UCLA denies report saying Ben Howland has been fired

[UPDATED at 10:07 a.m. UCLA issued the following statement Saturday night regarding Howland’s status.

“Contrary to multiple media reports this evening, UCLA has not fired men’s basketball coach Ben Howland,” said UCLA Athletics spokesman Nick Ammazzalorso.

Additionally, the Los Angeles Times spoke with Howland, who denied he had been told he would be let go and he has not yet spoken with Athletic Director Dan Guerrero.]

A Yahoo

Sports report released Saturday evening states that Ben Howland has been fired after 10 seasons as UCLA’s head basketball coach.

The report says Howland was notified he would be fired on Saturday, and an official announcement from the school is expected within the next two days.

Howland led the Bruins to three consecutive Final Fours in his third, fourth and fifth seasons but has not advanced out of the NCAA tournament’s first weekend since 2008 and missed the tournament entirely in two of the last four seasons.

His latest exit came on Friday night when the No. 24 and sixth-seeded Bruins were eliminated by the unranked No. 11 seed Minnesota Golden Gophers by way of an 83-63 loss in the second round.

The season began with lofty expectations and a top-five recruiting class, but controversy swirled around freshman Shabazz Muhammad, who missed the first three games of the season when he was ruled ineligible by the NCAA. UCLA was also forced to change Muhammad’s birthday in its media guide on Friday when a Los Angeles Times story showed his father made him out to be a year older than originally thought.

Juniors Tyler Lamb and Joshua Smith also transferred out of the program in late November, the last two in a long list of transfers. Howland finished the season with just seven healthy scholarship players. During a season in which UCLA won the Pac-12 regular season championship and finished second in the Pac-12 Tournament, Howland was forced to partially abandon his defense-first principles in an effort to pick up the pace on offense.

An investigative Sports Illustrated story released last season depicted Howland as a coach who had lost control of his program and had difficulty connecting with his players. He admitted to making mistakes in recruiting and character evaluations and vowed to improve in those areas.

Howland’s contract – which was extended in 2008 – runs through the 2014-2015 season.

Compiled by Sam Strong, Bruin Sports senior staff.