One thing a shooter loves is to make his first shot. He makes his first shot from three; that builds confidence.
Ben Howland
We've got to get everybody to sacrifice, be on same page, be a team.
I love UCLA and the people at UCLA. Everybody is great.
I will never leave UCLA and will stay at UCLA as long they will have me.
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.
UCLA will always be involved with great players, and those players always draw scrutiny. That's just the way it is.
I have a strong belief in God.
You have more control of things if you play defense. And you can control how you play defense, too, with effort and preparation.
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.
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.
At UCLA, there will always be high expectations. That's why you want to play here or coach here.
It's a real advantage in basketball to have great hands.
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.
My first introduction to Russell Westbrook was as a leader. It was pretty impressive.
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.
Putting your feet in ice cold water? That's not fun.
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.
You can never blame somebody for wanting to go home.
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.
Flagstaff, up in the mountains where I lived, there is 130 inches of snow a year.
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.
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.
That's why I'm here at UCLA - to help them win a national championship.
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.
I love to visit New York, but Los Angeles, to me, is a great city.
We need to play tough defense and have a sound offense. But mostly, we have to outrebound the other team.
I watch a lot of games and analyze a lot.
There's no question we made a couple mistakes there at UCLA at the very end.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I just like to win.
The summer in Arizona is too hot.
Las Vegas is a big draw. There are a lot things to do there other than basketball.
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.
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.
I had a relationship with John Wooden. I spoke at his memorial service.
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.
Pittsburgh is a football town.
Field-goal percentage is very important.
I just try to control what I can control.
The number one thing in recruiting in terms of making it a great job is players in your own area.
Archie Miller does a fantastic job at Dayton.
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.
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.
I know I'm a really good coach.
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.
I always think I put more pressure on myself than I feel from anywhere else.
I'm a good person and a good guy.
