Lavin Gets the Gig : Interim Status Is Replaced by 4-Year Vote of Confidence

With a mixture of relief and redemption, the UCLA administration ended three months of turmoil and intrigue Tuesday by removing one word from a title.

Coach Steve Lavin, interim no more.

Lavin, the excitable 32-year-old who inherited both a basketball team and a dizzying array of problems on an interim basis after Jim Harrick was dismissed Nov. 6, agreed to a four-year contract extension that binds him to the school through June 30, 2001.

Both Chancellor Charles E. Young and Athletic Director Peter T. Dalis credited Lavin with restoring a sense of responsibility and discipline to the Bruin basketball program that both men implied had been lost during the end of Harrick’s tenure.

After a struggling, 3-3 start, UCLA has won eight of 11 Pacific 10 Conference games, has come back three times with victories after draining defeats and is tied for first place with USC in the conference.

“I think what Steve Lavin has done in a period of time since I was back here at this table a few months ago [to announce Harrick’s firing] is unbelievable--or very nearly unbelievable,” Young said at a news conference Tuesday.

Dalis said that the decision to formalize Lavin’s position was made more than a week ago, but that it was not set until he, Young and Vice Chancellor Peter Blackman met on Monday, then brought their contract extension proposal to Lavin.

Lavin, a bit surprisingly, took in the decision quietly and soberly, saying that he had been so focused on winning each game that he never let the uncertain situation overwhelm his thoughts.

For Lavin, who spent five years as Harrick’s assistant and is the son of Bay Area basketball legend Cappy Lavin, the decision was a tribute to the way his players have rebounded from the loss of their coach, from an opening-game defeat, from a historic loss to Stanford, from just about every sort of distraction that could have been imagined.

“We’ve grown together,” Lavin said. “We’ve banded together through some adversity, and hopefully that’s something they’ll carry with them the rest of their lives.

“Beyond the jump shots, the wins and losses, you hope they look back 30 or 40 years from now and remember this difficult year as the time we really came together and rallied around each other and did some special things for the team and the university.”

John Wooden, the program’s patriarch who has seen six coaches come and go since he retired in 1975, said he was glad the school found its man so quickly and decisively.

“I’m not surprised. I thought he’d been doing a fine job,” Wooden said. “I feel that the sooner the decision of this type was made, the better it would be for the program as a whole.

“I certainly think in the short time that he’s had the job, I think he’s established himself. I believe the players are beginning to respect him, which is what you need.

“I think it’ll have a settling influence, and certainly they need that. I think the discipline, for one thing, certainly has been outstanding. It’s a demonstration from some youngsters that haven’t shown a lot of that in the past.”

The new deal is expected to move Lavin, who will make a total of $175,000 this season (and is only two years removed from his $16,000 restricted-earnings coach salary), into a salary structure very near football Coach Bob Toledo’s total compensation package of $285,000. Terms were not announced.

Dalis said any implication that the school settled for the cheapest way out in this search was incorrect, and denied that the school could not compete for top-name talent, saying that he was authorized to spend market value for a new coach.

“It’s competitive with some of the best programs in the country,” Lavin said. “That’s how I know, obviously, finances was not a factor.

“All I know is, when I told Coach [Gene] Keady how much I was going to make, ‘He went, ‘Wheee-eeew! Way to go Lav!’ ”

The biggest, most immediate impact for him and the program, Lavin said, will be in recruiting. Santa Monica Crossroads point guard Baron Davis, who said in September he would attend UCLA but decided not to sign after Harrick was fired, has apparently said he would consider UCLA strongly again if Lavin was made coach.

“For our basketball program, in the immediate sense, it’s going to give us a great injection for recruiting,” Lavin said, “because people know who the head coach is now. So do the families of recruits, the recruits themselves, the high school coaches of those recruits, they now know the Steve Lavin era has begun.”

