UCLA Basketball: Power Ranking John Wooden and Each Coach in Bruins History

Although John Wooden has become synonymous with UCLA's men's basketball, the storied basketball program has had 11 other coaches since the program began all the way back in 1919.

Interestingly enough, Wooden himself even coached the likes of Walt Hazzard and Larry Farmer, who make appearances on UCLA's all-time coaching list.

Each coach had their own specific coaching style, which they relied upon to be successful during their tenure as head coach of the Bruins.

Ultimately each coach made their mark by how many wins they accumulated, where they finished in the standings, how many tournament appearances they had, as well as the biggest defining factor: championships.

12. Fred W. Cozens (1919–1921)

Fred W. Cozens kicks off the list as UCLA's first men's basketball coach ever. He only coached a total of 24 games, but he won 20 of them.

The reason he comes in so low on the list is because his tenure with the basketball program simply wasn't nearly long enough, in comparison with the rest of the coaches in the school's history.

The admirable thing about Cozens that needs to be mentioned, though, is that he was also UCLA's first football coach as well and served as the school's athletic director from 1919-1942, which is where he made his biggest impact on the university.

11. Wilbur Johns (1939–1948)

During Wilbur Johns' time at UCLA, he was responsible for bringing UCLA to a 93-120 overall record, which comes in last as far as winning percentage goes (.437).

However, much like the coach on the next slide, it is worth looking beyond the numbers, rather than taking his record at face value.

In the 1944-45 season, as well as 1946-47, Johns' UCLA teams both were Conference regular season champions, which certainly counts for something.

He also became the athletic director at UCLA after his nine-season stint as head coach of the men's basketball team concluded.

10. Steve Lavin (1996–2003)

When compiling this list, I essentially listed everyone based upon their overall records, winning percentages and general contributions in coaching.

Once I got to Steve Lavin, though, I had to scrap that formula and dig deeper. For those who don't know Lavin and look at his overall record (145-78, a winning percentage of .650), it looks as if he is ranked way too low on the list.

Then you dig deeper and find out embarrassing facts about him, things like the team losing 10-plus games by more than 25 points during his tenure.

Not satisfied yet? Okay, let's keep it going.

Lavin was also responsible for coaching the team to it's first losing season in 55 years. We're talking about a truly storied basketball program here.

If you'd like to continue beyond Lavin's record for a deeper look at why he falls so low on the list, take a look at this article, as it is chock full of examples supporting him being at the bottom of the pile.

One positive, aside from a winning record during Lavin's murky tenure at UCLA, was his ability to recruit. As head coach at UCLA, Lavin and his staff recruited and signed the No. 1 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 (New Orleans Hornets), Matt Barnes (Los Angeles Lakers), Baron Davis (Cleveland Cavaliers), Dan Gadzuric (Milwaukee Bucks), Ryan Hollins (Minnesota Timberwolves), Jason Kapono (Philadelphia 76ers) and Earl Watson (Indiana Pacers).

9. Larry Brown (1979–1981)

The Larry Brown that UCLA fans new back then is an entirely different looking coach than the bespectacled, white-haired defensive teacher that fans of today are used to seeing.

Outside of Wooden, he has easily had the biggest impact on the game of basketball as a whole. Although his time with UCLA was short, Brown finished with a 42-17 record and was able to bring them to the NCAA Finals in 1979-80, albeit empty-handed.

Brown was a nomadic traveler during his coaching tenure throughout college and the NBA, coaching for a total of 13 teams including Davidson College, Carolina Cougars, Denver Nuggets, UCLA Bruins, New Jersey Nets, University of Kansas, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and lastly the Charlotte Bobcats.

His greatest accomplishment—although not with UCLA—was that he is the only coach to ever win an NBA championship (2004 Detroit Pistons) and a college basketball championship (1988 Kansas Jayhawks).

As a player in the ABA, he was able to win one as well with the Oakland Oaks.

8. Pierce 'Caddy' Works

According to one of "Caddy" Works' former players, Frank Lubin, "He was more of an honorary coach with little basketball knowledge than anything else," which is one of the reasons he lands so low on the list.

Another reason being that although he may have coached the second most games in UCLA men's basketball history—second only to John Wooden—his winning percentage was a mediocre .521.

