Under Harrick, UCLA Rediscovers Success

Fifteen frustrating years and six coaches after the John Wooden era, UCLA basketball is stable and successful again.

The Bruins dominated their sport during the 1960s and early 1970s, winning 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span.

But they haven’t won a national title since the legendary Wooden retired following the 1974-75 season, and the most reliable thing about the program since then has been its unreliability.

Two years ago, the Bruins hit an all-time low--they went 16-14 in 1987-88, and Walt Hazzard, the fifth UCLA head coach since Wooden retired, was fired after the season.

Then, it seemed as if nobody wanted the job. Larry Brown and Jim Valvano were considered but later withdrew. Finally, Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick, an assistant at UCLA for two years in the late 1970s, was hired. He said he didn’t mind that he wasn’t the first choice for the job, he was just happy to get it.

“I think Jim will be around for a while,” Wooden said by telephone from his home in nearby Encino. “I think it’s a job he always wanted.

“Next to (Gene) Bartow, I think he was the best qualified of anyone they’ve had.”

The record is proving Wooden right. So far this season, the Bruins are 11-2--their best start in seven years--and ranked No. 16. Entering a game at Stanford tonight, UCLA is tied for first with No. 18 Oregon State in the Pacific-10 Conference with a 5-0 record.

And Wooden believes the Bruins may be ready for bigger and better things.

“From what I’ve seen, I think UCLA under Jim is on the verge where they could be in contention for the national championship every year,” Wooden said. “I’d never say should, I’d say could.

“I think UCLA is getting on the verge where they’re going to have to be considered every year. They might never win it. A lot of schools never win it. But the only thing you can hope for is to be in contention every year.”

The Bruins, with only two starters back, rebounded from the 16-14 finish of 1987-88 to go 21-10 last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament, losing to North Carolina after a victory over Iowa State.

The 50-year-old Harrick isn’t talking national championship right now but he’s satisfied with his team’s progress.

“With eight freshmen and sophomores on our team, a young back court in terms of decision-making, we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “I never thought we’d go undefeated. We’ve been tested on the road. I feel good about where we are.”

Wooden said he’s impressed that Harrick is recruiting local players instead of going outside the state.

One of those local players--sophomore forward Don MacLean from the Simi Valley--leads the team with a 19.4-point scoring average. A group of talented freshmen led by Tracy Murray, the top prep scorer in the country a year ago for Glendora High, have already made an impact.

The only senior starter is forward Trevor Wilson, a graduate of nearby Cleveland High. Sophomores Darrick Martin (from Long Beach’s St. Anthony’s High) and Gerald Madkins open at guard and junior Keith Owens (a walk-on from Encino) joins MacLean and Wilson up front.

Murray and Mitchell Butler, another freshman from nearby Oakwood High, play prominent roles off the bench. Other freshmen counted on in the future are 6-foot-11 center Rodney Odom, a redshirt from Kingwood, Tex., and forward Zan Mason, another local from Westchester High.

Martin, one of the most heavily recruited high school players in the country in 1988, had signed a national letter of intent with UCLA but didn’t want to honor it after Hazzard was fired.

Harrick convinced him to come aboard, though, and also signed the heavily recruited MacLean, reportedly headed for Georgia Tech. Then came the outstanding freshmen crop of this year.

UCLA is among the handful of schools under consideration by Ed O’Bannon of Artesia High, one of the nation’s top prep forwards.

The Bruins obviously are building toward something big, but how big remains to be seen. Certainly, no team could ever win 10 NCAA titles in 12 years again, right?

“I’m asked that a lot,” Wooden said. “I sometimes answer my feelings on that with a question--did you think it was possible when it was done?

“People talk about parity, I say in the 10 years we won the championship, we played against 10 different opponents. The years we didn’t win it, there were different teams there, too.”