Who Dick Vatale thinks Iowa should take..

I will say this Lavin is a much better choice then Forbes/Barbee combined.

Throw-up over this Drake-Trust me you can't. Lavin can flat out coach and recruit. He would be a great addition..
Steve Lavin (145-78)
1996–97 UCLA Elite Eight
1997–98 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
1998–99 UCLA Round of 64
1999–00 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2000–01 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2001–02 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2002–03 UCLA None

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’s 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.

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.

Iowa needs a hire like this. He is proven to be successful. I'm tired of the experiments.. If we can get someone like Pearl, Dixon, Wright.

I want Lavin... No question!!!


There seem to be some years missing. You stopped at 2003? If he is such a good coach can you post his numbers from 2003 on????
 
Exactly. Hasn't coached in 7 Years.

So the only negative that anybody can come up with against Lavin is that he hasn't coached in 7 years.

AT LEAST he has head coaching experience unlike any other likely names that are coming up that have actually shown interest like Forbes and BJ Armstrong.

People want to make the argument that he hasn't been on the recruiting trail. I think his sports casting career will help him when it comes to getting young athletes to want to come to play at Iowa. The high school students will recognize his name. He also has coached players who have actually played in the NBA. Many of the young athletes want to play for a coach who sends his players to the NBA. They want a chance to pursue their dream.
 
Why has Barry Melrose been out of coaching as long as he has been out of coaching? Lavin has done really well as a sports, commentator/celebrity, his wife has been trying to break into the acting thing. Has had some one shot roles here and there.

The celebrity thing would have helped the wife's career. But she is from Flint, Michigan and she might be ready to stop the audition circuit and, who knows?

I don't think Lavin would be a long-term solution, but he might not be a bad hire while you also hire his replacement, ala Mr. Davis and Keno, Huggins and Martin, etc.
 
Jon, you beat me to the punch. That is my question..Why is he not now coaching? there has to be a reason.

Simple. He quit to be an analyst on ABC and ESPN. I vaguely remember him saying shortly after that he simply wasn't interested in coach anymore and that is why he took the analyst job.
This is funny. Hmm...who updated this on wikipedia?

"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. As head coach, his career record in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is 10-1. Due to the recent firing of University of Iowa Head Basketball Coach Todd Lickliter, many Iowa Hawkeye fans have expressed interest in Lavin becoming their next head coach."
 
Don't you wonder why he has been out of the game so long?


Maybe he enjoys what he's doing with ESPN. Why do people act like thats completely out of the question?

Hard to make the argument that its because he's not a good coach, considering his track record.

He's a name guy, and I think thats something that Barta might find appealing.
 
Again, I would talk with Lavin and see if he could bring a strong young recruiter/ future HC with him. If so, I would probably go for it if he was interested.

However, I would have him sign a contract with a really BIG buyout during the first couple of years, because, if he really wants back into coaching and he does well, he won't be staying at Iowa long term.
 
Why has Barry Melrose been out of coaching as long as he has been out of coaching? Lavin has done really well as a sports, commentator/celebrity, his wife has been trying to break into the acting thing. Has had some one shot roles here and there.

The celebrity thing would have helped the wife's career. But she is from Flint, Michigan and she might be ready to stop the audition circuit and, who knows?

I don't think Lavin would be a long-term solution, but he might not be a bad hire while you also hire his replacement, ala Mr. Davis and Keno, Huggins and Martin, etc.

Because he's not a good coach? Tampa Bay canned halfway through the season last year.
 
If memory serves me right his last couple of years at UCLA he was under the gun because he could bring in talent but couldn't coach and make adjustments. He could always get the talent but couldn't do anything with it towards the end of his coaching stint there and was basically ran. Got the feeling that his recruiting was just this side of being legal and with Wooden's presence still looming large wasn't a big fan of UCLA alum and pressure was on him to win if he wanted to stay and didn't live up to the hype that he was about like he did earlier in his career.

After he left UCLA they got their current coach and he started to win right away with Lavin's recruits and rest is history. Lavin did tv and has been there ever since. With the coaching vacancies out there in the last 5 years or so his name doesn't ever get any serious consideration and feel that something came out when he left UCLA that has scarred him in the coaching ranks and really doubt he ever coaches again in DI.
 
