USD Men's Basketball 1998-1999

Page 4 BRAD ffOLLAND~~ sth Year The 1998-99 season is Brad Holland's fifth at the helm of the USO basketba ll program. This past season (1997-98) he guided USO to a 14-14 overall record and a third straight semifina l appearance in the West Coast Conference Tournament. The Toreros won five of their fina l eight contests and earned solid victories over WCC champion Gonzaga, and two wins over WCC runner- up Pepperdine. Hol– land owns a four-year mark of 56-55 at USO - inc luding his two-year stint at Ca l State Fu ll erton, his career coach ing record sits at 79-86. He has strung together three straight seasons at USO w ith .500 or better records. Two seasons ago he directed the Toreros to a 17-11 record; the 17 wins is a persona l-best for Holland in six years as a collegiate head coach. The Toreros advanced to the semifinals of the WCC Tournament after defeating Gonzaga in the opener. They finished the season on a strong note, winning seven of their final nine. Included in the team' s 17 victori es were solid nonconference wins against San Jose State, Cal State Full er– ton, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. Although they came up short, the Toreros played Kansas to seven points in Lawrence (72-79) and Stanford to two (70-72 ) at

HEAD COACH BRAD HOLLAND

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The 1995-96 club, hit with a variety of injuries throughout the year, finished strong and ended the year at 14-14. In his first year Brad guided the San Diego

Toreros to an 11-16 overa ll record and a fifth place finish in the West Coast Conference. The season was high lighted ear ly on when the Toreros downed visiting Notre Dame, 90-76, on December 3rd before 6,522 fans at the San Diego Sports Arena . Prior to USO Holland won rave reviews for the manner in which he revitalized the Ca l State Fu ll erton men's basketba ll program. During the 1992-93 season, his first as a head coach, the Titans fin ished 15-12 and posted the schoo l' s first winning record in four years wh il e going 10-8 in the Big West Conference. A long the way they beat every team in the conference except New Mexico State, capp ing the year w ith an exc iting one-point home victo ry over nationally ranked UNLV. His 1993 -94 team, which lost three players to season-ending inj uries prior to the sta rt of the season, finis hed 8-19 overa ll and eighth in Big West play. They did have some memorab le victor ies - they won at Nevada and UC Santa Barba ra's Thunderdome; they won fo r the third year in a row at UC Irvi ne; and they knocked off UNLV with a 84-75 victory at the Thomas and Mack Center. Prio r to hi s appoi ntment at Cal State Fu ll erton, Ho ll and

was an ass istant coach on Jim Harri ck's staff at UCLA from August, 1988 to March, 1992. He helped the Brui ns return to national promi– nence w hil e compil ing a 93-35 record that took them to four NCAA tournaments. Success as a head coach is merely the latest pos itive mark Ho ll and has made on Southern California basketba ll . He was a basketba ll and footba ll star at Crescenta Valley High Schoo l. He was a four-year basketba ll letterman at UCLA and played with the Los Ange les Lakers and two other National Basketball Association teams before ret iri ng in 1982 due to a knee injury. He entered private business and also was a broadcaster for Prime Ticket from 1985 to 1988. Ho ll and was the last player recruited by Coach John Wooden and became a part of four Pac-10 championship teams at UCLA from 1976 to 1979, two under Coach Gene Bartow and two under Coach Ga ry Cunni ngham. The Bruins went 102-17 during Ho ll and's playing ca reer and he was honorab le mention All-America and second-team Academic All-America as a senior . That year he averaged 17.5 points and 4.8 assists and had a .598 fie ld goal per– centage, the best ever by a Bruin guard. He graduated in 1979 from UCLA with a B.A. degree in Sociology. The Lakers drafted Holland in 1979, the 14th player taken in the first round, and went on to win the 1980 NBA champion– ship. The rookie guard scored eight po ints in the decis ive si xth game at Philade lphia. He finished his play ing career in 1981-82 w ith Washington and Mi lwaukee. Ho ll and and his w ife, Les li e, res ide in Ca rlsbad w ith their three chi ldren, Kri stin and Li sa, 16-year-o ld tw ins, and Ky le, 6.

The Holland Family (clockwise from top left): Brad, L-eslie, J(r.istin, Kyle & Lisa