Guerrero Needs to Aim High, and Make Sure He Doesn’t Miss

For the first time in what seems like forever, the Steve Lavin saga isn’t the focal point of UCLA basketball. Athletic Director Dan Guerrero is the story now, and will be until we can decisively pass judgment on his new coach.

Choosing a basketball coach at UCLA is the sports version of a president appointing a Supreme Court justice, and Guerrero sounded as if he couldn’t wait to take on the challenge now that Lavin’s dismissal is reality.

“I know it’s an important hire,” Guerrero said. “This is going to be a great hire for this university. We’re going to bring in someone of the magnitude that deserves to take the mantle.”

I like Guerrero’s assertiveness. It’s the assertiveness he first displayed seven months into the job by firing football coach Bob Toledo, and that he showed once again by sending out the early signals that Lavin would be next. Monday he followed through and finally put Lavin to bed.

I like that Guerrero had a vision for what he wants his coach to establish: “A program that offers a level of consistency, that gives us the best opportunity to get to the Final Four, and hopefully compete for a national championship.”

I like that this UCLA alumnus isn’t loopy enough to think that the next coach can replicate John Wooden’s run of 10 national championships in 12 years.

“The reality is, it’s not likely in our lifetime that we’ll see that [again],” he said.

But there was a lot I liked about Steve Lavin too -- and he ultimately couldn’t get it done.

When Guerrero hired Karl Dorrell -- a young, African American UCLA alum with no head-coaching experience -- for the football job, it was exciting, refreshing ... and risky.

There can’t be any risk associated with this move. It’s too important. If Dorrell fails, Guerrero can rebound. It might be too hard to recover from a bad basketball hire. It’s the reverse of Mike Garrett’s situation across town; even though Henry Bibby took the USC basketball team to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2001, Garrett couldn’t breathe easier until Pete Carroll’s breakthrough football season last year.

Guerrero wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t new to this, having held the athletic director’s jobs at Cal State Dominguez Hills and UC Irvine.

“I’ve hired a lot of coaches over the years,” he said. But he knew what was coming next: “Certainly this is a much higher profile search.”

Different even from the football search. In that case he didn’t have people applying for the job before it even opened. For the basketball job, he began receiving phone calls, e-mails and faxes well in advance of Monday’s announcement.

Guerrero has to choose wisely. And he has to aim high. He should.

As crazy as it might sound, Lavin left a high standard for his successor to exceed. Maybe five trips to the Sweet 16 weren’t enough to satisfy the fans, but how would they feel sitting at home on the second week of the tournament?

Ben Howland keeps coming up as the most likely replacement in this national story. That’s a nice start. He has done a good job, turning Pittsburgh into a team to watch this March. But right now he has all of two NCAA tournament wins to his name. Both were scored last year, and were followed by a loss to 10th-seeded Kent State.

The Bruins would be better served by someone who has been there and beyond. They need someone who has actually been there to work on the Final Four weekend, not just to hang out in the hotel lobbies.

Here’s the list of coaches who have won NCAA championships and are still active in the college ranks: Bob Knight, Steve Fisher, Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino, Lute Olson, Tubby Smith, Jim Calhoun, Tom Izzo, Gary Williams. (And, yes, technically you could include Jim Harrick -- but we know better.)

It’s impossible to imagine Krzyzewski leaving Duke, and almost as hard to picture Pitino and Olson leaving their current posts at Louisville and Arizona. Knight is apparently the only coach who comes with a money-back guarantee, but he still isn’t worth the drama.

Anyone else is fair game. UCLA might actually be a welcome respite for Smith. At least in L.A., the fans take time off from scrutinizing UCLA basketball to root for the Lakers or Dodgers. In Lexington, it’s all Wildcats, all the time.

Among other active coaches who have been to the Final Four are Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, John Calipari of Memphis, Mike Davis of Indiana, Bob Huggins of Cincinnati, Rick Majerus of Utah, Mike Montgomery of Stanford, Jim O’Brien of Ohio State, Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma and Roy Williams of Kansas. (And there’s Larry Brown in the pro ranks.)

Although all of those guys are worthy candidates, my first call would be to Roy Williams, then Sampson, Montgomery or the increasingly impressive O’Brien.

When the secretary says the magic letters “UCLA,” there isn’t a coach in the country who won’t take the call. But there are multiple factors that could interfere with the hiring process.

It would be hard for Roy Williams to rationalize leaving Kansas for UCLA after turning down his supposed dream job at North Carolina. Gary Williams took Maryland, his alma mater, to consecutive Final Fours, topped by a championship. And would either of those Nike guys (or Sampson or Montgomery or ... ) come to a school that has an exclusive deal with Adidas?

Then there’s the salary issue. Many people don’t think UCLA will pay what it would take to land one of the top-shelf coaches.

“I don’t know what that amount of money will be,” Guerrero said. “We’re going to look at a number of candidates, and we’re going to negotiate with that individual that we feel can get us to that level.”

If UCLA can give Lavin a $1.2-million buyout not to coach the Bruins anymore, it can spend more than $1 million on someone who actually will be working on campus.

Guerrero wants a guy who gets his teams to “fire out.” First, he and the school need to step up.

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