Former Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland will succeed Steve Lavin as
UCLA head coach, the university announced late Wednesday night.
Howland, who led the Panthers to the Sweet 16 the past two
years, reportedly signed a seven-year contract and will be formally
introduced at a press conference this morning at the Morgan
Center.
“I am honored to be the head basketball coach at
UCLA,” the Santa Barbara native Howland said in a statement
released by the university last night. “I have an
appreciation for what these four letters mean in the world of
college basketball. We should be competing for the Pac-10 title and
a high seed in the NCAA tournament year-in and year-out.”
Howland, 45, takes over a UCLA program that stumbled to a 10-19
record this year, its first losing season in 55 years. He has been
rumored to be the front-runner for the job since January, when it
became clear that Lavin would not return.
Although UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero reportedly
considered a number of other high-profile candidates including
Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Utah’s Rick Majerus, it appears
Howland was the Bruins’ top choice from the start. He was the
only candidate to formally interview for the job, and ultimately
his West Coast ties and winning track record were too difficult for
Guerrero to pass up.
“Ben Howland is an outstanding basketball coach, one of
the best in the entire country,” Guerrero said in a
statement. “He is the man we want to run our
program.”
“He has built winning programs throughout his career, and
we expect that he will return UCLA basketball to the nation’s
elite.”
The terms of the contract were not released, but his deal
reportedly could top $1 million per season with incentives. That is
considerably more than the $578,000 Lavin earned last year, but a
source close to the program said a significant amount of the
difference is being donated by alumni.
Some of that money will have to be put toward getting Howland
out of his contract at Pittsburgh. The buyout is reportedly worth
around $700,000, but according to published reports, part of that
sum is being funded by boosters and Adidas, the shoe company
sponsoring both UCLA and Pittsburgh.
“A lot of people are willing to give money for a new
coach,” the source said. “People were offering Guerrero
the money.”
When it became clear that Howland was seriously considering
coming to Westwood, Pittsburgh made every effort to retain the man
who had rebuilt its program.
Although Howland had signed a seven-year, $5.9 million contract
after the 2001-02 season, the school reportedly tried to
renegotiate the deal to be worth about $1.1 million per year.
But Howland, who called UCLA his “dream job” last
week, couldn’t resist the chance to return to West Coast and
lead the program he had fallen in love with as a boy.
“Having grown up in Southern California as a Bruin fan,
watching televised replays of the games was special to me,”
Howland said. “To be the head coach of this program is
something I dreamed about, but never thought possible.”
Howland’s vision moved closer to becoming a reality after
meeting with Guerrero and associate athletic director Betsy
Stephenson on Sunday at a hotel in Santa Barbara. One of the key
negotiating points for Howland was to land lucrative deals for his
staff ““ particularly long-time assistant Jamie Dixon, one of
the top recruiters in the business.
It is unknown whether Dixon, one of the leading candidates for
several head coaching positions, including the jobs at Wright
State, Illinois State and Pittsburgh, will be a member of the
future UCLA coaching staff or not.
The 2001-02 national coach of the year, Howland has amassed a
career record of 168-99 in nine years as a head coach ““ five
at Northern Arizona and four at Pittsburgh. He brings renewed
passion and confidence to a squad that appeared to lack both of
those qualities throughout the season.
“We are excited about bringing Ben back to the West
Coast,” Guerrero said. “We are excited about the future
of Bruin basketball.”