Former UCLA coach Ben Howland has reached an agreement to become coach at Mississippi State, according to various reports. Howland’s personality should fit in well at Starkville. Who else was the basketball coach at Mississippi State? Former USC coach Bob Boyd.
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He’s a fundamentally sound coach and his players reflect that. I sure wouldn’t mind a coach like that. Hopefully, next year will be the year Enfield puts it all together.
The reason usc didn’t consider howland is because nearly every aau coach in SoCal hates howland. And trust me those aau players listen to their coaches when considering a school. Having said that, there is no doubt he would have had more success than enfield.
Extra,
Any idea why they hate him?
Under Ben howland, I think ucla set an ncaa record for most players leaving the program prematurely. The players hated playing for howland. He is extremely demanding, and a lot of the players didn’t trust him. So many of these guys were aau players, and they would tell everything to their former aau coach’s. Because of that the aau coachs were telling their current players to go anywhere but ucla. Sean Miller, and Arizona have benefited extremely from this.
I have heard this as well and I think there is a lot of truth to it.
Now that Howland is gone who will be the candidate to take Enfield’s place after next year?
Maybe Hopkins? The silence was pretty loud when the Syracuse Chancellor refused to comment on whether Hopkins would be Boeheim’s successor.
I love hearing that while noticing his recruiting actually improved each year he was at UCLA. It is like listening to someone whisper “I heard there are just cats here” while in the middle of a pitbull kennel. lmao
The fact that it is exactly the opposite of the SI article, which claimed that Howland moved from depending on upper classmen to relying upon one-and-done type of players is born out by the number of kids who went on the NBA after a short time. And the SI article stated not that he was harsh but too soft on discipline, true or not….
Look at the players who have talked about how much they supported him and opposed his firing: Kevin Love, Shabazz Muhammad, Russell Westbrook… and he was bearhugged at an NBA midcourt in Philadelphia by Luc Mbah a Moute.
Look at his last class recruited: Kyle Anderson, Jordan Adams, Tony Parker and Muhammad.
But never let facts get in the way of good story.
The version I have heard (from the Bruin Attorney down the hall), is that Howland burned his bridges with Southern California coaches. I have no idea if this is true, but look at who you cite: Anderson – New Jersey; Adams – Virginia, Parker – Georgia, Zach LaVine – Washington; Shabazz – Vegas.
That is a hell of a list, no doubt. But no one from California. Bruin Attorney claims that this allowed Arizona to pick up Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon, etc., and that the fear was that by failing to lock down local five-stars, it would allow USC to eventually benefit.
As long as Enfield is coach, and USC averages 2000 souls a game, USC ain’t gonna benefit. But whether or not that is why Howland was let go (and USC passed), there is a logic to it.
And, to quote Timmay, “But never let facts get in the way of good story.”……..
I was focusing on the players that panned out. Obviously David Wear, Travis Wear, Tyler Lamb, Norm Powell, Larry Drew, Josh Thomas, Russell Westbrook, and many of the CA kids were there on his roster in the last couple of years when he went to the Final Four. That’s a mixed bag– in some cases Howland was absorbing LA kids who were not as good as national options.
I spoke of who has panned out in that last class. And it was obviously an impressive class. Noah Allen was recruited by everyone, and Howland got a committal from him– So Cal area kid.
Alford’s first class: Kevon Looney of Milwaukee Wisconsin, Jonah Bolden Wolfeboro New Hampshire, Gyorgy Goloman of Ft Lauderdale Florida. He signed just one single kid from So Cal area. Just the facts…
So if he was fired because alumni didn’t like his recruits being from outside of CA Alford didn’t get the memo. LOL
Also, note to your buddy this too: Stanley Johnson aside, that year most of Arizona’s recruits were not from LA either. Zona’s big signees were Kadeem Allen of Wilmington North Carolina, Craig Victor of New Orleans Louisana. Arizona was not swooping in to clean up some missing talent in LA. And obviously neither was USC under Kevin O’Neill.
