Lavin makes graceful return to UCLA as broadcaster

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 9:47 a.m.

The Great

Matt Brady, Marist coach

The former Siena standout and longtime Saint Joseph's assistant has guided the Red Foxes (9-7) to a 10-1 record against the spread. They were a 9-point underdog at Fairfield on Wednesday and won outright, 74-72.

In Vegas, that's more than a footnote.

The Good

Buzz Peterson, Tennessee coach

After getting blasted by Vanderbilt recently, Peterson confiscated his team's "Tennessee" practice gear. The Vols responded by winning two of their next three, over No. 11 Mississippi State and at Florida on Wednesday as a 12-point dog.

The Bad

Illinois

Welcome to the real world, top-ranked Illini. Games at Wisconsin on Tuesday and at Michigan State on Feb. 1 will seriously jeopardize that lofty rating.

The Ugly

Taron Downey, Wake Forest guard

The Demon Deacons converted their 50th consecutive free throw Tuesday night to set an NCAA record, but an attempt at 51 went for naught when Downey missed with 4.5 seconds remaining in a tie game against Florida State.

Then the Seminoles locked up their most impressive victory of the season in overtime, beating Wake 91-83.

An ESPN producer contacted Bill Frieder in his Tucson hotel room very early last Saturday morning and asked the former Arizona State coach if he might be available for some television work later that day.

Frieder, now a veteran radio analyst, was told that analyst Steve Lavin might be sidelined from the Arizona-UCLA game at McKale Center.

No, Lavin wasn't suffering from dizzy spells, chest pains or shortness of breath associated with calling a game for the first time that involved the team he coached for 12 years.

Lavin had been to lunch with UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero and coach Ben Howland, after all.

"The man who gave me the pink slip and the one who replaced me," Lavin said. "We broke bread. Actually, we did Chinese, so we broke wontons and pot stickers. They picked up the check, so all is forgiven."

Guerrero and Howland should know that Lavin sustained a hearty laugh in recounting that dining tale, which he almost retold on the ABC air Saturday in a set-up from sidekick Brent Musburger.

What ended up stirring more than Lavin's emotions as Friday turned to Saturday was a cheese enchilada, from a joint that will remain nameless.

But soon his condition improved with heavy doses of liquids.

"I had to give (Sullivan) a heads-up," Lavin said this week during a layover in Detroit. "I didn't think I'd be able to make it, that they would have had to put IVs in me and wheel me in with an iron lung. But then I started keeping liquids down.

"By game time the adrenaline was back."

Besides, Lavin had exorcised whatever powder-blue demons or painful memories related to UCLA that might have been lurking in his subconsciousness a week earlier.

Fired by Guerrero in '03, Lavin had tip-toed back inside Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 8 for what turned out to be a thrilling Bruins' comeback victory over Washington.

Professionally, Lavin's agenda was to scout a team he would soon be watching for a national telecast. Emotionally, he didn't know what to expect.

"That was the most challenging part, seeing those players live for the first time," Lavin said. "I wanted to go through a full game as a spectator before I put on that hat of being an objective broadcaster. My instincts were right."

He'd hoped to slink down those long two sets of concrete stairs in the southeast corner of the building, ease over to the concession stand for a bag of popcorn and a diet Coke, and then unassumingly find his seat.

Didn't happen. Lavin spent nearly an hour in that nook of the arena as former players, boosters, donors, ticket vendors and fans of all ages kept approaching him in waves.

He did not occupy his seat until the game had started.

"The entire evening was surreal," Lavin said. "I had a very warm reception. Then it dawned on me that it was the first time I had ever watched a UCLA game from the stands inside Pauley, and it was behind the bench.

"It was a metaphor, looking back at life, that court, that bench and that game. It needed to be taken care of. I felt genuinely grateful and thankful."

He remembered that the final game he coached inside Pauley was a victory over Washington. Then UCLA fell behind the Huskies by 21 points.

"That's when I was worried. I thought I'd get one or two cat calls, like, 'Lavin, you're a bum! This is your fault! Those are your ragamuffins!' " he said, laughing. "Fortunately, the team rallied and represented well, and got me off the hook."

At Arizona, where Lavin earned his first victory as UCLA's permanent coach, UCLA lost on a last-second 3-point shot by Salim Stoudamire.

In his broadcast tone, Lavin reflected how well UCLA started, but he said his tenor was the same as it would have been for any of his telecasts in which one team had been dominating its foe.

"UCLA was shooting 71 percent at one point," he said. "The way UCLA was playing dictated the level of enthusiasm I had for UCLA, it just happened it was UCLA who came out so strong.

"I'm sure Arizona fans who were watching thought, 'Geez, what a homer. Lavin was there for 12 years.' In reality, I thought it was appropriate for the way they were playing. Then Arizona played a suffocating defense, and I was fair in showing them enthusiasm."

At the Tucson airport, Lavin's surreal week was capped appropriately when he saw Howland, his staff and the UCLA players saunter up to his gate. They were all on the same flight back to Los Angeles.

When Howland saw Lavin sitting five rows behind him on the plane, the current UCLA coach invited the former UCLA coach to sit next to him. They watched video of that day's game on a small DVD player and talked strategy all the way home.