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
They both are premier players that have grown through a lot of adversity already. Both of them got a lot of experience last year and playing over the summer.
Jordan went down to visit Florida, and they did a great job on the visit. His host was (current Grizzly player Anthony) Roberson, and he loved him. He had a really good relationship with Roberson. So when he came back, he was really leaning that way.
He's the only player I've ever coached where I threaten him if he goes 100 percent.
The biggest benefit, more than anything that we're excited about, is that the families of our players are able to get here relatively easier.
He's the greatest coach in the history of the game. How can you not embrace it? That's what this is all about. The love you see his former players have for him is just incredible.
Florida has a great offensive team. It really is going to be a big challenge for us to be able to try to defend such skilled players and good passers. Everybody can shoot it.
It's a testament to the character, toughness and heart of our players and their never-quit attitude.
Obviously, we're real pleased to get the win. That was a great finish for us. It's really just a testament to the character, the toughness, the heart of our players to have the never-quit attitude. I'm really, really proud of them.
It's been frustrating, because we haven't been able to stay healthy. We've had one practice the entire year where we've had all 12 scholarship players healthy. But that's part of the game.
Jordan is a perfectionist, so everything that doesn't go right he wears on his sleeve.
Good, because we'd like to have a tournament with all Pac-10 teams advancing far into the tournament.
This gives us the opportunity to feed off this.
I don't feel any of the shadow. I know who I am. I'm proud to be the one carrying the torch at this time.
I thought they were terrific. They did an outstanding job of dealing with our press. We were trying real hard.