Benjamin Clark Howland (born May 28, 1957) is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. 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 Angeles (UCLA) from 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 coaches to take four teams to the NCAA tournament.

Early years and playing career

Born in Lebanon, Oregon, Howland first attended Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California, for a year then transferred to Cerritos High School in Cerritos, where he earned his diploma. While at Cerritos, he was a two-time All-CIF and two-time Suburban League Most Valuable Player in basketball.

After high school, Howland played college basketball for Santa Barbara City College then transferred to Weber State College<!--not a university until 1991--> in Ogden, Utah, a member of the Big Sky Conference. Known as a defensive specialist, he later played professional basketball in Uruguay.

He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education at Weber State and a master's degree in administration at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.

Playing career

  • 1972–73: Dos Pueblos High School, Goleta, California
  • 1973–76: Cerritos High School, Cerritos, California
  • 1976–78: Santa Barbara City College, led the Vaqueros to California State finals in 1978.
  • 1978–80: Weber State College,<!--not a university until 1991--> named WSC's defensive MVP both years and led Wildcats to consecutive Big Sky titles and NCAA tournament appearances in 1979 and 1980.
  • 1980: Played professionally in Bohemios First Division Uruguay, South America.

Coaching career

Early head coaching career

Howland wanted to be a coach since his teenage years living in Santa Barbara. At age 24, he became a graduate assistant at Gonzaga. His childhood friend Jay Hillock, the new head coach, recruited Howland. At Gonzaga, one of Howland's duties was to guard future basketball Hall of Famer John Stockton in practice.

After a year at Gonzaga, Howland got his first paid coaching job at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1982–1994) as an assistant to Ed DeLacy. After Jerry Pimm replaced DeLacy in 1983, Howland helped Pimm lead the Gauchos to five postseason appearances between 1988 and 1994. Starting in 1992, Howland applied for head coaching jobs at UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount University but was turned down both times.

Howland's first head coaching job was at Northern Arizona University (1994–99) in Flagstaff. Under Howland, Northern Arizona captured the Big Sky Conference Championship in the 1996–97 season. He then led the Lumberjacks to the Big Sky tournament Championship the following year, sending them to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. While at NAU, he was considered for head coaching jobs at UC Irvine again and at UCSB, but again was turned down. UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero, who declined to hire Howland at UC Irvine in 1997, Combined with the emergence of Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison in the back-court, the Bruins won their 3rd consecutive Pac-10 conference title, and their second Pac-10 tournament title in three years. They received their first #1 seed in the NCAA tournament since 1995, and once again reached the Final Four, where they faced another top seed, the Memphis Tigers. Memphis got the better of the Bruins, who returned to Westwood without a championship once again. The Memphis victory was later vacated after Derrick Rose was retroactively declared ineligible, but such did not change UCLA's 2008 Final Four standing.

With a 77–73 victory over Penn on December 10, 2011; Howland passed Jim Harrick for second on UCLA's all-time wins list behind John Wooden.

In February 2012, a Sports Illustrated article portrayed UCLA player Reeves Nelson as a bully on and off the court, who at times intentionally tried to injure his teammates. The article stated that Howland looked the other way and did not discipline Nelson for over two years. Both UCLA and Howland disputed the story, some as untrue and others as beyond the knowledge of the program. From 2008—the Bruins last Final Four appearance—through 2012, at least 11 players left the UCLA program, including Nelson who was suspended twice and dismissed in December 2011. After 2008, UCLA did not advance past the first weekend of the NCAA tourney, and did not qualify for the tournament in 2010 and 2012. In 2009, Howland pulled a scholarship offer to Kendall Williams, who had verbally committed to attend UCLA in 2010. Several Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) coaches in Southern California thought that Howland delayed notifying Williams to deter other Pac-12 Conference coaches from pursuing him. Wary of Howland, many AAU coaches began advising their top players against playing for the Bruins. After the 2010 recruiting class, Norman Powell was the only one of Howland's 10 recruits who were from Southern California.

Despite the winning, Howland had developed a reputation for coaching a boring brand of basketball. In 2012–13, UCLA landed a recruiting class considered the best in the nation. Jordan Adams was the first to sign, followed by McDonald's All-Americans Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson and Tony Parker. Howland went to a new up-tempo offense, and the Bruins won the Pac-12 regular-season title. However, their second-leading scorer Adams broke his foot in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals, and the Bruins were blown out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. On March 25, 2013, Howland was fired by UCLA. In his 10 years with the Bruins, he had a .685 winning percentage, went to three consecutive Final Fours, and won four Pac-12 conference titles. At Howland's departure, only John Wooden had coached the Bruins to more wins, or in more games.

Mississippi State

thumb|right|Howland coaching Mississippi State in 2020

On March 24, 2015, Howland was hired as the 20th head coach at Mississippi State University, replacing Rick Ray. The Bulldogs were coming off three straight losing seasons and was in the midst of a six-year drought from the NCAA Tournament.

On March 17, 2022, Mississippi State announced that Howland had been fired.

Players in the NBA

Ben Howland has coached a number of players who later played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA)

Awards

  • 1997: Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.
  • 2001–02:

:Big East Coach of the Year.

:National Coach of the Year: AP, Naismith, USBWA, ESPN Magazine, and The Sporting News.

:USBWA District Coach of the Year.

:Basketball America Big East Coach of the Year.

:Basketball Times Big East Coach of the Year.

:Pittsburgh Tribune-Review City of Champions Award.

  • 2003: Dapper Dan Award, honoring Pittsburgh's Sportsman of the Year.
  • 2004: Howland's 1997–98 Northern Arizona club inducted into the Northern Arizona University Athletic Hall of Fame.
  • 2005–06:

:Pac-10 Coach of the Year.

:Collegehoops.net Coach of the Year.

  • 2016: Inducted into the Northern Arizona University Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2016.

Head coaching record

See also

  • List of NCAA Division I Men's Final Four appearances by coach

References

  • .

Footnotes

  • Mississippi State profile