Amid speculation that he is in line to succeed Steve Lavin at
UCLA, Pittsburgh men’s basketball coach Ben Howland met with
his players Monday but gave no indication about whether or not he
is headed to Westwood.
Howland, who interviewed with Bruin Athletic Director Dan
Guerrero and Associate Athletic Director Betsy Stephenson in Santa
Barbara on Sunday, declined to comment on the UCLA job after the
meeting.
Some of his current players, however, were much more
outspoken.
“Coach Howland is not going anywhere,” senior guard
Brandin Knight told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I
don’t think anybody around here’s worried about it.
He’s built a great program here. He is not going to
UCLA.”
The only candidate to interview for the UCLA job thus far,
Howland is widely assumed to be the Bruins’ top choice. He
declared that coaching at UCLA was his “dream job” last
week but has also expressed reluctance about leaving a Pittsburgh
program that has been on the rise lately.
“Given that my family roots are in California and my
parents live there, I felt compelled to look at the potential
opportunity,” the Santa Barbara native said in a statement
issued Monday by Pittsburgh. “I have a tremendous situation
at the University of Pittsburgh. We are building something very
special here, and it would take an extraordinary set of
circumstances for me to leave.”
Whether or not coaching at UCLA is the opportunity which Howland
is waiting for remains to be seen.
The Associate Press National Coach of the Year in 2002, Howland
signed a seven-year contract with Pittsburgh after last season
reportedly worth just over $800,000 per year, but the deal contains
a buyout. UCLA is expected to offer about $1 million, but
Pittsburgh interim Athletic Director Mark Boehm is reportedly
trying to restructure Howland’s current deal to make it even
more lucrative.
While Boehm is unhappy with what he perceived as UCLA’s
failure to seek permission to speak with Howland, Guerrero
vehemently denied the accusation.
“UCLA made contact with University of Pittsburgh athletic
director Marc Boehm prior to making contact with Coach Howland and
scheduling a meeting,” Guerrero said in a statement Monday
evening.
“We feel very confident that our process has been and will
continue to be conducted in a professional manner that is
consistent with the custom and practice of our industry.”