Brad Holland

John Bradley Holland (born December 6, 1956) is a retired American professional basketball player. He played for four years at UCLA (from 1975 to 1979). He was a member of the 1980 Los Angeles Lakers championship team. He was the University of San Diego head basketball coach until March 2007. On April 25, 2007, he was named as one of three finalists to become the new head coach of UC Riverside's men's basketball program, but lost out to Jim Wooldridge. Holland served as an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara during the 2008–2009 and 2009–2010 seasons.

This article is about the American basketball player. For the American illustrator, see Brad Holland (artist).
Brad Holland
Personal information
Born (1956-12-06) December 6, 1956
Billings, Montana
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight217 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High schoolCrescenta Valley
(La Crescenta, California)
CollegeUCLA (1975–1979)
NBA draft1979 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Playing career1979–1982
PositionShooting guard
Number14, 15
Coaching career1988–2010
Career history
As player:
1979–1981Los Angeles Lakers
1981Washington Bullets
1982Milwaukee Bucks
As coach:
1988–1992UCLA (assistant)
1992–1994Cal State Fullerton
1994–2007San Diego
2008–2010UC Santa Barbara (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Early years

Born in Billings, Montana, he was a basketball and football star at Crescenta Valley High School. As a junior, he led the basketball team to the quarterfinals of the CIF 4-A playoffs.[1] As a senior, he averaged 34.9 points per game and scored more than 50 points in two contests.

College career

Holland accepted a basketball scholarship from UCLA, and holds the distinction of being the last player recruited by coach John Wooden. As a freshman, he only started 7 games, but was part of a team that reached the Final Four in 1976.

As a sophomore, he struggled and started only eleven games, averaging 6.6 points, 2.0 assists and 1.2 rebounds. In the first round 87–79 victory against the University of Louisville in the NCAA tournament, he scored 16 points and helped guard talented freshman Darrell Griffith.

As a junior, he remained a reserve player, averaging 6.0 points, 1.4 assists and 0.6 rebounds.

As a senior, he became a full-time starter, averaging 17.5 points, 4.8 assists and had a .598 field goal percentage, the best ever for a Bruin guard. He averaged 18.3 points during the NCAA tournament. He also received honorable-mention All-American and second-team Academic All-American honors.

He became part of four Pac-10 championships from 1976–1979, two under coach Gene Bartow and two under coach Gary Cunningham. He graduated in 1979 from UCLA with a B.A. degree in Sociology.

Professional career

Holland was selected by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round (14th overall) of the 1979 NBA Draft. As a rookie, he was a reserve player, contributing to clinch the 1980 championship, by scoring 8 points in the 123-107 decisive victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

In the 1980-81 season, he was a role player, averaging 3.2 points, 0.6 assists and 0.7 rebounds. On August 5, 1981, he was traded along with forward Jim Chones, a 1982 second draft pick (#44-Mike Gibson and a 1983 first draft choice (#22-Randy Wittman), in exchange for the Washington Bullets not matching the offer sheet that free agent Mitch Kupchak signed with the Lakers on July 23.[2] On December 26, he was released by the Bullets.[3]

On April 16, 1982, he was signed as a free agent by the Milwaukee Bucks, to provide depth for an injured Quinn Buckner.[4]

In September 1982, he was given permission from the Bucks to attend the Utah Jazz rookie-free agent camp, with the condition of receiving compensation if Holland decided to stay.[5] On September 29, he opted to announce his retirement instead of reporting, because of pain in his knees after three knee operations.[6][7] He later entered private business and worked as a broadcaster at Prime Ticket from 1985–1998.

Coaching career

Cal State Fullerton

In his first year at Cal State Fullerton Holland received rave reviews for turning around the CSUF basketball program. During the 1992–93 season, Holland's team finished 15-12, posting the school's first winning record since 1985 and going 10-8 in the Big West Conference.

Holland's 1993–94 team lost three players to season-ending injuries prior to the first game. They finished 8-19 overall, and 8th-place in the Big West. He left his post suddenly in September 1994, just two months before the start of the 1994–95 season. Several years after his departure from Fullerton, it surfaced that Holland was responsible for several NCAA violations, which resulted in the program being placed on probation for 4 years.

University of San Diego

He compiled a record of 200-176 in thirteen years as San Diego head coach. In only two years did San Diego finish with a record of below .500. Holland led the Toreros to the West Coast Conference championship in 2003, beating Gonzaga in the conference tournament on San Diego's home court. He was fired at the completion of the 2006–2007 season to be replaced by Gonzaga University assistant coach Bill Grier.

