Steve Lavin

Steve Lavin

Steve Lavin (born September 4, 1964), a San Francisco native, is an American college basketball coach at St. John's University. As UCLA head basketball coach from 1996–2003, Lavin compiled a record of 145-78. In his inaugural season as head coach, Lavin directed the Bruins to the 1997 Pac-10 Championship and the NCAA Elite Eight with an overall record of 24-8. As both an assistant and head coach, Lavin participated in 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1990–2002), while working at Purdue University and UCLA.

During Lavin's tenure as a head coach, he was one of only two coaches in the country, along with Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, to lead his team to five NCAA "Sweet 16s" in six years ('02, '01, '00, '98, '97). Lavin guided UCLA to six consecutive 20+ game winning seasons and to six consecutive NCAA tournaments.

Background

Lavin's coaching career began in 1988 when he was hired as an assistant by legendary Big Ten Purdue head coach Gene Keady. After three years of picking up valuable experience on the Boilermaker staff, Lavin was offered an opportunity to come back west when UCLA head coach Jim Harrick hired him as a Bruin assistant in 1991. Lavin was an assistant coach on the Bruins 1995 National Championship team that finished with a 32-1 record.

UCLA Tenure

After spending five years as an assistant on the Bruin's staff, Lavin was promoted to head coach at UCLA shortly before the 1996 season. On November 6, 1996 UCLA head coach Jim Harrick was fired amid recruiting violations. Lavin initially replaced Harrick as an UCLA interim head coach for the 1996-1997 season. Later that same season on Feb. 11, 1997, with the Bruins tied for first place in the Pac-10 with an 8-3 record, Lavin was rewarded by having the interim tag lifted to become UCLA’s 11th head coach in school history. After Lavin was named permanent head coach, the Bruins won their next 11 games, before being eliminated by the Minnesota Gophers in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final.

In seven seasons as head coach Lavin’s record was 12-4 in games involving overtime. Additionally Lavin's Bruins had a 10-4 record against the rival USC Trojans. In one stretch (1997–2002) Lavin’s Bruins compiled nine consecutive overtime victories, including victories over Arizona, Cincinnati (2002 NCAA second round double overtime victory over No. 1 West Region seed), Kentucky, and over then #1 ranked Stanford.

In March of 2003, Lavin had his first losing season (10-19) as a head coach and was relieved of his duties. Throughout his final days as head coach, Lavin expressed only gratitude for his twelve year association with UCLA.

Recruiting

As head coach at UCLA, Lavin and his staff recruited and signed the No. 1 rated recruiting class in the country in 1998 and 2001. Lavin signed seven McDonald’s High School All-Americans. Seven of Lavin’s former Bruin recruits are currently roster members of NBA teams: Trevor Ariza (Houston Rockets), Matt Barnes (Orlando Magic), Baron Davis (Los Angeles Clippers), Dan Gadzuric (Milwaukee Bucks), Ryan Hollins (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jason Kapono (Philadelphia 76ers), and Earl Watson (Indiana Pacers). As a result, the Bruins have the longest collegiate streak in the country of consecutive years having a player drafted to the NBA.

Sweet 16

During Lavin’s tenure as head coach, the Bruins qualified for six consecutive NCAA Tournaments (1997-2002). During this period, Lavin became one of two coaches (along Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski) to have led his team to five NCAA Sweet 16s in six seasons. Lavin’s record in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament is 10-1. Lavin’s winning percentage (90.9%) in the first two rounds, is second only to Dean Smith in NCAA Tournament history. In seven seasons as head coach Lavin’s record was 12-4 in games involving overtime. In one stretch (1997-2002) Lavin’s Bruins compiled nine consecutive overtime victories, including victories over Arizona, Cincinnati (2002 NCAA second round double overtime victory over No. 1 West Region seed), Kentucky, and over then #1 ranked Stanford).

Lavin’s Bruins team had a knack for knocking off #1 teams. Lavin lead his team to victory over the No. 1 team in the country in four consecutive collegiate seasons (Arizona ’03, Kansas ’02, Stanford ’01, and Stanford ’00).

ABC and ESPN TV career

After being relieved of his duties at UCLA, Lavin shortly thereafter, signed a multi-year broadcasting deal with ABC and ESPN. Lavin makes regular appearances on ESPN College GameNight and also provides color-commentary alongside his partner Brent Musburger at primetime college games around the country. Lavin is sharing with viewers his experienced coaching perspective and his lifelong love for college basketball and its rich history.

Lavin’s perspective was forged over 15 years as a Division I college basketball coach at both UCLA and Purdue University.

For the past three years, Lavin has been working at the NBA Pre Draft Camp and NBA Draft in New York. He has also been a part of Jordan Classic Brand Basketball.

In April of 2006 Lavin strongly considered a return to the coaching ranks when presented with the opportunity to become the head basketball coach of the North Carolina State University Wolfpack. Lavin chose to continue his broadcasting career and signed a new six year contract with ABC and ESPN that will keep him with the network through 2012.

Lavin is frequently an invited keynote speaker throughout the country for business, community and collegiate events. He addresses a wide range of topics including effective communication, motivation, management, recruiting, leadership, and naturally, college basketball.

Steve Lavin, whose name was being mentioned as a candidate for other coaching jobs, included: California, University of San Francisco, Arizona, Memphis and others. On March 30, 2010 Lavin accepted the head coaching position at St. John's University.

Personal life

On August 17th 2007, Steve Lavin married actress Mary Ann Jarou in Capri, Italy. Lavin’s father, Cap Lavin, in 1992 was inducted into the San Francisco Prep Basketball Hall of Fame and is a 1997 inductee into the University of San Francisco Hall of Fame. He prepped at St. Ignatius where he was a three-time (1946-48) All-City performer. Cap was a three-year letterman (1950-52) and team captain at USF. While at USF, he played for two Hall of Fame coaches, Pete Newell (1949-50) and Phil Woolpert (1950-52). As a collegiate guard, Newell described Cap as a "ballhandler way ahead of his time, one of the great dribblers and passers in the game."

In 1997, Cap retired after 43 years as an English teacher (at Cal-Berkeley, San Francisco State and Dominican College), including 40 years at Sir Francis Drake HS. At Cal-Berkeley, Cap was co-founder and director of the University of California Bay Area Writing Project, which established the National Writing Center at Berkeley and over 200 writing centers at university sites throughout the U. S. and abroad. In addition to Steve Lavin’s brother-in-law, John Moore, is the head basketball coach at Westmont College in Santa Barbara and is married to Lavin’s sister, Rachel.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
UCLA Bruins (Pacific-10 Conference) (1996–2003)
1996–97	UCLA	24–8	15–3	1	NCAA Elite Eight
1997–98	UCLA	24–9	12–6	3	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1998–99	UCLA	22–9	12–6	3	NCAA Round of 64
1999–00	UCLA	21–12	10–8	4	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2000–01	UCLA	23–9	14–4	3	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2001–02	UCLA	21–12	11–7	6	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2002–03	UCLA	10–19	6–12	6
UCLA:		145–78	81–48
St. John's Red Storm (Big East Conference) (2010–present)
2010–11	St. John's
St. John's:		–	–
Total:		145–78
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

See also

• List of Head Men's Basketball Coaches at the University of California, Los Angeles
• 1994-95 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team