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Fall 1998
View from the Hot Seats
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BT:
Steve's a little younger than I am. He's like I was when I got my
first job; this is my last one. I'm smelling the roses, baby. I'm
enjoying it. Steve is young and single, I see a lot of me in him
when I was that age. But he's trying to prove himself like we all
are and I think there will come a point in his life when he'll take
up golf or enjoy his life a little bit more than he does right now.
He's working his fanny off and he's doing a great job. But I think
he'll realize, once he gets in more of a comfort zone, that "I'm
going to enjoy my life, too."
SL:
What you have to understand, too, is the way in which I inherited
the program made it a necessity to kind of make it more stable.
I was named the interim coach a week before the first season, so
what the program has needed is to calm the waters. But eventually
to think about a home, about being married and having kids and a
more balanced life, a life more like my parents'. They raised six
children and are enjoying their retirement. That's ultimately what
you're trying to do, just like the student athletes that come here
— to build that foundation in your career so some day you can
enjoy what you've done.
The
broad-based Bruin family, they understand what college athletics
are supposed to be about, which is developing a total person. Not
just an athlete who can catch passes or hit a jump shot, but a total
person who is hopefully better prepared for life after his UCLA
experience. As much as they want to beat USC or win a national championship,
they also understand there is a bigger picture than just that. They
want both, obviously, and that's our goal as well — win the
games and develop good people. People who read this magazine and
who have come through UCLA and have a sense of how special this
place is — our job is to uphold that tradition. There is an
incredible standard of excellence, not only currently but also historically.
Our job is to keep that going.
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