The verdict by Athletic Director Vic Cegles to decline the restitution of Larry Reynolds’ contract has caused a sundry reaction amongst students, fans and supporters of the LBSU basketball program.
Some have expressed delight with the decision to go a new route, whereas others have displayed resentment and annoyance with the news that has received national attention by telecasts such as ESPN’s SportsCenter and Fox Sports Net’s Lexus Gauntlet. One thing that is paramount on both sides is that both parties yearn for an excellent teacher, motivator and architect of success not seen on campus since those Jerry Tarkanian teams of the 1970s to take over a team headed for rebuilding next season and turn it into a perennial NCAA Tournament team.
Looking in this bird’s-eye view, this description epitomizes none other than former UCLA men’s basketball coach Steve Lavin. In seven seasons at UCLA, Lavin’s teams won at least 20 games in six of those seasons and reached the Sweet 16 five times to go along with an elite eight appearance, ultimately displaying a substance for winning.
The central ingredient in Lavin’s pedigree is the same ingredient that Long Beach State basketball has minimized. That ingredient happens to be recruiting.
Two times during his tenure with the Bruins, Lavin had the nation’s top recruiting class, which included stars such as Jason Kapono and Baron Davis – both successful NBA players. With LBSU athletics centered around areas as rich in talent as Saudi Arabia is in oil, a 49er loyalist can only begin to imagine what kind of talent could be assembled by Lavin within three years of work.
Lavin, who is currently serving as an ESPN college basketball analyst, affronted an offer made by North Carolina State to coach its basketball team this season. The thing that must be understood is that Long Beach State is a more attractive place for Lavin to pace the sidelines because of its location and marketability. Lavin is a San Francisco native and has said numerous times on ESPN College Game Night telecasts that when he coaches again, he would prefer it be in the west region, particularly California.
Apparently, Cegles is not content with just getting into the NCAA Tournament, but wants to go deep in it. What better way to solve the equation than with a man who has never lost in the first two rounds of the tournament?
