Wednesday, February 19, 1997
LAVIN:
Quickly ascending to his position as head coach, Steve Lavin
adjusts to life at the topBy Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
He’s a follower of the school of John Wooden, Gene Keady and
Pete Newell. His hair is in the tradition of Pat Riley. And most
importantly, Steve Lavin is of the school of knowing where to be at
the right time.
Five years ago, Lavin trekked cross-country from the land of
corn fields and Purdue University, where he worked as an assistant
coach under Keady, to the hills of Westwood to work as an unpaid
volunteer assistant coach. By 1995, he had attained the position of
third assistant.
Then the whirlwind came.
First, after assistants Greg White and Lorenzo Romar left UCLA
in search of head coaching jobs elsewhere, Lavin found himself the
top assistant coach at the end of last season.
Then, in the wake of Jim Harrick’s dismissal, Lavin was thrust
into the spotlight as interim head coach, two weeks before the
season was to begin.
And finally, as of Feb. 11, Lavin can now call himself the
permanent head coach of one of the most prestigious college
basketball programs in the nation.
All of this within the span of less than a year.
"It’s kind of weird," junior J.R. Henderson said. "When I first
came here, Lav used to just go around running errands for Harrick.
That’s all I knew him for when I first got here."
But the days of coffee and donut runs are over for Lavin. With
his new celebrity status, Lavin’s days are filled with questions
about the staying power of his hair and jokes about his potential
as a spokesman for Right Guard.
"My parents keep asking me, ‘Why is everyone so interested in
the fact that you perspire and that you have gel in your hair?’"
Lavin said. "I said, ‘I don’t know. It’s Los Angeles  that’s
the way it is.’"
But in addition to sparking interest in Lavin’s hair products,
the promotion was also the realization of a dream that started 16
years ago at St. Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo,
Calif.
Lavin’s first taste of coaching came in the summer after his
junior year. And just like trying to stop after eating only one
potato chip, Lavin discovered he couldn’t resist coaching. He soon
became addicted.
In college, Lavin was a coaching nerd, writing to the major
coaches of college basketball  Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian, Mike
Krzyzewski  asking for reading lists and advice for an
aspiring coach.
After he graduated from Chapman College in 1988, he headed to
Purdue for graduate school, and spent a lot of time with Purdue’s
basketball staff.
Lavin would break down video with the coaches, sit on the bench,
and according to Lavin, "just be a pain in the butt." However, his
perseverance paid off when Keady offered Lavin a position as
graduate assistant.
"I don’t have a lot of hobbies," Lavin said. "I don’t play
tennis. I don’t play golf. I don’t jet ski. I don’t snow ski. I
don’t travel. I don’t really do anything.
"I just coach and teach basketball, which makes me a boring
date, but it is also why I probably had the success that I’ve had
in coaching  because I have that kind of focus; like someone
training for the Olympics, it’s all I ever wanted to do."
It was that focus that first caught the notice of UCLA Athletic
Director Pete Dalis.
"Steve really came to my attention primarily in 1994 and that
was post-Tulsa first-round loss," Dalis said. "I was very concerned
about the basketball program after the loss and talked to them
about what their vision was. Of all the coaches I talked to, I
thought that Steve did the best job of focusing and articulating to
me why we weren’t as successful as we ought to be. And at that time
I commented to my staff that this young man is going to go a long
way."
Lavin’s interest in coaching can be attributed to his father,
Cap Lavin. The elder Lavin has been an educator at both the high
school and collegiate level. Cap was also a three-year letterman
for the University of San Francisco basketball team, where he was
recently inducted into the school Hall of Fame.
"He’s a great father and a great teacher," Steve Lavin, the
youngest of six, said. "Even in the home he was always teaching, so
I think that that had a profound kind of influence on pushing me
toward my desire to want to coach."
Teaching is a big part of Lavin’s coaching style. The
32-year-old sees coaching as more than just designing motion plays
and preaching the fundamentals of man-to-man defense.
"To me a good coach is a good teacher," Lavin said. "I see
basketball as a subject that I’m teaching and Pauley Pavilion is a
classroom where I’m trying to teach beyond just jump shots, wins
and losses.
"I feel responsible for helping them with their growth and
maturity not only as a basketball player but as a person."
Discipline, Lavin believes, is integral to reaching maturity.
Though he wouldn’t consider himself a drill sergeant, Lavin is
ready to bench star players as punishment. Just ask Henderson, Kris
Johnson or Jelani McCoy, who were benched against Morgan State
after showing up late to practice.
And he won’t compromise his beliefs, regardless of how important
the game is. Against USC four weeks ago, Lavin benched Henderson
because of unacceptable behavior during practice.
Lavin has said that he would rather lose doing what he feels is
right than go back on his convictions.
"I love it," Johnson said of Lavin’s coaching style. "It reminds
me of my coach in high school, where if you mess up, if you do
something wrong off the court then it has a direct effect on the
court.
"And in this day and age, this is the kind of coach you need
 an old-school guy  and that’s what Lavin is. That’s
what he brings to the table and he keeps us in shape  our
mind, body and spirit. He makes sure that we are doing the right
thing on and off the court."
But the players haven’t been the only ones doing some adjusting
this year.
The abruptness of his ascension to head coach did not allow
Lavin to have a "honeymoon" period. When he woke up on Nov. 6, a
slew of responsibilities crash-landed on his doorstep. There was no
time to bask in the glory.
"It’s been one of the most challenging, difficult years of my
life," Lavin said. "I think that I’ve learned more in the last two
months about myself, about people, about the media, about
basketball, about the world and about human nature than I have the
last 32 years.
"And so there’s been not a lot of laughs, not a lot of smiles,
but I have definitely been in a learning mode. I think that my
learning curve has shot through the Empire State Building’s roof
 it’s on Star Wars Warp Speed."
What Lavin has learned is to trust his instincts, to believe in
himself, to stay true to his convictions, and that his love for
coaching can withstand even the most trying of situations.
Says Lavin: "I feel that I was born to coach."
STEVE LAVIN
Less than a year ago, Lavin was the Bruins’ third assistant. Now
he has one of the premier coaching jobs in the nation.