His Style Has Got Plenty of Substance

Kawika Akina once landed himself a prominent seat on the Northern Arizona bench -- right next to then-coach Ben Howland -- and all it took was one lousy decision.

It came in the second half of a tight game at Weber State when Akina tried to finish a fastbreak with an alley-oop pass. The defender swatted the ball away, and Howland instantly cleared room on the bench.

“If you do something dumb, Coach Howland will let you know about it,” said Akina, now an NAU assistant coach.

Howland, introduced Thursday as UCLA’s basketball coach, has a short fuse when it comes to careless play. It isn’t uncommon for a coach to bench a player after a boneheaded mistake, but Howland is a stickler for detail. People who know him well describe him as exacting, organized and unbelievably intense, especially on game day. Although they had different offensive styles, his NAU and Pittsburgh teams were alike in their toughness, unselfishness and defensive focus. In short, that’s just what the 10-19 Bruins lacked last season.

“I always think a change kind of wakes people up,” said former UCLA forward Don MacLean, who covered every game as a radio color commentator. “This should be a breath of fresh air. The team lacked discipline. They could rise up for some games, then against the San Diegos and the Northern Arizonas the discipline wasn’t there.”

MacLean said last season’s Bruins should have won in the neighborhood of 20 games -- not 25, as some people expected -- and that Howland will need some time to put his own mark on the program.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a quick fix,” MacLean said.

Already, though, one prominent recruit has renewed interest in UCLA. Jordan Farmar, who will be a senior at Taft next season and is considered the state’s top prospect at point guard, said he was pleased to hear of Howland’s hiring.

“Ben Howland is a great coach,” said Farmar, who has fielded scholarship offers from Arizona, Florida and Gonzaga. “I’d definitely be interested in talking to them.”

Farmar said Lavin came to a couple of his games last season and the two talked, but it was somewhat awkward because they both understood Lavin probably wouldn’t be retained as UCLA’s coach.

Lavin, who led the Bruins to five Sweet 16 appearances in six seasons, still has a significant number of supporters.

“I felt like I saw the team getting better at the end,” said Andre Patterson Sr., whose namesake plays for the Bruins. “They were a very young team. It’s just too bad the way things turned out for him.”

But Patterson said he’s encouraged by the way Howland turned things around at Pittsburgh, which was a Big East doormat when he arrived in 1999. When he got there, the Panthers had managed only one winning season in the previous six and hadn’t played in the NCAA tournament since 1993. Pitt went 13-15 in Howland’s first season, then 19-14, 29-6 and 28-5.

“I think he’s an incredible choice,” said former UCLA center Brad Wright, now basketball coach at Pierce College. “He’s got substance to go with his style.”

Wright said the Bruin players are in line for an attitude adjustment.

“They were dunking and flexing their muscles when they were down by 20,” he said. “I would see them slapping their coach on the butt sometimes. If they try to slap Coach Howland on the butt, they’re going to be drawing back a nub.”