mata (who came off the bench). Westbrook is another guy who didn't come in with a 5* attitude, but worked his way all the way up the draft board, basically in the month of March. And Love is another hard working guy who didn't rest on his laurels.

After that, Adidas (allegedly, if I understand the scandal) started funneling him those blue chippers in my last post who just wanted to go pro, and Howland lost control of the program. If you put him somewhere that he won't have huge recruiting expectations on his shoulders, he'll be great once again. Some program is going to get a phenomenal coach IMO that is much better than they usually get; if I was Minnesota that's the guy I'd be going after.


----------



## 29380 (Feb 23, 2009)

*UCLA hires Steve Alford
*


----------



## Nimreitz (May 13, 2003)

lol


----------