Works coached UCLA for 18 years, which is a tremendous time to last with a college team, although the above statement about him having little basketball knowledge may make us question why he lasted so long with the team.

Of those 18 seasons, his main accomplishment was that his team won the Conference Regular Season championship for five of his first six seasons as coach of the Bruins.

7. Larry Farmer (1981–1984)

Although Larry Farmer (far right in the above picture) compiled an impressive 61-23 record in his three years of coaching at UCLA, his most notable accomplishments were during his time as a player.

He was a teammate of Bill Walton's during the era where the team won seven consecutive NCAA men's titles under the legendary John Wooden.

Farmer was with the team from 1971-1973; the team won a championship for each of those years.

6. Walt Hazzard (1984–1988)

Another apprentice and player under John Wooden, Walt Hazzard amassed a 77-47 record and won his championships during his time as a player under Wooden. He also would go on to play in the NBA for 10 seasons in a reserve role.

Although he was unable to win any national championships during his time as coach of the UCLA Bruins, he was able to win the 1986-87 NIT championship as well as the Pac-10 regular season championship that season, and also won the inaugural Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

5. Gene Bartow (1975–1977)

Compiling an impressive record of 52-9, good for the second best winning percentage (.852) in the history of UCLA men's basketball, Gene Bartow coached the team for a short but effective two years.

For both of his seasons as head coach, UCLA finished as the Conference regular season champions.

Aside from coaching for UCLA, he also coached for five other college basketball teams including UAB, Central Missouri State, Valparaiso, Memphis and Illinois.

His most successful coaching was done at UAB, where he basically built their basketball program by himself. He was recognized for those coaching efforts after the school named its arena, Bartow Arena, in his honor.

Bartow was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City on November 22, 2009, along with fellow inductees Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Wayman Tisdale, Jud Heathcote, Walter Byers, Travis Grant and Bill Wall.

4. Gary Cunningham (1977–1979)

Although Gary Cunningham was only the head coach of the UCLA Bruins for two seasons, he made his time count.

He finished with a 50-8 record (.862), the highest winning percentage in UCLA men's basketball coaching history.

He also played for UCLA from 1960-1962.

3. Ben Howland (2003-Present)

Ben Howland compiled an impressive overall record to date of 182-80 (.695 winning percentage), and is still the UCLA Bruins men's basketball coach to this day.

Most notably is the fact that he has taken UCLA to the Final Four three time's in a row.

It is also important to note that during his tenure, he has coached a total of nine active NBA players, some of which are the stars of the NBA today.

The list includes Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Arron Afflalo, Trevor Ariza, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Jrue Holiday, Darren Collison and Ryan Hollins.

2. Jim Harrick (1988–1996)

After the firing of Walt Hazzard as head coach, Jim Harrick took over and revamped the basketball program. The catalytic move of recruiting Don MacLean proved to be tremendous for UCLA in 1988, as he was the school's most notable recruit in several years.

He is the second winningest coach behind only John Wooden and brought UCLA its only other National Championship, with all of the others being won by the venerated Wooden.

However, Harrick was involved in an odd situation which led to his firing before the 1996-97 season. UCLA fired him for lying to university investigators about falsifying receipts at a student-athlete recruiting dinner.

The NCAA did end up releasing him of these charges, but he was still fired.

1. John Wooden (1948–1975)

While the rest of the rankings on the list can likely be argued, Wooden is the unanimous choice for the top spot on UCLA's all-time coaching list.

He amassed an incredible 620-147 record, good for an .808 winning percentage.

"The Wizard of Westwood" won 10 NCAA national championships in a 12-year period and coached at UCLA for a total of 27 seasons.

Widely regarded as the greatest basketball coach of all-time at any level, Wooden's words of wisdom reverberate throughout gymnasiums across the country, as he was not just a monumental coach and mentor in the game of basketball, but in life as well.

His most well-known model proving this is his "Pyramid of Success," which is used even in business as a benchmark for what it takes in order for someone to be successful in any walk of life.

He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 1961 and as a coach in 1973; he was the first person to ever be inducted in this honor. Only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have had this honor since.

Many will also remember that he coached NBA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton.

While doing research on the beloved Wooden, I came across this absolutely incredible video that really gives you an idea of how we will likely never see another John Wooden.

The man was not just one in a generation, but in a lifetime.