I do wonder why Lavin has been out of coaching for so long. With what he has done at UCLA I cannot believe there have not been other schools interested in him. This is the kind of big name Iowa needs to get people interested in Iowa Basketball again. But if there is a really good reason why he has been out of coaching for so long then I would love to hear it.
 
He kind of got the Mr. Davis treatment from UCLA. Maybe he hasn't wanted any coaching gigs the last couple of years???? We don't know why he hasn't been coaching, but he does a great job as an analyst. Maybe now is time for him to get back at it. I'd take him, but there are lots of guys that I would not be unhappy with.
 
Don't you wonder why he has been out of the game so long?

Got beat up psychologically at UCLA. It happens. In a lot of professions.

While content at his current gig, if the right one came along he might jump back into coaching. I certainly wouldn't hold his sabbatical against him.
 
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I certainly DO hold his sabbatical against him.

The great coaches can't imagine doing anything else. It's in their blood. They have to be in the gym, teaching kids; in their office, plotting strategy with their assistants; on the road, convincing parents that their school is the right place for their kid.

If Lavin had really wanted to coach, plenty of schools would love to have hired him. Many, many other D1 coaches have trod this path, moving to a lesser school, staying "in the game" for the next top-shelf opening.

7 years??? Lavin clearly lost the fire.
 
Vitale is touting his ESPN colleagues for Oregon(knight) and Iowa (lavin) and his paisno for St Johns(Pitino)...standard Dukie stuff.

I suppose it is possible that Lavin has spread the word among his fellow anlysts at ESPN that he might have interest in Iowa...fine, talk to him.
Honestly, there is zero way to predict how any of these candidates will actually work out as coach at Iowa...
Lavin has face recognition,no doubt. His postgame shows would be more interesting than the last two guys as he peppers his comments with ''share the sugar'' and ''lunchpail mentality'' ect. He reminds me a little of ''jimmy two times'' from the movie ''Goodfellas''...when describing a player or a play in games,he often repeats his description,with two terms...ie...''kramer is a hard hat guy, a lunch bucket competitor''....or ''jackson moves the ball,shares the sugar''...get ready to hear that if he is the iowa coach.
 
Coaches can have the coaching-fire doused. Media has all kinds of them as color commentators. But the bball fire hasn't been lost. If it was, he'd be selling satellites in Los Angeles rather than playing the cc gig.

The guy this thread is about as the source of Lavin as Iowa HC certainly hasn't lost his fire for bball.

Lavin isn't in my top three list. He's not a Barta's short list either. But he isn't on my black ball list. If the Iowa job has fallen as much as what people think, Iowa could do a lot worse than hiring Lavin. Some of the names thrown out would be a lot worse.
 
I certainly DO hold his sabbatical against him.

The great coaches can't imagine doing anything else. It's in their blood. They have to be in the gym, teaching kids; in their office, plotting strategy with their assistants; on the road, convincing parents that their school is the right place for their kid.

If Lavin had really wanted to coach, plenty of schools would love to have hired him. Many, many other D1 coaches have trod this path, moving to a lesser school, staying "in the game" for the next top-shelf opening.

7 years??? Lavin clearly lost the fire.

Maybe he just wanted to persue something different like working for ESPN. Now that he has fulfilled that, he may want to get back into coaching and is looking for a new challenge.

Of course, I have no knowledge of this but why would Vitale throw his name out there if he didn't think that Lavin wanted to get back into coaching?
 
1996–97 UCLA Elite Eight
1997–98 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
1998–99 UCLA Round of 64
1999–00 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2000–01 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2001–02 UCLA Sweet Sixteen
2002–03 UCLA None




That's the best he could do with one of the biggest, most storied programs ever? How many schools have won more national championships that UCLA? Not many. That would be a stellar record with the talent one could get at Iowa, but he did that at UCLA! U-C-Freaking-L-A! And he was FIRED for it. How badly does he get Iowa talent to underperform?
 
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why would Vitale throw his name out there if he didn't think that Lavin wanted to get back into coaching?

I'm not saying he doesn't want to get back in. He obviously does, he's said so himself. I'm questioning his passion for coaching.
 

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