Steve Lavin

Univeristy of St. John's Basketball Head Coach, Former UCLA Basketball Head Coach, ESPN Analyst, One of the best recruiters in college basketball, Mentoree of Coach John Wooden and Coach Gene Keady

Lavin is frequently an invited keynote speaker throughout the country for business, community and collegiate events.  He addresses a wide range of topics including effective communication, motivation, management, recruiting, leadership, and naturally, college basketball.  His riveting speech is very motivational and he touches on how he overcame the many obstacles in his life including with family, competitively and professionally.  

Steve Lavin is in his fifth season as College Basketball Analyst on ABC and ESPN. Lavin will once again work alongside broadcasting partner Brent Musburger sharing his perspective on college basketball. Lavin’s coaching perspective was forged over 15 years as a Division I college basketball coach at both UCLA and Purdue University.  As UCLA Head Basketball Coach from 1996-2003 Lavin compiled a record of 145-78. In his inaugural season as head coach, Lavin directed the Bruins to the 1997 Pac-10 Championship and the NCAA Elite Eight.  During Lavin’s tenure as a head coach, he was one of only two coaches in the country, along with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, to lead his team to five NCAA “Sweet 16s” in six years (‘02, ’01, ’00, ’98, ’97).  Lavin guided UCLA to six consecutive 20+ game winning seasons and to six consecutive NCAA tournaments.  As head coach, his career record in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament is 10-1.  He is known as one of the best recruiters in the history of College Basketball.

In 2001, after the Bruins finished 23-9, Lavin was honored with the Pacific-10 Coach of the Year award.  He is the only head coach in NCAA Men’s Basketball history to lead his team to victory over the No. 1 team in the country in four consecutive collegiate seasons (Arizona ’03, Kansas ’02, Stanford ’01, Stanford ’00).  Lavin had a 12-4 record in contest involving overtime periods. Additionally Lavin’s Bruins had a 10-4 record against the rival USC Trojans.  During his time working the sidelines at both Purdue and UCLA, Lavin’s teams qualified for 13 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (1989-2002). Lavin was an assistant coach on the Bruins 1995 National Championship team that finished with a 32-1 record. 

As head coach at UCLA, Lavin recruited and signed the No. 1 rated recruiting class in the country in both 1998 and 2001.  He signed seven McDonald’s High School All-Americans. One or more of his former UCLA players or recruits was chosen in the NBA draft over ten consecutive years (1997-2006).  As a result, the Bruins have the longest streak of any college in the country of consecutive years having a player drafted to the NBA. Seven of Lavin’s former Bruin recruits or players are currently members of NBA teams.  Lavin is known as one of the best recruiters in College Basketball’s history.

In April of 2006 Steve Lavin strongly considered a return to the coaching ranks when presented with the opportunity to become head basketball coach of the North Carolina State University Wolfpack. Lavin chose to continue his broadcasting career and signed a new six year contract with ABC and ESPN that will keep him with the network through 2012.