Ben Howland

There is life after basketball, and Ben Howland has found it. There were the two weeks of fly-fishing in Montana and Wyoming this summer, with some spectacular success, unless you were a rainbow, cutthroat, brook or brown. "Oh, man," Howland says. "I never had time for that before. I'll send you some pictures. " And he does. There has been the kind of family time that a UCLA basketball coach just doesn't get. This year's Christmas card shows family among the swaying palm trees of Maui, with grandson Little Ben stealing the photo.

There is life after basketball, and Ben Howland has found it. There were the two weeks of fly-fishing in Montana and Wyoming this summer, with some spectacular success, unless you were a rainbow, cutthroat, brook or brown. "Oh, man," Howland says. "I never had time for that before. I'll send you some pictures. " And he does. There has been the kind of family time that a UCLA basketball coach just doesn't get. This year's Christmas card shows family among the swaying palm trees of Maui, with grandson Little Ben stealing the photo.

Ben Howland will remain UCLA's basketball coach, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero announced Tuesday. In a prepared statement, Guerrero said that he and Howland had “several discussions” after the volatile season. Guard Jerime Anderson was arrested for misdemeanor theft in August, Reeves Nelson, the Bruins' top player, was dismissed from the team in December and a Sports Illustrated story portrayed Howland as having lost control of his team. “Ben understands full well that the management and oversight of the program needs improvement,” Guerrero said.

The mud and slop into which big-time college athletics keeps descending never ceases to amaze. Tuesday's story in The Times about Steve Alford's financial situation at UCLA is merely more sewage on the sludge. Let us count the ways, remembering as we go that: •This is the school that has forever promoted and flaunted the principles of John Wooden. •Times have changed. Athletic finances and athletic egos have become inflated. •(Again) This is the school that has forever promoted and flaunted the principles of John Wooden.

Could Shabazz Muhammad play in UCLA's season opener Friday against Indiana State? The answer to that question still depends on the NCAA, which has yet to clear the touted freshman guard. The NCAA did interview Muhammad's parents, Ron Holmes and Faye Muhammad, in Las Vegas late last week, according to people close to the situation who aren't authorized to speak publicly.  So, with those key interviews done, if the NCAA were to clear him in the next few days, is Muhammad, who school officials say is dealing with a right shoulder strain, healthy enough to play Friday?

UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero stopped short of guaranteeing that Bruins' basketball coach Ben Howland will return next season in the wake of allegations made by a Sports Illustrated story. The article painted a picture of a program where players used drugs and fought with each other in practice, as well as Howland giving preferential treatment that led to abuse by one player, Reeves Nelson. Nelson was kicked off the team in December. “Ben has been with me nine years.

One of UCLA's biggest wins or losses this season could be determined during a hearing expected Friday. If the NCAA appeals committee sides with UCLA in the hearing concerning Shabazz Muhammad, the currently ineligible freshman basketball player would probably be available to play for the Bruins immediately.  But if the committee denies UCLA's appeal, Muhammad, a highly rated 6-foot-6 swingman from Las Vegas, would have to go through a reinstatement...

Ben Howland laughed so often and seemed so much at ease that you almost wanted to demand he answer some obscure trivia question about his background to prove it was really he. The typically gruff UCLA basketball coach was in such good cheer during a conference call with reporters Wednesday night because the Bruins had just signed Shabazz Muhammad, ending a three-year recruitment of one of the top prep seniors in the nation. "Needless to say," Howland said, "I'm very happy right now. " Less than a month after another season ended without an NCAA tournament appearance and Howland's job status seemed shakier than the San Andreas fault, the longtime coach was back on solid footing thanks to Muhammad's decision to spend at least one season in Westwood.

Watching a Ben Howland team take the floor after consecutive losses is like watching a punished child take the backyard after standing in the corner. The sigh of relief is palpable. The need to please is visible. The energy expended is nuts. These Bruins may not be a Final Four team, but they are still a Last Straw team, pushing back hardest when they are pushed to the edge, capable of greatness even when on the verge of collapse.

His voice carries above the squeak of sneakers, the chatter of players, echoing into the corners of a mostly empty Pauley Pavilion. "Make those cuts hard," he barks. " Hard ." This is what Ben Howland lives for, the hard cut and the hedge, the close-out and the jump stop, fundamentals of the game. Watch him at UCLA practice, clutching his notes, stopping mid-drill to nudge one of his guards aside and personally demonstrate defensive technique. A 52-year-old man in shorts, he crouches low. "One hand up," he says.

