Smiling from ear to ear, Ben Howland was formally introduced as
the UCLA head men’s basketball coach on Thursday.
The 45-year-old Southern California native glowed as UCLA
Athletic Director Dan Guerrero made the formal announcement in
front of a horde of broadcast media, print media, boosters, UCLA
administrators and Howland’s family in the J.D. Morgan
Center.
“It is great to be here. This is such an exciting day, and
I relish the opportunity to coach here at UCLA,” Howland
said. “This is a dream come true for me, to be able to chase
a dream that I once thought unimaginable.”
Howland, who had coached Pittsburgh for the past four seasons,
made clear that turning a disheveled UCLA basketball program around
will require time and energy.
But he was optimistic that through successful recruiting and a
renewed commitment to basketball fundamentals, UCLA will once again
be a top national program.
Howland repeatedly discussed the importance of attracting top
recruits in order to turn the program around.
“Recruits are the lifeblood of the program,” he
said. “We are going to be able to attract the very best
players in the West, to start with. But we will also look
nationally, just like any elite program.”
But with no scholarships available this year, and only two
opening up next year, Howland knows it will be difficult to attract
a plethora of top players right away.
Therefore, he will have to make do with the personnel that
former head coach Steve Lavin has left for him.
“I don’t have a great feel for our players yet, but
I am looking forward to studying that,” he said.
He met with the players on Thursday morning in Pauley Pavilion.
Everyone showed up on time, and all of the players sat in a
semicircle in the locker room while Howland introduced himself.
Howland said he plans to meet with the players individually on
Monday, after he gets back from the Final Four in New Orleans and a
trip back to Pittsburgh to say goodbye to his former Pitt team.
“There is a clean slate for everyone in the program, in
terms of everything,” Howland said. “It starts
today.”
The timeline
The process of hiring Howland started after his Pittsburgh team
lost to Marquette in the semifinals of the Midwest regional on
Thursday, March 27.
“On Friday, I knew right away what I wanted to do ““
to pursue this opportunity,” Howland said. “So I asked
a friend to contact Dan (Guerrero).”
Guerrero told the friend he was interested in talking to
Howland, but that Pittsburgh administrators had to be notified
first.
After telling Pitt athletic officials that he intended to
interview Howland, Guerrero contacted Howland directly and made
arrangements to meet him in person.
“On Saturday afternoon, I hooked up with Ben and set a
meeting for Sunday,” Guerrero said.
Guerrero and Associate Athletic Director Betsy Stephenson went
to a Santa Barbara hotel to meet with Howland on Sunday.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Casey Wasserman, the
grandson of deceased movie studio founder Lew Wasserman, provided a
private plane to take Howland from Pittsburgh to California.
After going back to Pittsburgh to meet with his players on
Monday, Howland flew back to Los Angeles (in the private jet) with
his agent on Tuesday morning to begin negotiations on the
contract.
Details of the contract were worked out, and Howland met with
Chancellor Albert Carnesale last night at the chancellor’s
on-campus residence.
“The principles of the agreement were already worked out
(when he met with me),” Carnesale said. “I told Dan in
advance that I shouldn’t be interviewing people just for the
sake of interviewing people.”
Carnesale was impressed with all aspects of Howland, from his
demeanor to his values.
“The conversation went very well. He was our clear
selection,” Carnesale said. “In addition to being a
great coach, he clearly shares the values of UCLA, and he has great
enthusiasm.”
Just after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Carnesale gave the final OK and
welcomed Howland to UCLA.
The contract
Howland agreed to a seven-year contract that guarantees a
$900,000 per season base, not including bonuses for the following
incentives:
“¢bull;Graduation rates.
“¢bull;National Coach of the Year honors.
“¢bull;Final Four appearances.
“¢bull;Conference championships.
“¢bull;NCAA championships.
The incentives could push the value of the contract to over $1
million per season.
There is a buyout clause in the contract, in case Howland wants
to leave or is fired by the athletic department.
According to Carnesale, only $150,000 per season is coming from
public funds, per UCLA’s unofficial policy. The balance of
the contract is coming from private sources, such as boosters and
corporate sponsors.
The Panthers
Not everyone is happy about Howland jumping ship to UCLA. His
former players at Pittsburgh were devastated when they received the
news.
“He never told us anything about it up front,”
Pittsburgh center Torree Morris told the Pittsburgh Tribune.
“I think he owes us that, at least. We deserve to know
what’s going on, so we don’t have to hear it through
the media.”
Pittsburgh was in the midst of building its basketball program
around Howland. The school had signed him to a seven-year contract
worth $5.9 million after 2001-2002. They were also building a
state-of-the-art athletic facility to accommodate their new
powerhouse basketball program.
In an attempt to keep him, Pittsburgh offered to increase
Howland’s guaranteed salary to over $1.1 million per season,
but Howland instead decided to accept the UCLA offer.
Howland was popular among his former Pitt players and had a hard
time breaking the news to them.
“I tried calling them (Thursday) morning, and I left
messages on their cell phones,” Howland said. “They
were in class.”
When he is in Pittsburgh Sunday, he will meet his players to
discuss the move face-to-face with them.