3/9/03 I normally enjoy the work of Steve Dilbeck of the LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS but I disagree with the premise of his column about Steve Lavin today. Dilbeck asserts that the soon-to-be-jettisoned Lavin has shown class and dignity as his team has limped to a miserable finish.
It’s actually the opposite.
Once Lavin figured out that he had no chance of keeping his once-gifted gig, he completely gave up on the season and most importantly, his team. Speculating about his successor in the middle of the season did a disservice to his players and the program - and completely impugned whatever credibility Lavin had left as a coach.
I’ve never been around someone that was so obsessed with being one step ahead of his detractors. At his weekly and postgame pressers, Lavin spends most of the time in hyper-damage-control-mode, trying to anticipate and head off criticism rather than giving an honest assessment of his team.
The ultimate example came from Lavin yesterday after UCLA’s *win* over woeful Washington: "I regret that we didn’t hang a 12th national championship banner and didn’t have a better regular season in our final year."
Final year? When has UCLA AD Dan Guerrero gone on record as saying this is Lavin’s final year? What Lavin is really doing with an absurd comment like this is attempting to soften the blow for himself and steal the thunder from Guerrero. In the meantime, the embittered, selfish, egomaniacal, opportunistic Lavin further victimizes the UCLA players and program.
Unless you live in Los Angeles and actually spend time on the streets and in sports bars around the city with UCLA students and alumni, you can’t truly comprehend how relieved everyone is to see Lavin hit the bricks.
And you won’t see Lavin back in the coaching ranks any time soon. While he’s counting his buyout bucks he’ll be spewing his bogus, coaching-manual platitudes on the tube this time next season.
I could go on all day about the fraud that is Lavin. Here’s some room for you too…