UCLA fans better get used to the sight of Steve Alford. Win or lose, he's going to be around for quite some time. That's because UCLA's new head basketball coach is bound to the program -- and it to him -- by a $10.4-million buyout clause worth four times his annual pay. That stricture, unusually large by college coaching standards, is one of several eye-catching terms in Alford's contract, which had not before been made public but has been...

UCLA fans better get used to the sight of Steve Alford. Win or lose, he's going to be around for quite some time. That's because UCLA's new head basketball coach is bound to the program - and it to him - by a $10.4-million buyout clause worth four times his annual pay. That stricture, unusually large by college coaching standards, is one of several eye-catching terms in Alford's contract , which had not before been made public but has...

Area basketball coaches are seeing a lot of off-court action these days. Now that the Lakers are out of the playoffs, head coach Mike D'Antoni can turn his attention to moving into the house he and his wife, Laurel, just bought in Manhattan Beach for $6.9 million and working on his tan. Set on a walk street, the ocean-view home features a three-stop cherry-paneled elevator, which should come in handy for carting beverages from the...

Former UCLA basketball Coach Ben Howland has listed his home in a gated Bel-Air neighborhood for $1,899,950. Built in 1999, the stone-clad home features an elevator, a home theater, five bedrooms, four bathrooms and close to 4,700 square feet of living space. The nearly half-acre lot includes a swimming pool with spa, a covered patio and a barbecue center. During Howland's 10 years at UCLA, he won four conference titles and coached the team to three Final Fours. Jordan Cohen of Re/Max Olson & Associates is the listing agent.

Matt Kenseth said Thursday the massive penalties that NASCAR levied against the driver and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were "grossly unfair" and "borderline shameful. " NASCAR on Wednesday stripped Kenseth of 50 championship points and suspended his crew chief Jason Ratcliff for several races, among other penalties, because last weekend Kenseth's No. 20 Toyota had an engine part that was too light. The faulty part -- a rod that connects a piston to the crankshaft and normally weighs just over one pound -- was detected in an inspection after Kenseth won Sunday's race at Kansas Speedway.

It's rare when both local universities introduce new basketball coaches a day apart - and even rarer still when USC trumps UCLA off the court - yet if public relations counts for anything, I'd say Andy Enfield just defeated another established power to advance while Steve Alford was upset again in the first round. Steve Ross New York :: It is not that UCLA has made the wrong selection for the basketball program, but they certainly did not make the bold selection; that honor falls to USC. Perhaps each program has made the "right" selection - only time will tell - but I do have a bit of a bad feeling that UCLA should have been braver.

Ben Howland, who led UCLA to three Final Fours, was fired Sunday, the school announced, ending the longest tenure for a Bruins coach since John Wooden retired in 1975. Howland spent 10 seasons in Westwood, finishing with a 233-107 record. He is coming off one of his best coaching performances, with the Bruins winning the Pac-12 Conference regular-season championship. Yet his star had fallen considerably since he took UCLA to consecutive Final Fours in 2006, '07 and '08. He was informed Sunday that he was fired.

Coach Ben Howland sounded like a mayoral candidate lagging in the polls with election night looming, saying his UCLA basketball team has "a lot of work to do" and "a long way to go" because the coach is breaking in so many new players. On the plus side, one newcomer appears capable of influencing the swing vote. Freshman shooting guard Tyler Lamb has impressed Howland with his defensive tenacity and three-point accuracy, making five of six shots from beyond the arc during a scrimmage Saturday.

The other day I wrote a funny story, which failed to get a laugh out of Phil Jackson's agent, Todd Musburger. The way I heard it, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero called Musburger's office, and talked to his son, Brian, about Jackson helping UCLA find a replacement for Ben Howland. Musburger put out a news release after I wrote about it and said I was wrong. I think everyone understands I am never wrong. I asked Guerrero on Tuesday if he had talked to Jackson's agent.

I saw the guy working on TV, his team surprising folks in the NCAA tournament, but honestly I don't even know his first name now that he has become USC's basketball coach. But he has to be more interesting and exciting than the dolt introduced as UCLA basketball coach Tuesday. It's pretty well understood that whoever coaches UCLA basketball is a dead man walking, it being only a matter of time before the alumni agree he'll never be another John Wooden. But this might be the first time UCLA actually hired a dead man. Yeesh, the John Wooden statue outside of Pauley had more life to it than Steve Alford, the robot who sputtered nonstop platitudes while never once answering a question directly.