The Associated Press UCLA men’s basketball head
coach Steve Lavin gestures in the second half of
UCLA’s 79-73 upset win over Stanford, Saturday in Palo Alto.
Victories like this, combined with his supportive and high
academic-achieving players, enable Lavin to take much of his
harshest criticism in stride. Lavin’s future at UCLA in the
following year is still controversial and not finalized at this
early time.
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said he’s been having problems
sleeping recently.
Who can blame him, as he’s been in the crosshairs with
reports and speculation about Rick Pitino, basketball walk-on Geoff
McKnight, and his players’ academics, all while the UCLA
administration has yet to give him a vote of confidence.
Lavin has handled the rumors in stride, refusing to allow them
to affect his coaching. Considering the atmosphere in which
he’s been operating lately, he’s performed rather well.
After Saturday’s huge win over No. 1 Stanford, his team has
won nine of its last 11 games.
Even though he acts as though the rumors aren’t affecting
him, he said Saturday that the last couple of weeks have been the
most demanding of his UCLA tenure.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say the last three
weeks have been very challenging and difficult,” said Lavin,
who has won 70 percent of his games and taken UCLA to the Sweet
Sixteen in three out of the last four years.
Things looked like it would get worse for Lavin on the
Bruins’ recent road trip. Cal embarrassed his team by 29
points on Thursday ““ the program’s biggest loss to the
Bears since 1922.
While the Bears were taking it to the Bruins, the Cal students
were ridiculing Lavin by holding pictures of Pitino with the words
“I got next, Lavin” underneath.
In a testament to his resiliency, Lavin was able to rebound from
the loss and successfully prepare his team to eventually stun the
Cardinal on its home floor.
After the win, his players jumped to his support.
“I remember when we won five games in a row and all
everyone wanted to talk about is Pitino,” junior guard Billy
Knight said. “Why is that? We have a coach. I could see Lavin
being here for the next 30 to 40 years.”
UCLA guard Earl Watson, perhaps Lavin’s loudest supporter,
said his coach has made a big difference in his life.
“He’s impacted my life so much I can’t even
explain it,” he said. “The coaching staff is the same
way. I dread the last day I have to take off this
jersey.”
Among the numerous reports that surfaced in the last couple of
weeks, Lavin said there was one that really ticked him off.
One report stated that two of his players had GPAs of 1.0, or
D-level, last quarter. Lavin said the report was untrue.
He said his current team is the best group academically
he’s had in his 10 years (five as assistant, five as head
coach) at UCLA. He added that all nine upperclassman are on track
to graduate.
There were five players on the Athletic Director’s honor
roll last spring and two in the fall. The Bruin men’s
basketball team also has the most improved GPA of all 21 UCLA
sports.
“As a parent, teacher or coach you take a lot of pride in
how your kids do in the classroom,” Lavin said. “For
that to be slandered or misrepresented, that really sets me off
more than anything else.”
“It painted the picture that the reason Steve Lavin is on
the hot seat is because his kids aren’t doing well
academically,” he added. “That’s the farthest
thing from the truth.”
Although he didn’t specifically say it on Saturday, you
could tell Lavin would like the UCLA administration to come out and
state the head coach is officially not on the hot seat.
His contract goes through 2005 but he can be bought out after
this season.
Three weeks ago, when UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis stated
he had several conversations with Pitino ““ conversations that
he didn’t tell Lavin of ““ he left the door open for
Pitino. After coaching the Boston Celtics, Pitino wants to get back
into college basketball. He is looking at UCLA, UNLV, and Michigan,
in that order.
When asked if he expects Lavin to return next season Dalis only
said, “He has a contract for next year.”
Lavin said it’s difficult leading a program when the
players don’t know how long their head coach will be at the
school.
“It’s just unfortunate for our recruiting, for our
current players, for our coaching staff to be working in these
interim conditions,” he said. “But I understand that
that’s inherent at the job at UCLA. They shuffle coaches in
and out of the head coaching office faster than anywhere else in
the country.
“It’s Domino delivery speed,” he added.
UCLA has had seven coaches in the last 21 years. In some
Internet chat rooms, many people think there should be eight in the
last 21 years.
One reason why Lavin is so much fodder for the media and critics
is because when his team loses, they tend to get blown out. Many
believe UCLA ““ a program with 11 national titles ““
should never lose by 29 (Cal) or 25 (Arizona).
Nevertheless, the Bruins were able to learn from those losses
and are a better team as a result.
“I enjoy coaching this team more than any other UCLA team
(I’ve coached),” Lavin said. “If I’m going
to struggle, this is the kind of team and the kind of people I want
to struggle with.”
Lavin was asked Saturday if he thought anyone in the UCLA Morgan
Center would say anything encouraging to him about his team’s
win over No. 1 Stanford.
“Whew,” said Lavin, taking a couple of seconds to
mull over the question. He then said, “I guess it depends on
what your definition of encouraging is.”