View From the Hot Seats

Editor’s note: This is an article from the Fall 1998 issue of UCLA Magazine.

UCLA has the most successful, across-the-board athletic department of any university in the country. It has produced world-famous athletes too numerous to mention. In almost every sport, it ranks among the nation’s elite, and coaches like Al Scates and Guy Baker are recognized as among the best — if not the best — at what they do.

Still, no one can deny that football and basketball are the engines that run the machine, the glamour programs, first among equals, if you will. They get the press — for better or worse; they play in front of large crowds; they’re on television. They also bring in the cash.

So it’s probably fair to say that Bob Toledo and Steve Lavin occupy sort of parallel worlds in the hot seats of the UCLA sporting universe. But the synchronicity doesn’t stop there:

Both are Bay Area expatriates, from San Jose and San Francisco, respectively. Both went to San Francisco State (Toledo transferred in, Lavin out). Both were Bruin assistants to longtime, successful UCLA head coaches. And both have already experienced the pressure-cooker ups and downs of running big-time programs. But as they enter their third year at the helm, they have established their respective programs as their own. Need proof? According to the national recruiting services, the UCLA football and basketball programs both had the top recruiting classes in the nation. If that’s ever happened before — anywhere — we couldn’t find evidence of it.

Last summer, Lavin and Toledo took a break from their summer camps to sit down with UCLA Magazine to tell us some of their secrets. And, no, Toledo did not reveal his next trick play.

We wondered, Bob, if you knew of Steve’s father, Cap, a renowned high school and college basketball player, coach and teacher in the Bay Area?

Bob Toledo: Yep. He was a legend. He’s more famous than the kid here.

Are we interviewing the wrong Lavin?

BT: No, this one makes more money.

Steve Lavin: Yeah, Dad was an English teacher. He wants my money now. (To BT) I was born in 1964, so what were you doing in ’64?

BT: I was a senior quarterback in high school.

SL: I graduated from high school in ’82. What were you doing in ’82?

BT: I was head coach at University of Pacific.

We’re not All-Americans, nor are many of our readers, but will you guys give us your recruiting pitch?

BT: The bottom line is we’re selling a good product. And that’s what we are, salesmen. We’ve got to sell the school, the surroundings and the future. We go out and make sure we convince those student-athletes that this is a great place to be and that the future is bright.

SL: I agree. Mainly, we’re selling a great institution. It’s the best package of academics and athletics in the country. UCLA attracts super achievers and that’s part of what makes it an exciting place to go to school and compete. We don’t talk much about basketball in their homes. What we’re really trying to do is paint a picture for the family to see this as a place they can imagine their son growing up and thriving in. The biggest thing we talk about is the long term, the big picture — that they should look at this decision as a 50-year game plan. The average pro career is three years. That puts you at age 25. In that 50-year span, from 25 to 75, UCLA is going to build a foundation for you, if you take advantage of the resources, the connections, etc. Now you’re building a foundation for life. Sure it’s great to beat Duke or USC on a Saturday afternoon, or to have a great college or even pro career. But those are all just short-term plans. Here, you’re building a life.

BT: Look, two years ago we did not have a guy drafted. Ohio St. did not have a guy drafted last year. You can get your degree and go on to play pro football if you’re good enough. But the ultimate thing is, you can’t play forever; you’ve got to get the piece of paper.

SL: Academically, every time you step into a classroom, you’re going against the top students in the world, so that’s going to bring out the best in you, just like when you line up against another All-American in practice. Another big point is the package. There are Ivy League schools like Princeton or Harvard, but here you can get a quality education that’s on par with them, plus you have an athletic experience that is at a whole other level. At Duke you get a great basketball program and a great education, but you won’t have the same social life or weather that we have here. So one way or another, UCLA is going to gain an edge on everybody in the country. When we talk to other coaches, they say we have the best jobs in the world. But there are trade-offs …

BT: Like I’ve got to commute for an hour.

SL: … Cost of living, housing costs. But the reason coaches say that is that in one way or another, UCLA sets itself apart — academically, athletically, socially, weather, across the board. It’s close to the beach, concerts at the Greek Theatre, Dodger, Laker games — it’s all here.

You’ve both spoken before about the role of head coach vs. assistant and the amount of managing you’ve got to do as opposed to coaching. One thing no one can manage is others’ expectations. Steve, do you think expectations of you are higher because you’re coaching in the shadow of all those banners in Pauley?

SL: Heck no! You ever sat in the Rose Bowl?

BT: I wouldn’t want Steve’s job because those guys are just too close behind him. At least the fans are quite a ways away from me.

SL: Harrick had a couple death threats and bomb threats when I was an assistant and that’s why the police escort us off the court and they’ve just continued. They stay with me all the way out to the car after a game. I tell them when we win, I don’t need you guys. When we lose, get the bulletproof vests out.

