Thursday, March 23, 2000
Lavin's lessons learned
Young UCLA coach ignores critics
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Steve Lavin has read just about every word written about him and has heard as much as possible of what has been said. It is not to punish himself that he pays attention to those who insist he can't coach or isn't coaching or should go coach somewhere other than UCLA. He considers it part of the job.
“You're going to be analyzed, criticized and scrutinized and dissected like a frog in a biology class,” Lavin said. “You understand it's inherent in the position, so you don't personalize it.”
During the regular season — from the time the Bruins won by three points at North Carolina through the humiliating 29-point loss at Arizona State and up until last weekend's second-round NCAA Tournament game against Maryland — Lavin's coaching aptitude and future have been questioned.
His job security was debated on Los Angeles and national radio shows, a curious thing for a guy who took his first three teams to the NCAA Tournament and entered the year with a 70-26 record.
So how silly does it all seem now that UCLA is in the NCAA Sweet 16 for the third time in his four years, preparing for today's Midwest Regional semifinal game against
No.2 seed Iowa State?
“He kept pushing us, didn't dwell on the negative. He kept having faith in us,” freshman forward Jason Kapono said.
If the Bruins (21-11) can defeat Iowa State (31-4), they will play the winner of the game between Michigan State and Syracuse for the chance to play in a record-setting 15th Final Four.
That seemed an impossibility Feb.19, when UCLA lost the sixth of seven games to fall to 13-11 overall and 4-8 in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Bruins were booed off the floor at Pauley Pavilion.
Seven of the top eight scorers in the lineup are freshmen or sophomores, and gifted wing JaRon Rush sat out 24 games.
“When we lost six out of seven games was when we really grew,” Lavin said. “It was through losing and through failure and through adversity this team really grew.”
Lavin became UCLA's head coach under strange circumstances. He was the No.3 assistant on Jim Harrick's staff when the Bruins won the national championship in 1995 but quickly advanced when full-time assistants Mark Gottfried and Lorenzo Romar left for head coaching jobs. When Harrick was fired just before the 1996-97 season, there was little choice but to make Lavin interim coach. UCLA went 24-8 and advanced to the Elite Eight. He kept the job.
Lavin has been a target since, despite his early success.
Searching for some sense of chemistry, Lavin tried 12 different starting lineups this year but declined to give up on this team's potential.
“It was hard to hear all that stuff said about you, coming from your own town,” Kapono said. “We grew up from it, and we changed it.”
UCLA's potential became evident in its 105-70 destruction of No.3 seed Maryland in the second round Saturday.
That victory put Lavin in the company of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Purdue's Gene Keady. They are the only other coaches to reach the Sweet 16 in three of the past four seasons.
“In a way, it's probably been a blessing that in four years I have gone through a lot at an accelerated speed,” Lavin said. “It's been kind of a crash course on Division I basketball and coaching at this level.”
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