Jeff Agase Agase would much rather see
3-2 turn into 25-5 than see 6-0 turn into 7-4. Use your study break
to e-mail him at agase@ucla.edu.
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"UCLA will never be an elite program with Steve Lavin as head
coach.”
“Can’t coach his way out of a wet paper
bag.”
“Lavin’s got more excuses than a man going to
jail.”
And that’s just what they’re saying on Internet
message boards. The profanity-laden student section is worse.
WebSportsman.com says that deer season is right around the
corner, but it seems Lavin season has come a month or two early
this year.
First, however, let’s get this much out of the way. The
Bruins are 5-2. The two losses looked absolutely awful. Steve
Lavin’s Bruins gave some of the most uninspired efforts this
side of last month’s USC football game. There is little
reason to stick up for Steve Lavin.
Right now, you’re nodding your head, maybe even contorting
your facial muscles into one of those sadistic John Gruden scowls.
You hate Steve Lavin. You hate losing to Pepperdine, Ball State,
Colorado State, Washington, Cal State North ““ heck, you hate
that you can remember all those games.
But it’s Dec. 10. Steve Lavin isn’t going anywhere.
There’s a chance this team isn’t either ““ but
that’s not likely. It’s simply not the time to decide
that Steve Lavin is done coaching at UCLA.
Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a waste of valuable
advertising space to make excuses for a guy who has had plenty of
chances. I’m just as tired as you are of hearing,
“Steve Lavin is one of only three coaches to take his team to
the Sweet 16 four of the last five seasons,” or “Steve
Lavin has the highest winning percentage among sixth-year
coaches.”
But I’m not ready to give up on this guy six games into
the season. Sure, they’ve looked disjointed in the wins, even
worse in the losses. They let a guy with a Calista Flockhart build
and the nickname “Colonel” Jimmy Miggins make like a
Ginsu through their defense for 20 points.
It’s nothing new. Under Lavin, the Bruins have suffered
annual Fall-Quarter meltdowns, only to come back strong in February
to re-win the hearts of UCLA faithful.
The typical Lavin team is like a dog that can’t seem to
control itself. You come home from a tough day, only to see a
stinky loss to CSUN or a smelly upset from Pepperdine. The easy
solution is to just get rid of the thing. Toss it out and you
won’t have to deal with a house that smells like the outside
of Hedrick Dining Hall.
But let it stick around, and after a rough day, you’ll
come home to an emphatic welcome, maybe an upset win over Stanford
at Maples Pavilion, perhaps a court-rushing victory over Arizona at
Pauley.
This team has laid a couple of dookies so far. But don’t
kick the head dog out just yet.
U.S. News and World Report seems to think we’re the 26th
smartest college kids in the country, or something like that.
Let’s show them we’re smarter ““ that we can look
past a lackluster start and be rational.
That doesn’t mean we should give Lavin a “Get Out of
Unemployment Free” card. Far from it. This year has the feel
of an on-the-job interview, and it should. These are all guys Lavin
recruited, running Lavin’s game plan, playing for
Lavin’s job ““ with the ominous possibility of a new
athletic director waiting in the wings next summer, ready to start
anew.
Come March, we might all be calling for Lavin’s head, but
December isn’t the time to roll out the guillotine. This team
could do anything from slide to a low seed to win the Pac-10
tournament and lock up a No.1 seed.
The easy thing right now is to complain about how disorganized
this team looks. That usually goes right back to coaching, which
means it goes right back to Lavin. But it’s been the same
story the last few years ““ a sloppy UCLA team drops a few
games before New Year’s, pulls it all together and knocks off
a couple of good Pac-10 teams.
Of course, that’s not going to be enough this year. Too
many people are too tired of Sweet-16 losses.
But it’s not fair to Lavin ““ and definitely not fair
to these players ““ to write the guy off one-fifth of the way
into the season, when his biggest games are still ahead of him.
It’s more sensible to give Lavin the remainder of this
year to show what he can do, free from employment distractions, and
then make a very hard-nosed evaluation. If he doesn’t get the
job done, a serious decision should be made. It’s fair to
Lavin and fair to us restless fans.
So rather than a knee-jerk cry of “Can Lavin!”
perhaps it’s more appropriate and rational to ask, “Can
Lavin finally pull this thing together?”
Once we know the answer, we’ll have our solution. But that
won’t come for another four months. Until then, let’s
make like a certain coach’s hair and keep still.