I walked into class on Halloween, after an exhausting weekend
involving a football game that took a lot of energy out of me, and
took my regular seat at the back of class.
I noticed everyone around me reading the Daily Bruin stories
about the comeback victory of the Bruin football team in Palo
Alto.
After setting up, our professor got in his ready stance to
present the class with another lecture ““ the last thing I
wanted to hear on a Monday morning. But before he began, he
applauded the efforts of the football team and asked how many of us
had seen the game, causing many to cheer loudly.
Amid the ruckus that the professor had caused by bringing up the
game, I heard a female voice in the back say something to the
effect of “Football isn’t the only sport at this
school, you know?” and I turned around to see where it had
come from.
After making eye contact with her, I realized she was by no
means a football player. Nor was she a basketball player. However,
she was a UCLA athlete ““ and was, without a doubt, enraged at
the fact that the less popular sports tend to go unrecognized on
campus.
I didn’t think much of the comment. I assumed she had said
it in frustration in the spur of the moment. But I haven’t
stopped thinking about the bigger picture since then.
Why don’t most students and Bruin fans pay more attention,
if any at all, to the teams with less popularity but higher
national rankings?
Sure, the football team had been having a tremendous season thus
far, going 8-1 so far. Don’t get me wrong ““ I
understand this and I am in no way trying to downplay their
success.
But why didn’t the women’s water polo team get this
much recognition around campus last year when they went an absurd
33 games without losing, en route a national championship?
Something about the whole picture I painted seems just a bit
unfair.
If that’s not enough, let’s step back and take a
look at coaches who are establishing great programs at UCLA.
There has been much-deserved hype surrounding men’s
basketball coach Ben Howland for his ability to turn programs
around in a matter of years, just as he did in Pittsburgh before
coming to Westwood.
And recently, football coach Karl Dorrell has been praised for
his ability to draw up and execute the right plays at the right
time late in the game.
Both are phenomenal coaches and have helped two Bruin teams jump
back onto the national scene, but that doesn’t mean we should
forget about other coaches who have consistently guided their teams
to success.
Let’s talk about Al Scates. Many readers are probably
thinking to themselves, “Al who?” But Scates has led
the UCLA men’s volleyball team to a ridiculous 18 national
titles in 42 years as head coach.
Scates’ player-turned-UCLA women’s volleyball coach,
Andy Banachowski, is approaching his 1,000th win as a coach, a mark
that no other women’s volleyball coach is anywhere close
to.
Since we’re already talking about marks that nobody else
can compare with, let’s take a look at the young career of
men’s and women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian.
Krikorian is entering his seventh year as the coach of both
teams and has won a combined seven national titles with the two
teams. He has also accomplishing something even the epitome of
phenomenal coaches ““ John Wooden ““ considered
extraordinary: He won titles with both teams in the same year. Not
just once, but twice.
Men’s tennis coach Billy Martin is only the fourth coach
of the team and has had three roles with the program: as a player,
as an assistant coach and now as head coach.
Although he just recorded his first national title in his 10th
year as the Bruins’ coach last year, Martin has kept the
Bruins consistent throughout his tenure, making it customary to
reach the national tournament.
Martin was heralded as one of the top junior players, capturing
the Junior Wimbledon, Junior U.S. Open and Junior Orange Bowl
titles in 1973 and 1974.
In fact, Martin was dubbed “Junior Player of the
Century” by Inside Tennis Magazine. Why haven’t
students heard of his success on all different levels of the
game?
Something needs to be done to help get these high-caliber
coaches the recognition they deserve.
However, not just the coaches deserve honor ““ their teams
do too.
UCLA leads every other college in cumulative NCAA titles and is
looking to be the first team to capture 100 championships by adding
three more to their count by the end of the year.
When broken down, however, the men’s basketball team has
captured 11 titles, 10 of which came between 1964 and 1975, with
the most recent coming in 1995.
And although 11 seems like a big number, let me put things into
perspective. The men’s volleyball team has double that count
and has at least one title in every decade since the 1960s, showing
a strong consistency over time, something basketball and football
have been unable to do.
UCLA’s softball team has accumulated just as many titles
as the men’s basketball team but hasn’t gotten nearly
the same appreciation or support.
This list of accomplishments is similar to many of the other
teams here at UCLA, a fact that few people seem to recognize or
admire.
Let’s be real. I think it would be fair to say that if any
of our recent national championship-receiving teams were unable to
make it close to the top of their sports on the national level, it
would be just as surprising as football or basketball doing
extremely well.
This is proof of just how good these teams are and how they are
taken for granted by many UCLA fans, professors and ““ most
importantly ““ students.
If Bruin fans want to make the claim to be the first school to
capture 100 NCAA national titles, they better start cheering for
the sports that will be helping to contribute, not just football
and basketball.
E-mail Behniwal at abehniwal@media.ucla.edu if you feel that
your sport doesn’t get the respect it deserves.