Revelations Put Lavin on Defensive

With the Rick Pitino rumblings only beginning to fade, UCLA Coach Steve Lavin is in another uncomfortable spot. He defended himself and his basketball program Wednesday on two fronts--academics and recruiting.

First, academics. Several members of the team are coming off a disappointing fall quarter in the classroom, including two players who finished with grade-point averages of less than 1.0, or D level.

Lavin also is under scrutiny for helping the son of Mater Dei’s basketball coach gain admission to UCLA as a walk-on at the same time the Bruins were recruiting two star players from the Santa Ana school.

Although the two situations are closer to brush fires than full-fledged infernos, they come at a bad time for Lavin. Two weeks ago, Athletic Director Peter Dalis told reporters of two informal conversations he had with Pitino, the former Boston Celtic coach long rumored to be interested in the UCLA job.

“What [Dalis] is really trying to do is to build a case against Steve so he has just cause to fire him,” said Georgia Coach Jim Harrick, who was fired by UCLA and replaced by Lavin before the 1996-97 season.

Lavin defends the academic record of his team and says it compares favorably to that of nearly every major basketball program in the country, with the exception of Stanford and the Ivy League schools. He points to his four seniors and five juniors, who all are on track to graduate. The team GPA for the fall quarter was 2.4, excluding the grades of freshmen or transfer students new to the school, a source in the athletic department said.

“Last year, the only kid who had been in my program [Sean Farnham] graduated,” Lavin said. “This year, the kids who have been in my program for four years all are going to graduate. So that’s five for five. And some of those kids that are about to graduate, over their four years went through some periods when they struggled.”

Neither Lavin nor Dalis spoke in specifics about grades of the players--or confirmed the information provided by sources--because both are bound by rules protecting student privacy. But Dalis said it’s risky to make a judgment on the academic progress of a program based on a snapshot look.

“It would be misleading to look at one academic quarter and draw conclusions as to what’s going on,” he said.

Dalis said every program has its ups and downs in the classroom and didn’t indicate he was especially concerned about the state of the basketball team in that regard.

Two weeks ago, when he spoke to reporters about his contact with Pitino, Dalis made it clear he is worried about declining attendance at Pauley Pavilion, and that he looks beyond what’s happening on the court when judging coaches.

“From my perspective, assessing any sport, only about 50% of it has to do with wins and losses,” he said. “There’s another dimension to being a UCLA coach and providing the kind of leadership and foundation for what we would like to see for our program and our student-athletes. So if someone wins 18 or someone wins 14, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one would make a change in the program. One hopefully takes the long view of where they are.”

Now comes news that Lavin made a move some people see as shortsighted. He helped Geoff McKnight, son of Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, get into UCLA as a basketball walk-on by recommending him to the admissions committee. At the same time, the Bruins were wooing Mater Dei stars Cedric Bozeman, who has signed a letter of intent with UCLA, and Jamal Sampson, who has done the same with California.

Whereas Lavin did not commit an NCAA violation in merely recommending McKnight--a seldom-used reserve at Mater Dei who averaged less than a point a game last season--he did expose himself to criticism. The choice was awkward and suggests Lavin was trying to curry favor with Gary McKnight, perhaps in an effort to steer Bozeman and Sampson to UCLA. Although walk-ons do not receive athletic scholarships, they do benefit from relaxed admission standards as compared to those for the general student body.

McKnight, admitted to UCLA as a basketball walk-on, never tried out for the team and is not on the roster. Lavin defended his decision.

“He’s from a basketball family and a very good program, and those things matter,” he said. “Not all the walk-ons we bring in are great players. Some go on to become managers or help the team in some other capacity.”

Lavin said he fields about 100 requests a year from potential walk-ons, pares that list to eight or nine names and submits it to the admissions office. The process is similar in other sports at UCLA.

“There are several things I look at” when narrowing the list, Lavin said. “Is he a good student? Is he a good person? Is he going to have an attitude that he’ll be happy just to get to play at practice and be part of the program?”

Even if McKnight got special treatment, it doesn’t necessarily constitute a rules infraction. Although the practice is ethically questionable, it wouldn’t be the first time a coach tried to influence the recruiting process.

When coaching at Kansas, Larry Brown took heat for hiring the father of Danny Manning as an assistant coach. Memphis Coach John Calipari hired the father of a high school star who recently scored 100 points in a game. So does it really matter that Lavin gave McKnight a chance to join the team as a walk-on? Or that two of his players had a rough quarter in the classroom? Or that Pauley Pavilion doesn’t sell out night after night?

In the end, it could.

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