Ben Howland on way out?

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From BruinReportOnline this morning:

UCLA is currently leaning toward replacing Ben Howland as its head basketball coach, and he could be let go before the end of the season, according to sources.

There is also an indication that UCLA has taken preliminary steps in investigating potential coaching candidates. …

This is not to say that it’s completely certain that UCLA will fire Howland, however. As long as Howland remains the coach, there is always the possibility that he could turn around the season and be successful enough to make it implausible for the UCLA administration to fire him.

In summary, the status is similar to most assessments of Howland’s future in Westwood. It still looks doubtful that he will be around in four months, but I’d still be surprised if UCLA fires him midseason. If Howland’s gone, the big names to go after are Butler’s Brad Stevens and VCU’s Shaka Smart, names that are tossed around for just about every marquee coaching vacancy. Both seem like coaches who could stick to their respective small ponds, but they’ve also named UCLA as one one of the premier programs in the country despite recent struggles.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/sakatalaw Cliff Sakata

    Rick Pitino in my dreams.

    • The Big Woof!

      Hopefully nobody’s wet dreams.

  • disqus_TCbHEOROZz

    ” BruinSportsReport”

    This is why people hate your work and hate that you are on this beat. Saw someone allude to this on “BruinReportOnline” which is the only reason I came here. Is it really that hard to double check? Seriously, the paper really should end this site. It’s a total waste and pointless, especially when it’s done unprofessionally.

    • http://twitter.com/thejackwang Jack Wang

      Apologies for that mistake. No excuse for that.

  • inhonorofpooh

    “In summary, similar to most assessments of Howland’s in Westwood. Looks doubtful …”

    Come on Jack, did they let you get away with this kid of writing and sentence structure at Cal? It might be you intended to add a word after “Howland’s”, possibly “status”, and add a colon after “Westwood”, and remove the period. Should the blog reader really have to guess what you meant to say?

    • http://amillennialist.blogspot.com Santiago Matamoros

      Your commas should precede the ending quotation marks and not follow them (perhaps you’re thinking of semi-colons and colons).

      No one’s above the law, not even the Grammar Police.

      Bum-Da-Bum-Bum–BUM!

      • inhonorofpooh

        Ha ha – you may even be right Santiago. But this is the difference, I’m not paid to write for the DN version of the Bruin blog.

        To cliff and mollie, if the less than perfect readers of this blog – me for one – can’t understand the spilth that often litters this blog, originating from the author, that ain’t not negative or whining – that is constructive criticism, and asking for an explanation using words that can be understood. You notice Jack changed it, right? How much have some of us let slide before commenting in frustration? Contrarian attitudes really should have a valid point. You like the grammar and writing here, fine – I’m in the other camp, and will defend my right to be there. Fix up your act, Jack, sycophants do not good friends make. Oh yeah [sic]

        • The Big Woof!

          Jack seems to be following the standard sportswriter’s M.O these days, which seems to be to try to overemphasize things and to stir up controversy, rather than to simply report the story. I do not appreciate the negativity that he often sneaks in. It seems that the glass is always half empty for him. I’d like to see a change from this, Jack (and that’s constructive criticism as I see it.)

  • ScottInHillmanCity

    what happened to miguel? did the daily news execute him?

  • samollie

    Between the immature whining of the majority of commenters on this site (really, one feels the need to correct sentence structure?), and the crap spewed by Tydides and his minions (anybody else think Tydides needs a good face-to-face a$$ kicking?), it really is difficult as a level-headed Bruin to find anywhere online to have a mature discussion these days.

    • Reformed Droog

      Is that you, brain? I’ve been looking for you for a while now…

      • ProbationU

        Tydides is an ass. And he is also right about Howland.

    • http://www.facebook.com/sakatalaw Cliff Sakata

      I totally agree. It’s actually pretty sad. I feel sorry for those people that are so negative. Many of us try our best at our jobs and some of us need time to get better or just make mistakes from time to time. Even if I were to criticize, it would be through constructive criticism and encouragement.

    • http://amillennialist.blogspot.com Santiago Matamoros

      “Tydides needs a good face-to-face a$$ kicking.”

      In Tydides case, that’s literally possible.

    • EncinitasBruin

      Agreed. Let’s not confuse being honest with being an arse. The main goal is to establish a conversation where all views can be expressed (pro-Howland, anti-Howland, whatever). What’s sad is that someone as loathsome and dislikeable as Tydides can be allowed to be a moder…I mean, dictator, at what could otherwise be a go-to source of Bruin news (BruinsNation). Talk about a sad, insecure little man. Is there such a thing as an online tar and feathering? I’ll bring the feathers…

  • The Big Woof!

    Silly, Silly, Silly:
    The media and some of you guys are really going out of your/their way to promote controversy and fairly outrageous speculation. In that vein, I will predict that Ben Howland will be fired at halftime on Feb. 27 during the conference game with ASU in New Pauley after playing poorly and trailing at the time. Immediately after firing him, Dan Guerrero will resign as AD and will be replaced by Mike Garrett who will name Michael Cooper as our new men’s and women’s coach since Corrie Close will also be fired after their loss to Cal St. Northridge last night.

    Of course, we’re still alive, so I guess the Mayans were wrong, too :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/mark.hersberger Mark Hersberger

    This is such a stupid post. I hate Howland more than anyone and I’ve wanted him gone for years. But to think that Danny Guerrero is doing something at this point is totally ridiculous.

  • Nathan W

    @samollie, I’m with you on Tydides. That guy whines when we lose almost as loudly as he whines when we win. He went back and forth with me a few weeks ago after we lost to Georgetown and his world was apparently caving in. I politely tried to explain that these were freshmen and not yet an elite team. He banned me for it. That said, Howland should go but I don’t think it’s going to help the team by doing it 11 games in. Who would we have fill in for the rest of the season?