UCLA College Basketball News
Steve Lavin re-ups. . .Good News for Recruits (October 21, 1997)

Steve Lavin, today agreed to a new contract extension at UCLA. This can only be good news for UCLA, and Lavin, who was probably the only young coaching prospect not mentioned for the job at Michigan now looks pretty well set for the next few years. Lavin's contract is worth $2.375 million deal spread over five-years. The multi-year deal should now allow Lavin to set his own mark at what could be, if he gets Prince, Gadzuric, Przybilla or a few other big guys, once again one of the most prestigious programs in college basketball.

For those of you who need to hear it again (like you all don't have it committed to memory by now), UCLA has won 11 national championships -- 10 under John Wooden; the most recent was in 1995 under Harrick, now at URI. Lavin's first season was a 24-8 won-loss record, and he was given the green light as the "permanent coach" by AD Pete Dalis on Feb. 11 this last year, although he just got around to inking the deal after the UCLA lawyers poured over it.

Last year, the Bruins earned their third consecutive Pac-10 Conference championship and entered the NCAA Tournament ranked seventh in the polls, but lost to Minnesota in the regional final. Lavin's deal gives him $435,000 this season, with his base salary climbing to $460,000 next season, $485,000 in the third and fourth years of the deal and $510,000 in 2001-02, the final year of the deal. Not quite as sweet a deal as Ben Braun's but pretty damn good for a guy who played his college ball at Chapman College. Well done, Steve.

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