Ben Howland

The saddest part of the Ben Howland saga at UCLA is not that a decent guy and good coach got fired. He's a big boy. He'll be fine. Give it a couple of years and he'll have another team in Pauley Pavilion, rendering UCLA black-and-not-so-Bruins-blue. No, the saddest part is that college athletics slipped further away from its mission. It was never supposed to be win at all costs. It was never supposed to be seasons that demanded ultimate victories, that made success in conference tournaments and the NCAA life and death.

Ben Howland officially bid farewell to UCLA during a news conference at Pauley Pavilion on Monday, the day after he was fired as coach of the Bruins. Howland, showing grace, character and some emotion, thanked many people, including UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, and his wife and family. It was the closing act on his 10 seasons in Westwood, a tenure he called "a dream come true. " "I'm excited about the next chapter and excited about coaching again," Howland said.

It's an age-old question in basketball, from the pickup courts to the NBA: Who's got next? That's certainly the question over at UCLA, where there has been no shortage of speculation about who will replace Ben Howland as basketball coach. Some Bruins fans can't seem to understand why the likes of Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Florida's Billy Donovan aren't lining up for the job. Or maybe that Coach K guy. Others are championing champions from the mid-major ranks such as Gonzaga's Mark Few, Butler's Brad Stevens or Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart.

UCLA reality check Part (Tier) Two. There are basketball coaches who will please Bruins fans and there are ones Athletic Director Dan Guerrero is actually interested in: Butler's Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart. Stevens reportedly makes a little more than $1 million per year. That's Indiana dollars. Multiply it by about three for California inflation. Stevens is also described as an intensely private man who is turned off by public scrutiny. Good thing intense scrutiny doesn't come with the UCLA job. On to Smart, who turned down $2.5 million per year from Illinois a year ago. Smart currently gets $1.36 million per year in salary, but the perks do add up. Smart receives $25,000 for a radio deal.

Writers from around Tribune Co. offer their ideas about who would be the perfect choice as the next UCLA men's basketball coach. Feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment of your own. Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times The perfect coach for UCLA would be a combination of its last two coaches: Steve Lavin and Ben Howland. Lavin had the public relations skills that Howland woefully lacked, and Howland had the intensity and discipline that Lavin was too young to administer.

How can they fire a coach who just won a conference championship? How can they fire a leader who spent 10 years winning more than twice as many games as he lost? How can they fire a salesman who last season brought in the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the country? Easily, and, perhaps, even admirably. UCLA fired Ben Howland as its basketball coach Sunday because UCLA still believes its basketball program is about something greater than conference championships, greater than number of victories, and greater than the projected promise of teenagers.

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.

There are basketball issues that UCLA officials feel must be addressed, but economics will play a large part in the expected firing of Bruins Coach Ben Howland. For starters, UCLA officials will have to act quickly or it will cost them an additional $2 million in Howland's buyout. Howland's contract runs through 2017 after he received extensions in 2009 and 2010. He would receive a $3.2-million buyout if terminated by April 2 and a $5.2 million if terminated after that date. Pauley Pavilion was renovated at the cost of $138 million, and Athletic Director Dan Guerrero and Associate Athletic Director Mark Harlan need the arena to make money.

Ben Howland denied a report Saturday night that he had been told he was out as UCLA's basketball coach. Howland said he had not yet spoken to Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who in the past has handled such personnel moves personally. It is expected that Howland will be replaced, but Yahoo Sports reported that he had already been notified. "Contrary to multiple media reports this evening, UCLA has not fired men's basketball coach Ben Howland," said UCLA Athletics spokesman Nick Ammazzalorso.

AUSTIN, Texas -- It wasn't so much a goodbye wave as a slap in the face. After 10 years of professionally serving a university he loved, Ben Howland was ushered out with two hours of everything he hated. Selfish shots. Lazy defense. Blank stares. In what was probably Howland's final game as a UCLA basketball coach after a decade of giving the program class and dignity and three Final Four appearances, his players gave him nothing. IN-DEPTH: Shabazz Muhammad's father planned to mint NBA millionaire In what was probably his last stand, he was crushed.