By: Missak Tokhmanian
Let me preface this blog post by stating a few key points about myself. I am not a UCLA fan nor am I a UCLA hater by any stretch of the imagination, yet I find myself compelled to write about this program, and its current athletic status.
Long before the controversial Sports Illustrated article that shed some light on the basketball programs woes, I had been concerned with the direction of the program. As you all can agree, UCLA basketball is not just another Division 1 basketball program, its it the Yankee’s of the NCAA, or the Lakers to give it some SoCal flavor.
11 national titles, 17 Final Four appearance, and 30 conference titles speak for themselves. The 11 Championships is the current record and in all reality that record wont be touched for at least another few decades (Kentucky with 7 titles is the closest school record). The reason I am talking so highly about this program is that it’s veered off the track from where it once stood. UCLA basketball once was a threat on the court and off the court as other top schools tried desperately to snag a recruit here and there from the hollowed program.
Many of you will contest my next few arguments as to why the program has taken a turn for the worse, but I surely hope you will take a minute and try to see the big picture. Since 2002, Dan Guerrero has been the athletic director for UCLA; he came to Westwood from UC Irvine and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Under his watch UCLA’s most notable program, the Basketball program has not won a National Title. Am I saying every AD must produce championships or else they have failed, No, but UCLA should be held to a higher standard.
Guerrero has fired 1 basketball coach (Lavin) and hired 1 coach (Howland). In the time since his been Athletic Director UCLA has not won any national titles, just 3 Final Four appearances. In my book, a final four appearance is nothing to hang your hat on…..hold on before you say, “this guy is crazy.” In sports unless you are the last team to win a game in the season, you didn’t win it all.
Before I continue with the basketball program let me talk about the dreadful UCLA football program, since 2002 the football team has gone 64-63. In that time, Guerrero has fired 3 coaches (Toledo, Dorrell and Neuheisel) and now has hired his third coach in Jim Mora. The closest the team has come to success is being third in the PAC-10 in 2005.
Keeping that in mind, let me focus on Ben Howland for a moment. Ben Howland took UCLA to a National Championship game in his third year as coach but because of his choices in the end of the game didn’t get to cut down the net and hoist a national title trophy. After that they would not return to the title game but only the Final Four. Since 2008 Howland has made the big dance only twice and has clearly made some mistakes. I am not talking about the kinds of issues that the Sports Illustrated article mentioned. The so-called “issues” of the program that were stated in that article unfortunately occur in almost every sports team in the world. Humans have trouble working with one other person, let alone a squad of 12 men under the age of 22.
The things that bother me about Howland’s program are his attitude and choices in game. Since day 1, Howland has chose for some miraculous reason to call time outs when his own team has the momentum. I consider myself a regular basketball fan and not an expert in any way and even I understand that this idea is not always a good idea. Why would you stop the game and give your opponent a breather when you have sustained momentum and in may cases regain the lead after being behind. It is in no way rational, although there are certain situations where it might be necessary but his determined choice to make these time out calls consistently is frustrating to watch.
This is one example of his on-court issues; the other is the key to any coach’s success. That is the ability to motivate and push these young men to play at their optimal potential. I feel as though Howland has not been able to do so, in the last 3 years. His teams come out on the hardwood with an inconsistent effort, and there seems to be a disconnect between players and coaches. For proof of this do a Google image search for UCLA center Joshua Smith, this 19 year old seems to be lost. If he only knew how close he was to achieving greatness and getting the opportunity to shine in front of the worlds eyes in the NBA. I blame Joshua Smith’s lack of success on the court to Howland. As a coach you must utilize every asset you have, and I feel as though Howland does not see or appreciate the potential in Smith.
With all this being said, I conclude with this. Many people say if you complain about one coach, you better have a better coach in mind to replace him with. That coach is Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh. He is the winningest coach in Big East history and a local product from Los Angeles. He was born in Burbank and his family still lives in Los Angeles. He is young, energetic and just what this UCLA program needs. Come home, Jamie.
With a new basketball coach in mind, I feel as though Athletic Director Dan Guerrero should not be the one to make those changes as his time as AD is up. He is the highest paid AD in the PAC-12 conference and without the success of the UCLA baseball program of late he would have no major sports with success on his resume. Under his command the UCLA athletic programs in the 3 major sports (Basketball, Football and Baseball) have won zero championship. I don’t have a name to replace him with but all I know is Guerrero’s tenure should be done, its time to hit the refresh button on the once hollowed and respected UCLA athletic program.
