Quotables: Ben Howland

Opening Statement:
Ben Howland: “First of all, I have great respect for Phil. I’ve known Phil for 28 years. I was an assistant coach at Santa Barbara when he was at Fullerton way back in the day, 28 years ago. I’ve always had great respect for him as a coach, and as a recruiter. Important to me too are the ties he has to the SoCal community. He’s had a great experience, even being out now in the Big-12 and Nebraska. He’s a good coach, a very good recruiter, a good person who will represent the university in a first-class fashion.”

Is this the last shake up of the staff?
BH: “Yeah.”

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Phil Mathews officially hired as new UCLA men’s basketball assistant coach

From UCLA:

UCLA men’s basketball head coach, Ben Howland, announced today the hiring of Philip Mathews to the post of assistant coach. Mathews replaces Donny Daniels, who left to become Mark Few’s assistant at Gonzaga last month.

Mathews, who spent nine years as the head coach at San Francisco (1995-2004), recently finished a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Nebraska on the Husker bench alongside Head Coach Doc Sadler.

“Philip is a welcome and outstanding addition to our coaching staff,” Howland said. “He has been a successful recruiter at every level. He has great relationships and has built an outstanding network of friends not only throughout southern California but the entire country.”
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Washington game reportedly moved to Thursday, Nov. 18

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes that UCLA’s football matchup with Washington has been moved to Nov. 18: Sked Change

This would give UCLA four nationally televised matchups, joining the Bruins’ games versus Texas, Oregon and Stanford. Oregon and Stanford will be on ESPN, while the Texas matchup is set for ABC.

Here is UCLA’s schedule, before the switch: Schedule

Wittek commits to USC

Mater Dei quarterback Max Wittek told ESPNLA’s Arash Markazi that he’s committed to USC:
Wittek to USC

I’ve heard conflicting opinions on Wittek’s game, but if Wittek does indeed bring along the trio of Victor Blackwell and DeAnthony Thomas that has been widely discussed, that alone would make his commit worth it. I wouldn’t expect Neuheisel to give up on Wittek – who was at Spaulding Field during Spring ball – but now he’ll probably put the full-court press on UCLA’s other quarterback recruits, including Kyle Boehm, Brett Hundley and Cody Kessler.

I’ll have a big interview with Scout.com’s Brandon Huffman about the USC camp tomorrow, and get some of the latest observations and analysis.