Coaching Against Lavin Is Noteworthy for Johnson

Steve Lavin and Mike Johnson combed through their memories the way they wear their hair . . . back, back, back . . . all the way to their days as starving students at Purdue.

Lavin, the UCLA coach, was a graduate assistant, low man on the Boilermaker coaching staff. Johnson, Cal State Northridge associate head coach, was an undergraduate statistician and team manager whose favorite class was on basketball coaching philosophy.

The instructor was Lavin.

“That’s where I met Mike and we became friends,” Lavin said. “The class was very popular not only with students who had designs on coaching careers, but also with students from other majors who were just basketball fanatics.”

Johnson qualified on both counts. He earned an A in the class, and during summer breaks accompanied Lavin to Northern California to work at a basketball camp run by Lavin’s father.

“Steve was my mentor,” Johnson said. “He helped me get started in coaching. He and his father had six camps then and it’s grown to about 20 now.”

Johnson became something of a roving camp instructor, traveling the nation in search of weeklong work.

“I was a hobo, staying in tents or with assistant coaches,” he said. “I did that for three years.”

He did plenty of networking along the way, and met a veteran coach from Northridge named Pete Cassidy, whose strategies Johnson studied in the class taught by Lavin.

After graduating in December 1991, Johnson set out on the road again, spending a few days at many different schools, studying at the feet of coaches at Stanford, Nevada Las Vegas, California, Montana and UCLA.

“I’d stay with an assistant, go to practice and take notes,” Johnson said. “I was a traveling freak trying to learn something about basketball.”

Cassidy put an end to Johnson’s wandering ways in February 1992, hiring him as a part-time assistant. Within a month, the position of full-time assistant opened and Johnson slid right in.

“Steve and I stay in touch,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’t say we’re real close, but I’d definitely say he’s my mentor.

“Everything he touches turns to gold. It’s because of hard work. I’m trying to succeed like he has.”

*

Normally coaches study videotape of an opponent’s most recent game.

The first UCLA tape Coach Bobby Braswell of Northridge watched was of a game played two years ago--the Bruins’ 95-73 victory over the Matadors during Braswell’s first season.

Never mind that no current Northridge player was in the game, or that everyone in the probable UCLA starting lineup was in high school at the time. Braswell was reminding himself how he responded to moves made by Lavin.

Of course, Braswell also spent considerable time studying these Bruins, who are 5-2 and riding a three-game winning streak.

“They are a young team, as we are a young team,” Braswell said. “They are a very big team and very skilled.

“But I believe we will be ready and we will be competitive. We are going on the floor to win, not just to make it close.”

*

In three seasons under Lavin, UCLA has lost only to one team--Oregon--that did not advance to the NCAA tournament.

And he views Northridge as something of a third-generation stepchild.

“The way [the Matadors] play is similar to Kansas,” he said. “Braswell comes from the Jerry Green family and Green from the Roy Williams family.”

Before coming to Northridge, Braswell was an assistant to Green at Oregon. Green, now the Tennessee coach, was an assistant to Williams at Kansas from 1988-92.

“They play a strong transition game, have a great half-court motion offense and great pressure defense,” Lavin said. “Northridge is always competitive.”

Look for Lavin to spread playing time more generously than against a Pacific 10 opponent.

“These are games where you hope you can play more guys more minutes,” he said.

“You can get a look at more players and build their confidence.”

*

Rico Harris, the 6-9 forward who has missed the last three games because of a hip pointer, is questionable.

Harris, averaging 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds, practiced Wednesday and Friday but sat out Thursday.