Ben Howland – 2026 Hall of Fame Inductee – Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table

From cutting down nets to scouting out top-tier basketball talent, Ben Howland’s college coaching career took him to every corner of the nation. Before he became a nationwide figure in the college basketball world, Howland was just a gym rat in Goleta. His basketball playing career began at the Goleta Boys and Girls Club, and his love for the sport grew during his high school years at Dos Pueblos and, following a move south, Cerritos High School. After graduating from Cerritos in 1976, Howland returned to Santa Barbara and played two seasons at Santa Barbara City College. In his sophomore year in 1978, the Vaqueros went 31-4 and finished as the state runner-ups. He then went on to play two seasons at Weber State, where he was named the WSC Defensive MVP in both years. The Wildcats won a pair of Big Sky titles and played in the NCAA Tournament in each of those campaigns. After one season playing in Bohemios First Division Uruguay in South America in 1980, Howland shifted his focus to coaching and began as a graduate assistant at Gonzaga for the 1981-82 season. The pivot to coaching gave him a path to return home, as Howland came back to Goleta and served as a UCSB Men’s Basketball assistant coach from 1982 to 1994. As a strong recruiter, he played a key role in the Gauchos reaching the NCAA Tournament in 1988 and 1990. He then began a 26-season head coaching career at Northern Arizona during the 1994-95 season. He brought almost immediate success to the program, winning the Big Sky in the 96-97 and 97-98 seasons, and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1998. From there, Howland made his way to the East Coast and took over the University of Pittsburgh basketball program from 1999 to 2003. He was at the helm for Big East championships in 2002 and 2003, including winning the first-ever Big East Tournament in 2003. The 805 local returned to California for his next coaching stint, as he served as the UCLA basketball head coach from 2003 to 2013. Howland’s time as a Bruin proved to be his most successful, as he led the team to four Pac-12 championships (2006, 2007, 2008, 2013) and reached the Final 4 in three consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2008. No coach has reached three straight Final 4s since Howland. He then made the final pit stop of his coaching career in the South at Mississippi State, where he coached the Bulldogs from 2015 to 2022 and reached the NCAA Tournament. Howland’s NCAA Tournament berth with the Bulldogs made him just the second coach in the history of college basketball to lead four different schools to the dance, matched only by Rick Pitino. The longtime coach decided to call it a career in 2022, when he returned to Santa Barbara. His legacy was then etched in history in the gym that raised him, as a new court at the Goleta Unified Boys & Girls Club was dedicated to Howland in his honor in 2025. Thank you to Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Hall of Fame sponsors: Paul & Karen Menzel, Chumash Band of Indians, Direct Relief/Hatch Hall, Goleta Boys & Girls Club Alumni, Rudi Shulte Foundation, Jordano's, Fox Wine Company & Montecito Bank & Trust