Well, It's Official Now

[IggyWH]

Ben Howland is now the official head coach of UCLA mens basketball team. Not that I want to sound like a sour grape, but let's make sure UCLA knows EXACTLY what they are getting. Ben's a great coach and has done great things here at Pittsburgh, but doesn't things like these leave a pastey taste in your mouth UCLA?

The players STILL have not been talked to Ben about leaving. A complete DICK move in my opinion. Hell, he knew Monday during the team meeting that he was leaving, but still didn't tell them. The players looked digected after the meeting because they knew Ben was gone, but didn't have the balls to be a man and tell them the deal.

Ben went and talked to UCLA without anyones permission just a day after Pitt was knocked out of the Tourney. Seems kind of fishy doesn't it, considering the other canidates that were mentioned were still currently coaching in the Tourney.

Pitt's recent sucess has come from their great starting crew. It's been the same starters the last 2 years for our 2 Sweet 16 runs. Great job by Ben and all, but do people realize 3 of those 5 starters were never even recruited by Ben? Donotas Z (don't even want to begin to spell his last name), Jaron Brown, and Brandin Knight (our whole cornerstone to the team) were already recruited and signed letters of intent before Ben came in as Pitt's coach. Now sure, Ben did recruit Julius Page, Ontario Lett (got lucky on him though because he was a JuCo player), and Chevy Troutman. Troutman wasn't a hard recruit though considering his mother lives in the same town Pitt's located. Who else has Ben recruited though? Mark McCarrol, Toree Morris, and Yuri Demetris... all of which are "bums" when it comes to the college basketball game. The rest of the recruits pretty much recruited themselves because they WANTED to come to Pitt because of our recent success, not had to be convinced to come to a scrub Pitt team.

I can't reveal what they are because only players and a few others know about this, but if you heard the things Ben did during the Sweet 16 loss to Marquette, you'd be happy just like me to see him go.

Ben... not smart to burn bridges. You're no John Wooden so whenever you get fired from UCLA in 6 years and have your dream crushed and want to coach again, who are you going to turn to for a reference? UCLA won't give you a good one because they just fired you, Pitt won't give you one because you burnt bridges before leaving here. So who do you have... Northern Arizona? Not a smart move.

Anyways... now that Pitt has turned into a quality team and we play in the best conference in big time college sports, the line of coaches wanting to join the Pitt program is a mile long. Pitt has the money to pay for the coach/program, brand new facilities that are BEAUTIFUL. The early list includes :

John Calipari (Memphis coach, former Pitt assistant)
Tom Crean (Marquette coach, former Pitt assistant)
Mark Few (Gonzaga coach)
Skip Prosser (Wake Forest coach, Pittsburgh native)
Thad Matta (Butler coach)
Bobby Gonzalez (Manhattan coach)
Jamie Dixon (Howland assistant, will be a great coach someday but risky to start with him)

And although it's still on the hush currently...
Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma coach)

Whoever Pitt picks, it'll be a great addition to a still rising Pitt program!

[radioheadfloyd]

It seems that coaches never tell the players anymore that they are leaving. I guess it is all about the $$ and prestige and they dont give a damn about people.

[jdfan123]

honestly you really cant blame him its quite a step above prestige wise

[IggyWH]

Originally posted by radioheadfloyd
It seems that coaches never tell the players anymore that they are leaving. I guess it is all about the $$ and prestige and they dont give a damn about people.

They do, they're one of the 1st to find out. It just doesn't get out because that's all kept on the hush so the media doesn't get it right away.

[IggyWH]

Originally posted by jdfan123
honestly you really cant blame him its quite a step above prestige wise

Sure, can't blame him, but I can blame him for burning bridges and things he did during the Marquette game. Maybe one day I'll be able to tell you guys of the BS he pulled.

[podstock]

Iggy, I am sorry. As a Bruin alumni, I welcome any coaching change after the past couple of years.

(Lavin was great for our program, 4 sweet 16 appearances, but he wore out his welcome by coaching us to 50-point blow out losses to teams no one ever heard of)

You have to know that Howland is a S. CA native, an admirer of John Wooden, and a fan of UCLA. Had he been given a shot earlier in his life, he would've taken the UCLA coaching position.

As such, Howland had to make his mark elsewhere before being offered a position at UCLA.

Yes, what Howland did to Pitt players was cowardly, much like NCAA football's Rick Neuheisel when he left Colorado?? for Washington and big money.

Howland won't need references from Pitt. His record will speak for itself.

I am just happy to see Lavin leave.

I look forward to UCLA basketball next year; b/c this past year was just torture !!

[IggyWH]

Before I was sad to see him go, but now, with the things I've heard and the coaches that are lining up, I really could care less. Let's see if he'll have enough balls to schedule an out of conference game with Pitt?

[stkmtimo]

Ummm Iggy, I'd hate to ask but didn't you actually like Ben at Pitt? Just mad that he left?

Tim

[IggyWH]

Originally posted by stkmtimo
Ummm Iggy, I'd hate to ask but didn't you actually like Ben at Pitt? Just mad that he left?

Tim

Yes I did like Ben and still do... but now that he's gone and I'm hearing some of the shyt he pulled, I'm not sad to see him go.

[podstock]

Iggy, be careful what you wish for!

My Bruins may play like ™™™™ vs American University (or any other unknown school)...but put us up against the best teams, and it's likely an upset.

Just beat #1 Arizona this year in Pac-10 tourney; after beating #1 Stanford AT Stanford the previous year.

btw, fwiw,

presently, UCLA has beaten the #1 ranked team 10 teams in NCAA history. Second on that list is Notre Dame, which beat #1 ranked teams 9 times.