San Diego reportedly hires former Purdue assistant to be its next men's basketball coach
The San Diego Toreros have found their next men’s basketball. They have decided to go with a former Purdue assistant.
The Toreros are going with Steve Lavin per a report from Dean Straka of 247Sports. Lavin was an assistant at Purdue from 1988-1991. He’s also had 2 stops at UCLA since then, 1st as an assistant (1991-1996) and then as a head coach (1996-2003). The most recent gig he had as a head coach was with St. Johns from 2010-2015. His all-time record as a head coach is 226-133.
After being fired from UCLA in 2003, Lavin became a broadcaster for ABC and ESPN. He worked with Brent Musberger and Dave O’Brien on ‘ESPN College GameNight’. He also worked on ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Draft.
Lavin has had a history of being an NCAA Tournament regular as a head coach. He made the NCAA Tournament 8 times during his tenures with UCLA and St.Johns. The furthest that Lavin has made it was to the Elite Eight during his 1st year with UCLA in the 1996-1997 season.
It’ll be interesting to see if Lavin can have the same level of consistency with San Diego in the West Coast Conference.