More than victories, Young emphasized that, in the wake of the ugly Harrick dismissal, the school cherished Lavin’s sense of discipline. Lavin benched central players Jelani McCoy and Kris Johnson twice for minor infractions, and benched J.R. Henderson three times.

“I think it was important to see a lot of things from Coach Lavin, and we saw them all: integrity, hard work, determination, honesty, basketball sense, the ability to work well with the players that he’s coaching, ability to communicate with alumni, supporters and fans,” Young said.

“I think it’s an amazing story of what he has done in molding a group of people into a team, in representing the university in the way the university ought to be represented and putting his priorities where they ought to be and making that clear to those who are playing for him, to his associates and to the public generally.”

Said Dalis: “I told Steve that any time he wants to sit all his starters down, for the right reason, and we lose a basketball game, it’s all right with me.”

When asked Tuesday if her husband would comment on Lavin’s hiring, Harrick’s wife, Sally, said, “I don’t think so. Really don’t care.”

Dalis said he contacted eight coaches during the informal stages of his search but cut off any contacts about two weeks ago when he figured that the best man for the job was already doing it.

“Here we go with Lav,” said Pepperdine Coach Lorenzo Romar, who worked with Lavin for four years at UCLA and, before withdrawing, was considered a potential candidate for this opening. “Can’t ever count him out.”

Why did UCLA make the move now, when prudence--and Dalis’ comments on the day of Harrick’s firing--would dictate waiting until the end of the season?

“Let me tell you, Steve Lavin demands your attention,” Dalis said. “I think he’s a young man that has the ingredient that I believe is going to bring something very good to UCLA.

“There was no reason to delay this any longer. Steve was the person that we had chosen to be the coach. His values are extremely important to me, personally.”

Also, Dalis emphasized that alumni and various other supporters of the basketball program had loudly rallied to Lavin’s side, urging the school to make his position permanent.

“I think they’ve been hungering for an environment and a behavior they can be proud of,” Dalis said. “And they’ve witnessed that since Steve has taken over. The discipline, the kinds of things that people care about and values that we care about, they’re beginning to witness on the floor.”

Lavin first caught his attention, Dalis said, in the days after the 1994 first-round NCAA tournament loss to Tulsa, when then-restricted-earnings assistant Lavin explained to him why he thought the team was not meeting its potential.

“I commented among my staff that this young guy is going to go a long way,” Dalis said. “And I’ve watched him grow since then. I told him that timing is everything in life.

“The time is right for Steve, and the time is right for UCLA.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LAVIN BY THE NUMBERS

0: Years of head coaching experience

2: Years as fulltime assistant coach

4: Number of seasons in his new contract

10: Number of coaches who held the UCLA head coaching job before him

13: Number of victories as the interim Bruin coach

32: Age makes him fifth-youngest coach out of 306 Division I basketball jobs

Top Coaches

UCLA COACHES

*--*

COACH (YEARS) W-L PCT Fred W. Cozzens (1919-21) 20-4 .833 Caddy Works (1921-39) 172-159 .521 Wilbur Johns (1939-48) 93-120 .437 John Wooden (1948-75) 620-147 .808 Gene Bartow (1975-77) 52-9 .852 Gary Cunningham (1977-79) 50-8 .862 Larry Brown (1979-81) 42-17 .712 Larry Farmer (1981-84) 61-23 .726 Walt Hazzard (1984-88) 77-47 .621 Jim Harrick (1988-96) 191-63 .752 Steve Lavin (1996-present) 13-7 .650

*--*

WINNINGEST COACHES ALL-TIME

(Minimum 10 years as Division I coach)

*--*

COACH W-L PCT Clair Bee 412-87 .826 Jerry Tarkanian 663-141 .825 Adolph Rupp 876-190 .822 John Wooden 664-162 .804 Dean Smith 866-253 .774 Harry Fisher 147-44 .770 Frank Keaney 387-117 .768 George Keogan 385-117 .767 Jack Ramsay 231-71 .765 Vic Bubas 213-67 .761

*--*

WINNINGEST ACTIVE COACHES

(Minimum five years as Division I coach)