The only kid that is from LA who was a significant pick up for UCLA’s first Alford was Isaac Hamilton who had to sit out a year. As we all know, he wound up transferring to UCLA because USC pulled its offer after UTEP’s Tim Floyd accused our Andy of illegal tampering.
Only the facts. (Add Dragnet music) lol
Look, you may be right. I am not a UCLA fan, so I have little interest or knowledge in what goes on over there. But Bruin Attorney is in my office almost everyday, and he likes to talk sports. Whether or not the idea that Howland wore out his welcome with high school coaches and AAU coaches, I have no idea. But many UCLA fans are very vested in that story.
They really are invested in it because they know they jumped the shark. They got rid of an excellent coach and replaced him with a good one.
I guess that will be Dan Guerrero’s cross to bear……
So there are, in fact, no cats in there, is that what you’re saying? Or there are some cats, but also pit bulls?
Very Will Ferrell or Conan O’Brien Dupee. Guys that laugh at their own flat jokes.
Beep beep.
Good to see that you are still among the living! We must resume your therapy sessions soon.
Look at his last class, none of those guys are even from California. There is a reason he hired Korea McCray as assistant coach, despite him having no college coaching experience. He was very close to all those guys. Howland offered McCray a huge opportunity, because of one reason, and one reason only.
silly boy running off at the mouth…zero substance in your ”a lot of players didn’t trust him”…..s.c brain surgeons at work again.
fact……howland NEVER SERIOUSLY considered south central as an option…he went thru the motions to keep his name in circulation. howland never considered south central any more than gruden, peterson or lombardi (for football) supposedly did.
the University of Second Choice
First I am no usc fan. I only come here because Scott wolf, always criticizes them. Second howland’s lack of integrity was well known. He lied to his players and recruits like crazy. Just ask recruit Kendall Williams, who he completely screwed over. He also had a major problem with reeves Nelson who he gave preferential treatment to.
Bottom line 32, maybe 4 or 5 people mourned Benny’s demise.
His T/O strategy – out of T/O’s with 10 mins of game time remaining. – was in my opinion self-defeating and just plain Idiotic.
your post confirms your ignorance…Kendall Williams AND REEVES (and Reeves brother) were ALL HEAD CASES. Kendall was DROPPED by UCLA because he had “Character issues”….Howland stopped recruiting him early on so he could catch on with another school. He did the kid a favor. Reeves issues were well documented. Howland bent over forwards and backwards to help out REEVES. In the end…Reeves had no choice other than to leave school early. Had NOTHING to do with Howland…U Stupid Clown still haven’t addressed the INTEGRITY ISSUE.
Typical SCCUMM!
fit UNG!
Judging by the tone of your replies it is very clear that you are psychotic thaimex. There are so many stupid things in your post that I don’t have time to address it. Unlike you I have to go to work in the morning. Goodbye!
send us a photo of you wearing that spiffy 7-11 Smock. Promoted to morning cashier from overnight? No wonder you feel so important.
Fit UNG (rhymes w/DUNG)
Howland will have Miss St. competitive in no time…you dont accidentally get to 3 stright final 4s. You can however accidentally get to one sweet 16…
You mean two.
I was referring to Enfield…he only has one. Alford is better than Enfield.
That’s not saying much.
Perhaps Howland has learned a lesson on how to interact with players i.e. Starkville-MS is not Los Angeles -CA anymore than MS St. is UCLA.
Second chances are what all of us look and hope for and none of us learns from anything but failure and setbacks.
Bluntly Howland seemed overwhelmed by the expectations at UCLA and that’s on him considering the time gap of 35+ years since he replaced Wooden – Howland put all of that on himself there is none such at MS St.
He’ll do well there
interesting post when you’re sober.
figt un!
Le meme pour vous mon frere.
Otis is sitting on a nail.
Examining the contradictory opinions regarding Howland is remindful of how there are always 3 stories to any situation. In law, there is the plaintiff’s story, the defendant’ account, and then there is the truth.