Coaching success

As a coach, Holland achieved WCC coach of the year for the 1998–99 season, while directing USD to an 18-9 record and second-place finish in the West Coast Conference race (9-5). Highlights for that team include an important win over Texas in the Torero Tip-off, and the team's upset over then No. 25-ranked Gonzaga 75-59.

In 1999–2000 , Holland earned the Toreros 20 wins and 10 WCC victories, the school's most since the 1987 season. The efforts earned Holland the WCC Coach of the Year by his peers for the second season in a row. The Toreros had won seven of their final ten games to finish strong again, a hallmark of Holland coached teams. The season was marked by WCC wins at Gonzaga (82-70) and at home over WCC champion Pepperdine (73-62). The Toreros ended at 10-2 at home, and were 9-7 on the road, including an excellent 5-2 WCC road mark.

CollegeInsider.com named Holland as the 2004–05 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year. Seniors Brandon Gay and Brice Vounang were both named to the NABC District 15 Second Team.[8]

2002–03

In 2002–03, Holland managed to guide USD to an impressive 18-12 record, the 2003 West Coast Conference Basketball Championship title and its first trip to the NCAA tournament in sixteen years. As a 13 seed in the South region, San Diego lost in the first round to Stanford, 77-69.[9]

2005–06

The 2005–06 season was Holland's 12th season at the helm of the USD's basketball program. He guided them to 108 victories over the past seven seasons including a personal-best 20 win season in 1999–2000. In the 2004–2005 season he directed the Toreros to a 16-13 mark, which finished them at 3rd in the West Coast Conference. It tallied its biggest turnaround in Division I Basketball for the wins with an addition of twelve victories. With the team's 69-61 home win over San Francisco on February 9, Holland became the program's all-winningest coach. Holland's USD career mark before the Saturday's game in 2005 was 163-149. This included two years at CS Fullerton, which makes his overall coaching record 186-180.

Holland's Firing

Holland was subsequently fired at the end of the 2006–2007 season to be replaced by Gonzaga University's assistant coach, Bill Grier. This was a fairly controversial move by the Toreros because supporters pointed to the fact that Holland was the winningest coach in Toreros history and joined Jim Brovelli and Hank Egan in leading USD to the NCAA Tournament. He also was very supportive of the school's strict academic requirements and nearly every player he coached went on to graduate.

A lack of recent success was cited as the major reason for Holland's firing. Since the Toreros' trip to the 2003 NCAA Tournament, Holland's teams achieved little success beyond the occasional victory over cross-town rivals San Diego State University Aztecs, and wins in the West Coast Conference tournament. Because of this, student and city apathy in the program was growing and USD Athletic Director Ky Snyder believed it was best to refresh the program with Bill Grier, a coach from a successful rival program, Gonzaga University.

Head coaching record
Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Cal State Fullerton (Big West Conference) (1992–1994)
1992–93 Cal State Fullerton 15-1210-8T-5th
1993–94 Cal State Fullerton 8-196-12T-9th
Cal State Fullerton: 23-31
San Diego Toreros (West Coast Conference) (1994–2007)
1994–95 San Diego 11-165-95th
1995–96 San Diego 14-146-86th
1996–97 San Diego 17-118-6T-4th
1997–98 San Diego 14-145-97th
1998–99 San Diego 18-99-5T-2nd
1999–00 San Diego 20-910-43rd
2000–01 San Diego 16-137-74th
2001–02 San Diego 16-137-75th
2002–03 San Diego 18-1210-42ndNCAA 1st Round
2003–04 San Diego 4-261-138th
2004–05 San Diego 16-137-7T-3rd
2005–06 San Diego 18-126-85th
2006–07 San Diego 18-146-85th
San Diego: 200-176
Total:223-207

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References
  1. "Ex-Bruin Holland Now Plays Just for Fun". The Los Angeles Times. April 19, 1984. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  2. "The Los Angeles Lakers have given up forward Jim..." UPI. August 6, 1981. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  3. "Transactions". The Los Angeles Times. December 27, 1981. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  4. "Bucks sign ex-Laker Holland". Daily News. April 17, 1982. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  5. "Jazz Cut 8 Players". The Palm Beach Post. September 30, 1982. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  6. "Briefly Noted". The San Bernardino County Sun. September 30, 1982. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  7. "HOLLAND: Ex-Bruin Star Finds Happiness in Beer-Pizza Cage League". The Los Angeles Times. April 15, 1984. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  8. "Brad Holland Selected The CollegeInsider.com Conference Coach of the Year". University of San Diego. March 1, 2005. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
  9. 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament
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