*--*

COACH W-L PCT Jerry Tarkanian 663-141 .825 Roy Williams 239-57 .807 John Kresse 433-111 .796 Dean Smith 866-253 .774 Jim Boeheim 497-168 .747 Bill Herrion 129-44 .746 Nolan Richardson 509-176 .743

*--*

MOST COACHING VICTORIES (ACTIVE)

Dean Smith: 866

James Phelan: 768

Bob Knight: 696

Norm Stewart: 690

Don Haskins: 687

Lefty Driesell: 680

Jerry Tarkanian: 663

MOST COACHING VICTORIES (ALL-TIME)

Adolph Rupp: 876

Dean Smith: 866

Clarence Gaines: 828

James Phelan: 768

Henry Iba: 767

Ed Diddle: 759

Phog Allen: 746

Ray Meyer: 724

Jerry Johnson: 697

Bob Knight: 696

FIRST-YEAR RECORD OF BRUIN COACHES

*--*

COACH, Year W-L PCT Fred Cozens, 1919 12-2 .957 Caddy Works, 1921 9-1 .900 Wilbur Johns, 1939 8-17 .320 John Wooden, 1948 8-17 .320 Gene Bartow, 1975 28-4 .875 Gary Cunningham, 1977 25-3 .893 Larry Brown, 1979 22-10 .688 Larry Farmer, 1981 21-6 .778 Walt Hazzard, 1984 21-12 .636 Jim Harrick, 1988 21-10 .677

*--*

YOUNGEST ACTIVE COACHES

*--*

COACH, School Age Joe Dooley, East Carolina 31 years, 1 month Bruiser Flint, Mass. 31 years, 6 months Billy Donovan, Florida 31 years, 9 months Steve Alford, SW Missouri St. 32 yrs, 3 mos Steve Lavin, UCLA 32 years, 5 months

*--*

YOUNGEST COACHES OF ALL-TIME

*--*

COACH, Year School Age Phog Allen, 1907 Kansas 22 yrs, 25 days Branch McCracken, 1930 Ball St. 22 yrs, 5 mos. Stan Morrison, 1972 Pacific 23 yrs, 1 month Bobby Knight, 1965 Army 25 yrs, 1 month Rick Pitino, 1978 Boston 26 yrs, 2 months

*--*

UCLA COACHES BY AGE

(First-year ages since John Wooden)

Steve Lavin: 32

Jim Harrick: 49

Walt Hazzard: 41

Larry Farmer: 30

Larry Brown: 38

Gary Cunningham: 37

Gene Bartow: 43

John Wooden: 37

UCLA, GAME BY GAME

*--*

Date Result 11-20-96 L, Tulsa, 77-76 12-3-96 W, CS Northridge, 95-73 12-7-96 L, Kansas, 96-83 12-14-96 W, Ohio, 72-61 12-17-96 W, Jackson St., 93-67 12-23-96 L, Illinois, 79-63 12-24-96 W, St. Louis, 64-57 12-28-96 W, Morgan St. 87-72 1-2-97 W, Washington St., 84-56 1-4-97 W, Washington, 79-70 1-9-97 L, Stanford, 109-61 1-11-97 W, California, 64-56 1-16-97 W, Arizona St., 79-62 1-18-97 W, Arizona, 84-78 1-23-97 W, USC, 96-87 1-25-97 L, Louisville, 74-71 1-30-97 L, Oregon, 87-85 2-1-97 W, Oregon St., 74-68 2-6-97 L, California, 71-68 2-8-97 W, Stanford, 87-68

*--*

LAST SEASON VS. THIS SEASON

*--*

1996-97 Cat 1995-96 78.3 Points 77.4 73.4 Opp. Pts. 70.6 .525 FG% .528 .416 Opp. FG% .413 .677 FT% .675 .316 3-pt. FG% .276 36.5 Rebounds 37.3 33.9 Opp. Reb. 31.3 16.1 Assists 16.4

*--*