Alexander: Steve Lavin is back on the coaching carousel at USD
There’s a theory that whenever a coach steps away, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, the fire never quite goes out.
So while it might have surprised some that Steve Lavin got back into the game last spring, leaving the comfort of TV college basketball commentary to return to the bench at the University of San Diego, it probably shouldn’t have.
A “coaching sabbatical” is what he called it, after a seven-season tenure at UCLA (145-78, four Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearances and an Elite Eight from 1995-96 through 2002-03), and five seasons at St. John’s (81-53 from 2010-11 through 2014-15), with seven-year tenures as a TV analyst – first at ESPN and then with Fox Sports, CBS and the Pac-12 Network – sandwiched between sideline gigs.
His new team is a work in progress; USD (7-6) plays at CSUN on Thursday in a 1 p.m. game, two days after a 92-84 overtime victory at UC Riverside on Tuesday night in which the Toreros, with two starters unavailable because of injury, let a nine-point lead slip away in the final 1:08 of regulation but pulled away in overtime.
The obvious if whimsical question – and yeah, I asked it after the victory at UCR and the nervous late-game moments that came with it – is if those are the times he wonders why he got back into this. The answer, basically: Even the rocky spots are appealing.
“It’s the reason you want to get back into coaching, participating with your team and finding a way to get a win on the road,” he said. “It’s what makes it significant. Purposeful.
“It is (fun), yeah. It’s hard … for different reasons. All three opportunities (UCLA, St. John’s and now this one) have been wonderful. But I’m enjoying this one as much as any of the stops in my career because of the stage and age of my life. When you’re younger and you think your life is going to go on forever and (you) feel invincible, you don’t fully appreciate the moment.”
Lavin, now 58, described this as a “right time, right place” opportunity: A good philosophical fit, in a familiar region with a familiar recruiting landscape, and a program with growth potential. USD hasn’t made an NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, but the West Coast Conference is a multi-bid league in which Gonzaga’s stature has actually enhanced the possibilities rather than crushing them.
“I really was enjoying my (TV) work and I didn’t want to take any job to return to coaching,” said Lavin, who had passed on mid-decade offers from San Francisco (his father’s alma mater) and North Carolina State. “But I had faith that if I was meant to return to coaching, it would reveal itself and things would align and it would just make sense.”
It was a whirlwind courtship. The initial interviews took place during Final Four weekend in New Orleans, and the introductory news conference on the USD campus was the following Friday.
Lavin’s extended break from coaching after leaving St. John’s in 2015, after he and the school failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension, turned out to be beneficial in other ways.
“I lost my mom (Mary) January 25th, 2018,” he recalled. “I lost my dad (Cap) February 10th, 2013. When my father passed, naturally all of the focus went to my mother as the matriarch, the anchor of the family. But when you lose that second parent, there is that feeling of being orphaned.
“The time spent with my father before he passed (during the first break between coaching jobs) was such a blessing, because I wouldn’t have had that if I was still coaching. The time in TV – more autonomy, more freedom in the offseason, the pace is more balanced – allowed me to get time with my mom, too. … The three years before my mom passed in 2018, that I was able to have with her and to caretake for her before she went across the finish line, is something I treasure.”
His journey has given him perspective. He got the UCLA job at age 32, going from volunteer assistant to third assistant, second assistant, first assistant, interim head coach (when Jim Harrick was fired for falsifying an expense report ) and, as Lavin called it, “fired coach.”
His first gigs were in tremendously demanding situations. None of John Wooden’s first five successors at UCLA lasted more than four seasons, and everyone in that chair – including current occupant Mick Cronin – has dealt with the expectations symbolized by the banners in the Pauley Pavilion rafters. St. John’s meant the equally demanding (and at times hysterical) New York media market, and Lavin’s time there was complicated by prostate cancer surgery that limited him to four games in his second season, and then the death of his dad during his third season.
Staying close to the game with his TV work enabled him to keep up with the changes in the game and the young men who play it.
“I draw the parallel to parenting, right?” he said. “Let’s say UCLA was my first child. Then there’s that time in between, and then St John’s was my second child. And then that time in between, in broadcasting. And then San Diego is my third child. And we learn, through experience, what’s more important, where the priorities lie, and have a more informed perspective.
“There’s certain (issues) that, hey, you’ve got to nip it in the bud right now. We’ve got to take care of that. And then there are others that can wait until tomorrow, because it may not even be an issue by the time the sun comes up tomorrow. … Something that maybe bothered you in your 20s and 30s, by your 40s and 50s you’re like, ‘That’s ridiculous. Why was I even worried?’ And then the flip side is true: Something that didn’t concern you (before), but with life experience, you’re like, ‘Oh, no, that we need to take care of right now.’”
Lavin still talks to his players from those UCLA teams – Tyus Edney, who played for the Bruins when Lavin was an assistant, is now on his USD staff – and they kid him about, among other things, facial hair. It was forbidden then. It’s no big deal now.
“My UCLA guys are now in their late 40s, early 50s,” Lavin said. “Earl (Watson) is like, ‘Coach, I can’t believe you were 10 years younger than us (now) and coaching at UCLA.’”
And now he’s back. The lure of the sideline is powerful.
jalexander@scng.com