It’s All Patched Up Now

Recruiting is often called a war, but in this case it resulted in a truce.

For the first time since their four years together as UCLA assistants in the early 1990s, Mark Gottfried and Steve Lavin were headed in the same direction. Seated next to each other, in fact, hurtling through the sky at 600 mph on a July night in 2000, chasing prospects from one summer high school tournament to another.

A fistfight was out of the question, so they talked.

For nine hours.

On the flight from Las Vegas to Dallas. On another flight from Dallas to Atlanta. On the puddle jumper from Atlanta to Augusta, S.C.

Like some stark interrogation room in a police state, there was nowhere to hide. But neither man cracked. Instead, they clicked.

Gottfried explained why he had not supported Lavin when Jim Harrick was fired in 1996.

Lavin explained why he had not parroted Harrick’s version of the events that led to the dismissal.

Any regret Gottfried felt about taking his first head-coaching job at Murray State in 1995 and missing a chance at the UCLA position had passed. Three years at the Kentucky mid-major had catapulted him to Alabama, his alma mater and lifelong dream job.

And any longing Lavin had felt early in his tumultuous tenure as UCLA coach for Gottfried’s opportunity to grow as a coach far from the intense public scrutiny he endured in Los Angeles was behind him.

“We mended some frustrations on that flight,” Gottfried said. “We were very close when we worked together and we are close now.”

“We talked basketball and reflected on our time at UCLA and cleared up exactly what happened,” Lavin said. “I understand Mark had to choose sides and show loyalty to Harrick. Supporting me would have validated UCLA’s decision to fire Harrick and he didn’t want to do that.”

Last season, Gottfried had his own issue with Harrick, now the coach at Southeastern Conference rival Georgia. When both schools were lobbying for at-large berths in the NCAA tournament, Harrick said his team was more deserving because its schedule was stronger.

Georgia got in. Alabama did not. Gottfried was hurt by the comments from a man he’d regarded as a father figure.

“At times in promoting his program, he took some shots at ours,” Gottfried said. “He and I have talked about it and it’s water under the bridge.”

Harmony is the watchword. The John Wooden Classic fosters positive feelings, reminding coaches consumed by cutthroat competition of the more constructive reasons they got into the profession.

No. 20 UCLA (3-2) will play No. 16 Alabama (6-1) today at the Arrowhead Pond, marking the first meeting on the floor between the two 37-year-old coaches.

“I told people at the Wooden Classic that we’d be excited to play, and when they offered I didn’t hesitate,” Gottfried said. “Like so many young coaches--I’m not unique in this--I spent time with Coach Wooden and formed a relationship that has had a profound effect on how I do my job.”

Harrick hired Gottfried as a newly married graduate assistant in 1988. Crimson Tide boosters have heard the story more than once.

“We hopped into her MGB with the top down and took off for California,” Gottfried said. “We lived in a studio apartment in Venice, I was making $362 a month and took the bus to Westwood every day.

“One day Coach Harrick said we were going to have breakfast with Coach Wooden. I saw him eating pancakes, he had syrup on his chin and I thought, ‘My gosh, there’s Coach Wooden eating pancakes.’

“I tried to spend as much time as possible with him. I still call him every two weeks or so. I’ve called him in my car on my way from my house to a game. Last summer I took a boat ride with him and spent half the day. He’s been very generous with his time, talking about basketball and talking about life.”

Crimson Tide players hear the stories too. More important, they benefit from basketball nuts and bolts passed from Wooden to their coach.

“He preaches John Wooden this and John Wooden that,” guard Terrance Meade said.

The Wooden Classic clearly is something of a mecca for Gottfried. His team met the legendary 90-year-old UCLA coach upon arriving in Anaheim.

It’s almost enough to make Gottfried wistful about missing out on the UCLA opening in 1996. He was Harrick’s No. 1 assistant when he left for Murray State after the Bruins had won the 1995 national title.

Wooden and others say he would have gotten the job had he remained in Westwood. Instead, Gottfried led Murray State to three consecutive Ohio Valley Conference titles and capped the run with a 29-4 season and second consecutive NCAA tournament berth in 1998.

His team was eliminated in the first round--by Harrick-coached Rhode Island.

Alabama slipped in the final years of David Hobbs’ six-year tenure, and Gottfried is getting the program to a prominent level as quickly as can be expected in football-crazed Tuscaloosa. After narrowly missing the NCAA tournament last season, the Tide is rolling, with victories over Memphis and Utah.

“To get people to pay as much attention to basketball as football, we need to get to a Final Four,” he said.

Lavin got a taste of Tuscaloosa when he accompanied the UCLA football team there over Labor Day weekend. Gottfried took him out for gourmet Southern fare and they had another chance to talk.

Gottfried knows full well the obstacles at UCLA are different from, but no less formidable than, the ones he faces. Reaching the Final Four this season might be necessary for Lavin to silence critics calling for his ouster after losses to Ball State and Pepperdine.

“In coaching you have to make mistakes and learn from them,” Gottfried said. “At UCLA, you have to be prepared when you walk in the door. Having worked there for seven years, I have an idea how difficult it is, what happens when you get over-evaluated and critiqued.

“Step back and look at the big picture. Steve has matured a lot. The job made him grow up fast.”

As with Lorenzo Romar, another former UCLA assistant who left for a head-coaching position before Harrick was fired, Gottfried can’t help but occasionally wonder how he would have fared, thrown into the same fire.

“I’m where I’m supposed to be. I’m where I need to be,” he said.

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WOODEN CLASSIC

TODAY’S GAMES AT ARROWHEAD POND OF ANAHEIM

Game 1--No. 7 Arizona (4-1) vs. Purdue (5-2), 1:30 p.m., Channel 9.

Update--Arizona’s surprising young team is coming off a victory against Illinois and is playing three games in a row against Big Ten teams--continuing with Purdue today and at Michigan State on Dec. 15. Purdue defeated Arizona early last season but failed to make the NCAA tournament while Arizona went on to the Final Four. The Boilermakers’ losses this season are to Stanford and upstart Butler.

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Game 2--No. 16 Alabama (6-1) vs. No. 20 UCLA (3-2), 4 p.m., Channel 9.

Update--The Crimson Tide struggled to defeat Chattanooga, 74-68, on Monday, a result that didn’t please Coach Mike Gottfried. “It wasn’t very pretty, but at the end of the year you look back and this one is in the right column,” he said. UCLA has problems of its own, mainly at point guard. With Cedric Bozeman out, the Bruins have failed to develop a rhythm on on offense. UCLA beat UC Riverside, 65-50, Wednesday.

WOODEN CLASSIC

Friendship Takes Flight

No. 7 Arizona vs. Purdue, 1:30 p.m.

No. 20 UCLA vs. Alabama, 4 p.m.

TV: Channel 9