Are the "good" jobs no good?

By Jonathan Lowe Sports Central Columnist

The offseason has already begun in college basketball and the heads of athletic directors have already started to spin looking for the next coach to provide their men's basketball program with a winning attitude and even better results. So far, a couple of nationally-known colleges already make their moves (UCLA and Georgia). Each school made their decisions to fire based on different reasoning, and while both programs can create a turn in the spotlight for the two new coaches, one question has to be asked -- which of these two glorious jobs offers the best deal?

After turning around two struggling programs at Northern Arizona and Pitt, Ben Howland will become the eighth coach to roam UCLA's sidelines since the legendary John Wooden retired.

"Having grown up in southern California as a Bruin fan ... to now be the head coach of this program is something I dreamed about, but never thought possible," Howland said after accepting the position on April 2.

However, there is a problem with this fairy-tale story. All you have to do is ask any coach that has become head man since the wonderful Wizard of Westwood left almost three decades ago. Amidst the sunshine and beautiful scenery lies an ugly existence of greed, winning, and ghosts of really tall guys.

In La-La Land, championships aren't a luxury, they're a necessity. How else, in sane terms, could anyone let go of seven coaches who all had winning percentages of .620 or better? At least if Ben Howland isn't allowed to fulfill his dreams, he can still go to Disneyland.

Now we head east, where Western Kentucky's Dennis Felton has found a new home at Georgia. Although this is Felton's first big-time head coaching job, he's been through the fires of major conference competition as an assistant. Despite not heading a major program, Felton's problems don't lie in his inexperience, but rather in his new team's image.

With Jim Harrick leaving the Bulldogs in the midst of academic purgatory, the new man on campus will have to focus on restoring integrity to the scuffed-up face of the UGA basketball team before he can look at building on his 100-win resume. This step may not be looked upon very highly in a place where college title teams have turned up in several sports.

Along with the pressure of making a bumpy road smooth again is the fact that Michael Adams, UGA's president, was the one who brought Harrick into the program. Now Adams has egg on his face, and it will Felton's responsibility to wipe that off as quickly as possible.

But which one of the two is worse off by their new position? It must be Howland. While Felton has the worst circumstances of the two, he has the luxury of coaching basketball at a football-first school. This means the fans will probably have a little more patience for a turnaround.

The pressure that accompanies being the UCLA head coach is enormous. With every decision nit-picked over by administration, fans, and alumni, Howland may end up feeling like Pauley is a petri dish with a hardwood floor glued into it.

There are worse things, though. I bet neither man would trade places with St. Bonaventure's troubled coach, Jan van Breda Kolff, at the moment.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.