UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland placed under false light in Sports Illustrated article

BY Brett Tashman

As a former manager with the UCLA men’s basketball team (2003-2005) under coach Ben Howland, I was very disappointed with his inaccurate portrayal in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated. The author depicts him as a basketball coach who lacks character, compassion and collegiality. Howland is portrayed as someone who does not care about his players or the program as a whole ““ someone who does not understand how to run a professional, successful, winning program, while at the same time maintaining integrity ““ someone who runs a program that lacks structure, hard work and discipline. I can say firsthand that all of these implied allegations of coach Howland’s negligent management of the UCLA program are completely false. Coach Howland is a dedicated basketball coach who lives and breathes UCLA basketball, and is commited to developing the character of student-athletes. He is the same coach who took UCLA to three straight Final Fours only a few years ago in just his third year at the school. It is simply amazing how fast people forget about that and want him gone. He turns programs around quickly (and will again very soon at UCLA) and has built a career around doing that. He also has a history of winning the right way, respecting the NCAA rules while maintaining class and integrity. Not enough blame is placed on the shoulders of the team members who were the real cause of the problem, or our society that has empowered self-entitled student-athletes. The fans who have turned their backs on coach Howland and are calling for his termination are the same fans who will be supporting him very soon when he returns the program to greatness. He did it before and he will do it again. I fully support coach Howland and I have no doubt that he is not only an excellent coach and leader, but he is the right coach for UCLA.

Upon his arrival at UCLA, one of his assistant coaches once told me that if you work hard for coach Howland, he will always be there for you in your life. He was absolutely right. Coach Howland cares deeply about every member of his program, and makes us all part of the UCLA family. Although our paths hadn’t crossed in a while since I graduated UCLA, upon hearing of my recent hospital stay last year, he visited me on several occasions. He made those visits during the season when a coach has almost no disposable time. When I take inventory of my life and reflect on the man that I have become, many of the character-shaping lessons came from my time with the UCLA basketball program and from coach Howland directly. I’m proud to call him a mentor, coach and friend.

Tashman is a UCLA alumnus and former men’s basketball team manager.