How did my team (UCLA) pull this recruiting class?

[[RCG]]

How do you feel about Howland being fired?

[Doctor MJ]

How do you feel about Howland being fired?

Sounds about right.

Back when they fired Lavin, they also fired the football coach Toledo. I supported the firing of Lavin but not Toledo. Why? Because UCLA basketball could do better than squeak into the Sweet 16 each year (whereas Toledo's run in football is basically as good as you can historically expect from UCLA).

UCLA has now missed the Sweet 16 5 years in a row, last year the story broke that Howland had no ability to manage the team culture, and now we're seeing signs that this most recent class might have been acquired through more shady practices (and Howland still couldn't get them to go anywhere). Obviously, UCLA can do better than that.

Now, the debate always rages: This guy got you to 3 straight Final 4's, do you really think that was luck? It wasn't all luck of course - Howland deserves credit for that just as he deserved credit for what he did at other schools.

At this point though, is it really realistic to think the past half decade is just bad luck? Can't we at the very least say that morale is in the toilet and that Howland hasn't shown an ability to miraculously instill a positive environment? Seems to me a change would probably do both the program and Howland some good.