BT: There are a lot of references to UCLA being a “basketball school.” Hey, I’m proud that we have the best basketball program. I’m proud that we have the best athletic program in the country, according to Sports Illustrated. But you know what? We have a pretty darn good football program, too. People might look at us as a basketball school, but I think more people are starting to realize we’ve got a great athletic program. The fact that the basketball team has a great reputation helps us to recruit football players. When we take recruits into Pauley and they see all those national championship banners and experience how exciting it all is, it’s a happening. They want to be a part of that; it’s very appealing to kids. I want Lav to win every single game. I’m sure he feels the same way. So we’re all in this thing together.

How important is it to have good relations with the media?

SL: As a coach I think you’re setting an example and trying to model for your players, just like a good parent or a good teacher. So you want to treat people with respect, whether it’s a member of the media, an alumnus, booster, fan on the street or a waiter serving your team a pregame meal. From that standpoint you want to be cordial and represent UCLA in the right fashion, you don’t want to treat anyone disrespectfully. And then again, in Los Angeles, one of the things that’s unique with our position is that there are unbelievable media demands that are both good and bad. It helps our recruiting and gives guys like Cade publicity for the Heisman. It gives our guys a chance to be All-Americans. Some people will always bash UCLA, but for the most part they’ll be fair if you treat them with respect over the years and put a good product on the field.

BT: My thing is it’s important to be consistent. And you’ve got to be honest. I realize that the media have a job to do. So I’m going to be honest, tell them what I think. I may not tell them everything I know, but I’ll tell them what I think. And win or lose, I’m going to face the music.

Are you baffled by how many fans think the program belongs to them? Are the programs isolated, like it’s you and your team against the world?

BT: The kids are going to follow the coaches’ lead, pick up on how we react to that kind of stuff. Last year we started off 0-2 and all of a sudden you’re concerned with the season slipping away. If I had become ballistic and gone wild and overreacted, I don’t know if we’d have won 10 in a row. But I told our team, “Don’t read the papers, don’t listen to the sports talk shows, don’t talk to your friends who supposedly know more about football than you and me. Now is the time for us to stick together as a team and a family, the Bruin family — not time to splinter and become fragmented. What we really need to do is pull together.” And we did. But I preach consistency and honesty and sticking together, and I think the kids appreciate that.

SL: I don’t know what Bob’s mail is like, but you do get fans who really have an idea of what the big picture is, of what a coach is trying to accomplish. In terms of student first, athlete second. When we get a crazy letter, I’m actually naive enough to try and educate the guy that we’re teaching things beyond the game. The guy who actually cares enough to write — maybe the pendulum is just a little off — but if we can get him back on the other side, we’ll have a huge fan. I’d like to get a letter asking about a kid’s GPA or challenging us on higher academic standards or how we need to graduate more kids — that would be a good kind of criticism. There are a number of good fans who just get a little off base and forget that we’re dealing with 18- to 20-year-old kids who have feelings when you’re booing them. As a coach, that bothers you. I remember when Cade was a freshman and got booed, and our guys get booed all the time — we’re down 10 at half, we get booed off Pauley.

Steve likes to joke that he’s just a coach, doesn’t have time for books and museums and stuff. Still, we wonder, with this great big campus right outside your doors, do you have time to enjoy it?

BT: Steve’s a little younger than I am. He’s like I was when I got my first job; this is my last one. I’m smelling the roses, baby. I’m enjoying it. Steve is young and single; I see a lot of me in him when I was that age. But he’s trying to prove himself like we all are, and I think there will come a point in his life when he’ll take up golf or enjoy his life a little bit more than he does right now. He’s working his fanny off and he’s doing a great job. But I think he’ll realize, once he gets in more of a comfort zone, that “I’m going to enjoy my life, too.”

SL: What you have to understand, too, is the way in which I inherited the program made it a necessity to kind of make it more stable. I was named the interim coach a week before the first season, so what the program has needed is to calm the waters. But eventually to think about a home, about being married and having kids and a more balanced life, a life more like my parents’. They raised six children and are enjoying their retirement. That’s ultimately what you’re trying to do, just like the student-athletes that come here — to build that foundation in your career so some day you can enjoy what you’ve done.

The broad-based Bruin family, they understand what college athletics are supposed to be about, which is developing a total person. Not just an athlete who can catch passes or hit a jump shot, but a total person who is hopefully better prepared for life after his UCLA experience. As much as they want to beat USC or win a national championship, they also understand there is a bigger picture than just that. They want both, obviously, and that’s our goal as well — win the games and develop good people. People who read this magazine and who have come through UCLA and have a sense of how special this place is — our job is to uphold that tradition. There is an incredible standard of excellence, not only currently but also historically. Our job is to keep that going.