He didn’t act like he had it all figured out. “I remember he pulled in Charles O’Bannon, Cameron Dollar and I over and said to guys who were 10 years younger, ‘I’m going to need you guys to get through this season.’ “Lav is a big part of my story,” Myers said. Two years after that, he was a reserve player for Lavin, the head coach, as the Bruins rumbled to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-6 Myers did just that because of a suggestion from a young assistant coach under Jim Harrick named Steve Lavin, who began his career in 1988 under the very same Gene Keady.Ī year later, Myers was on scholarship. “But Lav was the one who convinced me to try to walk on.” He said, ‘What about basketball?’ I’m thinking, ‘C’mon, I’m not playing basketball at UCLA.’ “I asked how to find the crew team,” Myers said. He struck up a conversation with the man sitting in the cubicle. Wooden had been an All-America player at Purdue, where Myers’ father, Larry, later attended college. Myers, now the president of basketball operations and GM for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, stumbled across a cubicle and saw a picture of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden. His brother rowed at Washington, after all. As he wandered the athletic department offices at UCLA, he investigated whether climbing into a boat might be his best shot at becoming a Bruin. “There were things where you just knew and felt it.” Calhoun, Keady laud Lavinīob Myers was just trying to find the crew team. “He was like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Emma just got accepted to USD law school yesterday.’ This is my friend since eighth grade. “I sent him the (USD) term sheet to look at and said, ‘It looks like I’m going to be the coach at USD,’ ” Lavin said. The coach is the godfather of Nelson’s daughter, Emma. Lavin phoned Craig Nelson, a best friend for nearly 50 years and lawyer who handles high-level contracts. “Once my mother passed it was, if a good fit came along, then a return for another tour of duty was intriguing.”Īs Lavin considered USD’s gorgeous campus and climate as a sleeping-giant recruiting tool, as Gonzaga, Loyola Chicago, Murray State and Belmont grew into consistent NCAA party-crashers, as McGillis began saying yes, yes and yes to things he thought could wake the Toreros from their basketball slumber, another sign emerged. John’s and 57 now, it’s like a parent who is dramatically different with their third child because of life experiences,” Lavin said. “Being the head coach of UCLA at 32, 50 at St. Lavin was not drawn to just any set of Xs and Os.Īt this point in his life, after a 7-hour surgery for prostate cancer that pulled him off the court in 2011, the loss of his father, “Cap,” in 2013 and mother, Mary, five years later, he owned both perspective and patience.įinancially, Lavin was in no rush. The fit didn’t.Ī broadcasting career that included ABC, ESPN, CBS and Fox Sports offered the luxury of being particular and thorough. In 2016, Lavin was offered the job at the University of San Francisco, a place near and dear to his Bay Area heart: “I wasn’t going on wild goose chases. What lured Lavin back to a hired-to-be-fired game where most crave the biggest stages and paychecks? We had to go to Macy’s to get new underwear and socks.” I didn’t know I was going to need it for a press conference. “Thankfully I brought a suit, tie and dress shoes (for a corporate function). “We went to the Final Four, packing stuff for four days,” Lavin recalled. John’s needed just four to hire him in 2010 - led into individual meetings with players, contacts with potential assistant coaches, connecting with more than 50 possible recruits and a news conference.Ī bite into the angel hair Bolognese, Lavin framed the scramble. In between, at least 23 hours of university-wide interviews - yes, Lavin said, even though St. What started with a nine-hour interview across from USD Athletic Director Bill McGillis on the Sunday of the Final Four in New Orleans ended with Lavin’s first team workout at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
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