“One thing a shooter loves is to make his first shot. He makes his first shot from three; that builds confidence.”
― Ben Howland
“Field-goal percentage is very important.”
― Ben Howland
“Everybody makes mistakes. I’m definitely not perfect.”
― Ben Howland
“Usually you have a feel for what a kid’s abilities are by the end of their sophomore year.”
― Ben Howland
“When you take over a screwed-up situation, you need time.”
― Ben Howland
“I know I’m a really good coach.”
― Ben Howland
“The Reeves Nelson debacle, that hurt me. There are certain things regarding him that I couldn’t say then and still can’t. But I should have pulled the plug on him after his sophomore year. We tried to make it work, but we couldn’t make it happen.”
― Ben Howland
“For the most part, I’ve been very, very blessed and been lucky to have great kids. We want to recruit great kids, good people. For the most part, we’ve done that.”
― Ben Howland
“There’s no question that I’ve made mistakes along the way when you look at recruiting in terms of evaluations of players or character in an instance or two.”
― Ben Howland
“I don’t know where people got that I didn’t have a good relationship with my players. I’m demanding, yes; I’m on their butt. I expect 100%, but they all knew I loved them, I cared for them, and I’ll always be there for them.”
― Ben Howland
“I always think I put more pressure on myself than I feel from anywhere else.”
― Ben Howland
“This is UCLA. The expectations are higher here than anywhere. The amount of success both in terms of championships and wins as well as success off the floor has been second to none in college basketball. I knew that when I took this job. I know the expectation level, and no one has higher expectations than I do.”
― Ben Howland
“I’m a good person and a good guy.”
― Ben Howland
“I’m a good coach. I do the right things for my players, and I try to support them; I try to help them almost to a fault.”
― Ben Howland
“Tweeting – let’s be honest: it’s like I’m the center of the universe; it’s all about me. Everybody is listening to my every thought, and my current thought at this very moment is… it’s ridiculous.”
― Ben Howland
“If you went and did a microscopic investigative report at Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, Carolina, Indiana – what are you talking about? You’re always going to have some stuff come out that will be looked upon as not being good.”
― Ben Howland
“You’re not going to see Bill Walton or Kareem coming in every three years. Those days are over. That’s what makes the job so difficult. But it’s the dream job for anyone who has spent a career in coaching and has a sense of what UCLA means.”
― Ben Howland
“I watch a lot of games and analyze a lot.”
― Ben Howland
“You should want to run if you’re a player, shouldn’t you, on offense?”
― Ben Howland
“That’s AAU ball. That’s what you do: ‘I want to get out there first and score.’ You see it in games during the summer. There are not a lot of great blockouts going on.”
― Ben Howland
“Las Vegas is a big draw. There are a lot things to do there other than basketball.”
― Ben Howland
“Thing about New York is it is so exciting with so much to do.”
― Ben Howland
“I love to visit New York, but Los Angeles, to me, is a great city.”
― Ben Howland
“Winning, to me, is relief; losing is like dying. It’s gut-wrenching.”
― Ben Howland
“I have a strong belief in God.”
― Ben Howland
“At UCLA, there will always be high expectations. That’s why you want to play here or coach here.”
― Ben Howland
“We need to play tough defense and have a sound offense. But mostly, we have to outrebound the other team.”
― Ben Howland
“We’ve got to get everybody to sacrifice, be on same page, be a team.”
― Ben Howland
“That’s why I’m here at UCLA – to help them win a national championship.”
― Ben Howland
“You have more control of things if you play defense. And you can control how you play defense, too, with effort and preparation.”
― Ben Howland
“I just like to win.”
― Ben Howland
“Putting your feet in ice cold water? That’s not fun.”
― Ben Howland
“I had a relationship with John Wooden. I spoke at his memorial service.”
― Ben Howland
“There are things that I will think about, that I have been a part of because I was the head coach at UCLA, that I will always cherish. I grew up loving this program as a kid.”
― Ben Howland
“I get to work with the best and the brightest at UCLA. We get to recruit great kids, and that makes coaching very fun for me.”
― Ben Howland
“I don’t always show my emotion. You don’t always get to see it.”
― Ben Howland
“I can’t think of much higher praise to give a player than to say, ‘This point guard reminds me of Jason Kidd.’”
― Ben Howland
“My team at Pittsburgh is the greatest example of unselfishness and giving of oneself. They bought into that, and it’s brought those kids championships, and it’s brought all those kids so much glory.”
― Ben Howland
“I was raised to believe you are supposed to love everybody.”
