USD Men's Basketball 1997-1998

HEAD COACH BRAD HOLLAND

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BRAD HOLLAND 4th Year The 1997-98 season is Brad Holland's fourth at the helm of the USO basketball program. The immediate future looks bright as the 40-year-old Holland returns three starters and seven lettermen from last year's team that finished 17- 11 . The 17 wins was a personal-best for Holland in five years as a collegiate head coach. He owns a three-year mark of 42-41 at USO -– including his two-year stint at Cal State Fullerton, his career coaching record sits at 65-72. 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 victories were solid nonconference wins against San Jose State, Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. Although they came up short, the Toreros played #2 Kansas to seven points in Lawrence (72-79), and #21 Stanford to two points (70-72) at the San Diego Sports Arena.

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 overall record and a fifth place finish in the -===:;;===:;;:::==;;:===-- West Coast Conference. The season was high Iighted early 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 Cal State Fullerton men's basketball program. During the 1992-93 season, his first as a head coach, the Titans finished 15-12 and posted the school's first winning record in four years while going 10-8 in the Big West Conference. Along the way they beat every team in the conference except New Mexico State, capping the year with an exciting one-point home victory over nationally ranked UNLV. His 1993-94 team, which lost three players to season-ending injuries prior to the start of the season, finished 8-19 overall and eighth in Big West play. They did have some memorable victories -- they won at Nevada and UC Santa Barbara's Thunderdome; they won for the third year in a row at UC Irvine; and they knocked off UNLV with a 84-75 victory at the Thomas and Mack Center. Prior to his appointment at Cal State Fullerton, Holland was an assistant coach on Jim Harrick's staff at UCLA

from August, 1988 to March, 1992. He helped the Bruins return to na– tional prominence while compiling a 93-35 record that took them to four NCAA tournaments. Success as a head coach is merely the latest positive mark Holland has made on Southern California basketball. He was a basketball and football star at Crescenta Valley High School. He was a four-year basketball letterman at UCLA and played with the Los Angeles Lakers and two other National Basketball Association teams before retiring in 1982 due to a knee injury. He entered private business and also was a broadcaster for Prime Ticket from 1985 to 1988. Holland 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 Gary Cunningham. The Bruins went 102-17 during Hollands 's playing career and he was honorable 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 field goal percentage, 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 championship. The rookie guard scored eight points in the decisive sixth game at Philadelphia. He finished his playing career in 1981-82 with Washington and Milwaukee. Holland and his wife, Leslie, have three children, Kristin and Lisa, 15-year-old twins, and Kyle, age 5.