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
The very best players are my kind of players.
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.
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.
I'm always concerned about him. He's one of the top players in our conference without question. He's an NBA player. He's an L.A. kid and he's always played well against us. We've got our hands full.
That's one of the things I think that you're going to continue to see, the George Mason run. I think they had three players that were fifth-year seniors. It's such an advantage to be older than your opponent both mentally and physically, and to have that experience of having gone through the ups and downs.
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.
It's a testament to the character, toughness and heart of our players and their never-quit attitude.
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.
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.
We want to recruit the very best players in the country. That's why we're here right now: We have great players.
He is so sharp mentally, it's incredible. But the key to his run was recruiting good players who were good people. Good people last a lifetime.
He gets away with a lot of stuff too. If you watch the films ... sometimes he'll grab onto a guy, then act like he's being fouled. He's just a smart player. That's what smart players do.
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.
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.