Bibby Doesn’t Need to Jump Through Hoops

There are times when it’s actually beneficial to be the basketball coach at a football school, and this is one of them.

When UCLA and USC play at the Sports Arena on Wednesday night, dark clouds will be hovering over the UCLA bench. Both teams have losing records, and even though UCLA’s Steve Lavin has made twice as many NCAA tournament appearances as USC’s Henry Bibby in the same amount of time as head coach, and Lavin has a 10-3 record in the cross-town rivalry, Lavin’s the one with the job security of a temporary secretary.

USC doesn’t offer a true home court or even a practice facility that’s always heated, but it does provide one luxury: transition years. Yes, plural, if need be.

So whereas Lavin’s first losing season will probably be his last season, period, at UCLA, Bibby continues to look ahead. He has another set of twins, Lodrick and Rodrick Stewart of Seattle, coming next fall as the highlights of what should be his best recruiting class yet.

He has a future, which is a good thing for a man who likes to pick out his game-night suits weeks in advance.

“I knew taking the job that it would be a transition period,” Bibby said. “After we had a couple of [20-win] years, everyone expects you to be this elite program. That’s what’s so interesting. People look at you and say, ‘You guys should be at the top of the Pac-10.’ If you look at some of the other major programs, you look at the Stanford program, it took years and years.

“It took Coach [John] Wooden at UCLA 17 years to get his program going. Those are the things I look at and say, ‘Well, I’m on track. This is my seventh year as head coach, I feel really good where we are. Each year we get a little better. We make a little more progress.”

There’s always a sense that Bibby does more with less, that his players give effort and have a sense of direction. Even his demanding standards have been met all but three times this season -- the exceptions being losses to Oregon State, Penn and UC Santa Barbara.

“It’s a joy coaching that team,” Bibby said. “I have kids who seem to be hungry. They are right there from turning the corner. We’re not far away.”

When you’re the basketball gardener at USC, you have to dispense plenty of water to the plants, because they won’t get much light. The football team’s usually standing in the sunlight.

For Bibby, it just so happened that his best season, a 24-10 record with a run to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2001, occurred right after the dismal end of Paul Hackett’s tenure as the football coach. The basketball program had center stage, providing a cheery winter and spring after a forgettable fall.

But if there’s a time for a drop-off, coming off a disappointing first-round tournament exit for last season’s senior-heavy team, it’s now. The alumni are so giddy about the football program’s return to glory under Pete Carroll that they don’t have time to complain about this season’s 8-9 basketball record.

Gregg Guenther, Bibby’s top scorer in Sunday’s upset of Oregon, wasn’t even available until January because he was playing on the football team.

Bibby’s problem is really the same as Lavin’s: too much youth, after the departures of Sam Clancy, David Bluthenthal and Brandon Granville.

“I’ve been starting four sophomores,” Bibby said. “Rory O’Neil and Nick Curtis played very little last year for me. Derrick Craven didn’t play last year [only 84 minutes].

“It was a new team coming back. I knew that. I accept that. I’ve been relatively pleased that we’re in ballgames. We’ve given Arizona a run for their money. You’re in the ballgame on the road.

“I’ve been pleased with the stamina and the character that this team has shown.”

Now, as the Trojans gear up for the second half of the Pac-10 schedule, Bibby wants renewed effort.

“You’ve got to give more,” he said. “You’ve got to dig a little deeper now. You’ve got to finish this game off.”

There’s no final buzzer for Bibby’s competitive drive. It even carries into postgame interview sessions, where he earned a probationary sentence from the Pac-10 office for his criticism of the officiating after losses at California and Stanford.

“I like to stand up for what I believe in,” Bibby said. “I don’t ask for favors. I ask for fairness. I don’t ask for any gifts. I ask to be fair.

“Of course I speak my mind. Why can’t I voice my opinion?

“I’m not saying I’m right. I’m just voicing my opinion.”

Doesn’t he always?

And this UCLA alumnus, whose playing days from 1970 to ’72 coincided with the crest of seven consecutive championships and the beginning of the 88-game winning streak, had this to say about the current state of the Bruin program:

“I look at it and say it’s not what it was when I was there. It’ll never be another team like when I was there. There are drop-off years in everything. I really think the guy there has done a good job. That’s my opinion.”

Even though he’s a part of UCLA’s glorious past, he doesn’t cling to it.

“I’ve been out of UCLA 30 years,” Bibby said. “My attachment is not like some of the other people’s attachment.

“A lot of the ex-players are die-hard UCLA guys. I’m not that. I barely remember I was over there. It was a long time ago.”

He’s at USC now. A place where his successes come despite the past, not because of it. A place where disappointment simply means a chance to get it right next year.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com.