UCLA Basketball: 4 Reasons Ben Howland Should Not Have Been Retained

Ben Howland is a good coach, but he doesn't deserve to be the head of UCLA basketball.

Sure, he's taken the Bruins to three Final Fours and had a 201-94 overall record. Sure, he's had some of the best recruiting classes in America. But Howland is not the standard for what UCLA basketball is...especially from the coaching box.

On March 5, Sports Illustrated published a tell-all article about Howland and the recent history of UCLA basketball.

After reading it, I can tell that things haven't been pretty.

In the early part of his UCLA career, Howland seemed to be a mold of John Wooden. However, the last few years have told of a different story.

Here are four reasons why I believe Howland should not have been retained by UCLA.

Discipline Much?

With Howland's hands-off approach with players, it's easy to see why things ran amok.

When you have young 18- and 19-year-olds not being held accountable for their actions, they'll continue to push the line to see how far they can go. Why do you think things like fighting, drinking and partying went on for so long?

What made matters worse was the fact that, if it was a star player, they could do stuff right in front of the coach with nothing happening.

That may be allowed to happen at other schools, but it shouldn't happen at UCLA.

John Wooden deserves better than that.

Baby Bruins

One thing that's always happened at UCLA is the upperclassmen showing the underclassmen the ropes and what it takes to represent the school. But when they're not receptive to what they're being told and want to be treated like the stars they think they are, something needs to happen.

Just because these guys were the stars on their high school or AAU teams, that means nothing. When you put on that UCLA uniform, you represent something more than yourself. I guess some guys didn't get that memo.

The fact that Howland allowed it to continue shows he's not the right guy to be leading the Bruins. This goes against many of the pillars of the Pyramid of Success, mainly self-control. Without self-control, you can't be successful.

The reports of all-night partying, drinking before practice and insubordination would have never flown under Wooden.

So, why should it fly now?

Treatment of Managers and Assistants

The Sports Illustrated article detailed an instance where a student manager was terminated because he partied with the players.

But from interviews with other players, that manager bled blue and yellow, even coming to the gym at 3 a.m. to rebound if a player wanted to shoot around.

Howland's mistreatment of this manager didn't sit well with some of the players.

When it came to assistants, Howland was constantly found to be yelling at his assistants and treating them without much respect, according to the story. Maybe that's why assistant coaches left after spending a few years on the bench with Howland. Maybe they felt they deserved to be treated better.

Lack of Upperclassmen

One thing that's been noticeable on UCLA's roster over the last few years is the lack of upperclassmen on scholarship.

When there aren't more mature players in the program, younger guys tend to do what they want to do. And, when a coach doesn't back up his few upperclassmen when they try to lay down the law, you reach the problems this program has reached.

It's no wonder why guys left the program.

The reason Wooden had success for so many years was the fact that he knew his upperclassmen would show the younger guys the UCLA way.

Unfortunately, the UCLA way isn't what it used to be.