Ben Howland
Ben Howland (born May 28, 1957)
Teams coached: Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, Pittsburgh Panthers, UCLA Bruins, Mississippi State Bulldogs
Northern Arizona record: 79-59 (.572)
Pittsburgh record: 89-40 (.690)
UCLA record: 233-107 (.685)
Mississippi State record: 134-98 (.578)
Overall record: 533-306 (.635)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 2006)
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 11 (1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2019)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 5 (2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 3 (2006, 2007, 2008)
- NIT Championships: 0 (Runner-up in 2021)
- NIT Appearances: 5 (1997, 2001, 2018, 2021, 2022)
- Pac-12 Regular Season Champion: 4 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013)
- Big East Regular Season Champion: 2 (2002, 2003)
- Big Sky Regular Season Champion: 4 (1997, 1998)
- Pac-12 Tournament Champion: 2 (2006, 2008)
- Big East Tournament Champion: 1 (2003)
- Big Sky Tournament Champion: 1 (1998)
Awards:
- AP Coach of the Year: 1 (2002)
- Naismith Coach of the Year: 1 (2002)
- Sporting News Coach of the Year: 1 (2002)
- Henry Iba Award: 1 (2002)
- Jim Phelan Award: 1 (2006)
- Pac-12 Coach of the Year: 1 (2006)
- Big East Coach of the Year: 1 (2002)
- Big Sky Coach of the Year: 1 (1997)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2015-2022 | Mississippi State |
| 2003-2013 | UCLA |
| 1999-2003 | Pittsburgh |
| 1994-1999 | Northern Arizona |
| 1982-1994 | UC Santa Barbara (asst) |
| 1981-1982 | Gonzaga (grad. asst) |
Ben Howland Facts
- Benjamin Clark Howland
- Born May 28, 1957
- Hometown: Lebanon, Oregon
- Alma Mater: Weber State College (BS, 1979) / Gonzaga University (M.Ed., 1981)
- Played at Weber State for two seasons under head coach Neil McCarthy
- Started his coaching career as a grad assistant at Gonzaga under head coach Jay Hillock
- Was an assistant for 12 seasons at UC Santa Barbara, first under Ed DeLacy and then for 11 years under Jerry Pimm
- First head coaching opportunity came in 1994, when he was hired to take over at Northern Arizona
- Reached the program’s second-ever NIT in 1997 and first-ever NCAA Tournament in 1998, winning 21 games in each of his final three seasons
- Left for Pittsburgh in 1999, leading the Panthers to two Sweet Sixteens and one NIT appearance in four years
- Spent ten years as the head coach at UCLA, winning four Pac-12 titles and reaching the NCAA Tournament seven times
- Had a stretch of three straight Final Four appearances, including a Runner-up finish in 2006
- Fired after the 2012-13 season despite winning 25 games and having a .685 record overall
- After staying out of coaching for two years, Howland was hired as the head coach at Mississippi State in March 2015
- Won 25 games and reached the 2018 NIT Semifinal in his third year in Starkville
- Led the 2018-19 team to the NCAA Tournament, the first appearance for State since 2009
- Invited to the NIT in 2021, the Bulldogs won their first three games before finishing as Runner-up
- Fired in March 2022 after seven seasons; went 134-98 overall during his tenure at MSU
- Along with his wife, Kim, has one daughter, one son and one grandson
Ben Howland Coaching Tree
- Matt Adras (Northern Arizona)
- Jamie Dixon (TCU, Pittsburgh)
- Kerry Keating (Santa Clara)
- Philip Mathews (Riverside CC)
- Barry Rohrssen (Manhattan)
- Ernie Zeigler (Central Michigan)
