Ben Howland
Ben Howland
Benjamin Clark Howlandis an American college basketball coach for the Mississippi State Bulldogs and former player. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Arizona University from 1994 to 1999, the University of Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2003, and the University of California, Los Angelesfrom 2003 to 2013. Howland became the first men's coach in modern college basketball history to be fired shortly after winning an outright power-conference title. He is one of the few NCAA Division I...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth28 May 1957
CityLebanon, OR
When I finished watching the tape from last year I was embarrassed with our effort. I am so much happier with where we are now than a year ago.
Very easily, (Gonzaga coach) Mark Few could be sitting where I am now, no question.
We're going up against the human fly-swatting machine.
This program's always had tough kids. That is way too general. ... I'm not buying they didn't have toughness here.
This program is where it is right now, as the greatest tradition in all of college basketball, the greatest history in all of college basketball. Eleven national championships. It all starts with Coach Wooden.
We have a student who helps out with the video -- he tore his ACL the other day. That's how it's been.
Our league is a great league. Herb just made it tougher.
That's a very important win we got tonight. It's a credit for these kids to handle any adversity.
I was really hoping we would play really well tonight so he and his family could enjoy that in the hospital room that he was in tonight. You know, in terms of what he means to the program, he's the patriarch. He is why this program is where it is. It's one of the elite programs in the country and has been since he started that job in 1948.
We can play any way you want to play. Florida wants to get up and down, they're going to try to press us, they're going to try to create a tempo that's up and down. That's great.
We can play any way you want to play. At the end of the day, we have to defend, rebound, take good shots and take care of the basketball.
I really wanted to do this because I want our players to get the tradition and the history. They hear about it. They see it. They read about it. But the best way to feel it is to know the players and the coach himself.
I recruit toughness. In other words, we're not going to recruit soft kids. It starts right there. I want guys that are tough. Mentally tough, physically tough. That's why we are where we are.
I have the best two guards in the country on the same team. I will continue to say that because I believe it, and I don't say things I don't believe.