― Ben Howland
“My dad taught not only tolerance but appreciation for every human being.”
― Ben Howland
“UCLA will always be involved with great players, and those players always draw scrutiny. That’s just the way it is.”
― Ben Howland
“It’s hard to get a job. There are more lawyers within a five-mile radius of wherever you’re sitting than there are Division I jobs.”
― Ben Howland
“Northern Arizona was a job no one had ever survived, and a lot of people said I was crazy to take it. But to build a program and win there gave me a lot of confidence when people said we couldn’t do it at Pitt.”
― Ben Howland
“You can never blame somebody for wanting to go home.”
― Ben Howland
“Pittsburgh is a football town.”
― Ben Howland
“The number one thing in recruiting in terms of making it a great job is players in your own area.”
― Ben Howland
“I will never leave UCLA and will stay at UCLA as long they will have me.”
― Ben Howland
“No one is perfect. I would never claim to be that person.”
― Ben Howland
“What is the NCAA going to do a program if a kid leaves before two years. You can’t control it. The NBA is the one that has to control it.”
― Ben Howland
“This is always one of my big pet peeves is that 65% of NBA players, three years out of the NBA, are broke. I mean, so, maybe maturing a little more on the front end and getting an education might serve you well down the road.”
― Ben Howland
“Typically, you’ll see that zones work better in November than in February. As the season goes on, teams get better and better at attacking zones, and it becomes harder to become an effective zone defense as the season progresses. But early on, it can be can good at times.”
― Ben Howland
“How many people do you know who love their jobs? Did your dad love his job? Was he passionate about it? Because I am. I love it. I love the relationships. I love teaching. I love the competition. I love everything about it.”
― Ben Howland
“One of the very best things about being a coach or student-athlete at UCLA is if you need medical attention, you won’t find any better place in the country than at the incomparable UCLA Medical Center.”
― Ben Howland
“One thing I’ve always prided myself on is understanding that to have success, you have to have high-character kids.”
― Ben Howland
“There’s no question we made a couple mistakes there at UCLA at the very end.”
― Ben Howland
“It’s very painful to lose, and it’s a very difficult process to go through, especially at a place like UCLA where the standards are very high.”
― Ben Howland
“My first introduction to Russell Westbrook was as a leader. It was pretty impressive.”
― Ben Howland
“You’re only as good as your next game.”
― Ben Howland
“It still comes down to attracting players, and UCLA can attract players as well as any place in the country.”
― Ben Howland
“I just try to control what I can control.”
― Ben Howland
“I try to be honest. I try to take the high road. That’s all I can do.”
― Ben Howland
“Both my children have degrees from UCLA.”
― Ben Howland
“I love UCLA and the people at UCLA. Everybody is great.”
― Ben Howland
“I wear Johnston & Murphy, not penny loafers.”
― Ben Howland
“The summer in Arizona is too hot.”
― Ben Howland
“Flagstaff, up in the mountains where I lived, there is 130 inches of snow a year.”
― Ben Howland
“Basketball movies don’t really accentuate the flow of the game.”
― Ben Howland
“My wife and I – her more than me – are really strong Christians. Her whole life revolves around studying the Bible, Bible study, after-school Bible class she does for little kids on Wednesdays, teaches Sunday school.”
― Ben Howland
“When you go to the big city – you’re in New York, Boston, you’re in L.A. – you walk in the streets, and nobody says anything to you. It becomes so impersonal because there’s so many people.”
― Ben Howland
“You’re always trying to learn from the past to plot a course in the future that will be better. You’re always trying to learn.”
― Ben Howland
“Archie Miller does a fantastic job at Dayton.”
― Ben Howland
“It’s a real advantage in basketball to have great hands.”
― Ben Howland
“I don’t get to fish that much, believe me.”
― Ben Howland
“It’s amazing, as a player and as a coach, how you always remember the tough losses better than the victories. They’re just way more vivid.”
― Ben Howland
“Losses are always bad. They’re always tough. Doesn’t matter what year.”
― Ben Howland
“You try to stay as even-keel as possible; obviously, it’s always more difficult when you’re going through a tough season.”
― Ben Howland
“I always had great respect for the SEC with all the great players.”
― Ben Howland
“Kevin Stallings has been a picture of consistency at Vanderbilt.”
― Ben Howland
“I’ve had a number of kids in the NBA that I’ve coached and a number of other great players that I’ve coached.”
― Ben Howland
“I coached Brandin Knight at Pitt, who was unbelievable, and also Carl Krauser.”
― Ben Howland
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