Seven years and nine lives later, the Steve Lavin era is
over.
In perhaps one of the most anticlimactic firings in the history
of college basketball, UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero
announced Monday that Lavin has been released from his
contract.
“It’s never easy to do this,” Guerrero said.
“But I love this university, and I felt we had to make this
decision to make this program into the kind we’d like to
see.”
Guerrero ripped the Band-Aid off quickly in a press conference
that lasted under 15 minutes. He said that he and Lavin went out to
breakfast and “went through the exercise
officially.”
That exercise includes giving Lavin a $1.2 million buyout over
five years. Any money Lavin makes as a coach over that time will be
subtracted from the buyout payment.
Guerrero called the breakfast “almost surreal,”
which is also probably an appropriate evaluation of Lavin’s
behavior over the last two months.
The former coach became increasingly uncensored as UCLA’s
losses racked up. In one instance, he even referred to his job
status in the past tense and named potential successors.
Guerrero declined to disclose any of the candidates UCLA is
considering. He did say that he will consult John Wooden and others
who are close to UCLA and that whoever becomes head coach will have
met with Chancellor Albert Carnesale.
He also said he will not contact coaches whose teams are still
in the NCAA Tournament until those teams are eliminated.
“It’s quite possible that we might not hire a coach
until after the Final Four,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero made it clear that he is eager to move on, but he still
lauded Lavin for the coach’s almost infallibly upbeat
attitude.
“It was a trying year for everyone involved, including
Steve and the players,” Guerrero said. “There are a
number of ways people deal with the stress. Some get bitter; some
point fingers.
“Steve never did that. He chose to be forthright and to be
humorous about it. People misinterpreted that as him taking a shot
at the athletic director or at the school, but I don’t
believe that was the case.”
Many believed that Lavin’s days in Westwood were numbered
when, on Dec. 9, Guerrero fired head football coach Bob Toledo,
lamenting a program that he called “not a healthy
environment.”
After the Bruins dropped to 4-7 with a home loss to St.
John’s, it was rumored that Lavin had considered resigning.
And almost as quickly as the coach denied the rumors, Guerrero said
he would not fire Lavin midseason.
“My decision to let Steve coach the remainder of the year
was one I felt very strongly about,” Guerrero said.
Just days ago, many thought Guerrero’s announcement would
take place even earlier. The Bruins sputtered to a 9-18
regular-season record and just barely squeaked into the Pac-10
Tournament.
But in classic Lavin fashion, UCLA upset the No. 1 Wildcats in
overtime, and Lavin earned a stay of execution. The next day, with
Lavin’s job once again on the line, the Bruins blew an
11-point lead in the final three minutes in a loss to Oregon.
“While we had a good run at the end, it was reflective of
a theme, of a pattern of us peaking late,” Guerrero.
“When I talk about the consistency you need to reach the next
level, (UCLA’s performance this season) was not consistent
with that.”
Lavin, always the optimist but always the realist when it came
to his employment situation, seemed to come to the same
realization.
“In my previous six years our teams enjoyed a series of
successful seasons and a very strong NCAA tournament record, but
change is a constant in life, and it is certainly given in the
coaching profession,” he said in a statement.
And so, just three months after finding a new UCLA football
coach, Guerrero’s search for a coach begins again (see the
Daily Bruin’s list of potential candidates on page six), this
time to fill one of the most coveted (and difficult) positions in
all of sports.
“During the course of the last week, a lot of phone calls,
e-mails and faxes have come to my office from individuals
anticipating a decision being made,” Guerrero said. “So
there’s obviously interest.”