FanPost

TJ Simers: Coach Ben Howland > Joe Torre

Well this is amusing. Simers has a column today on how Coach Howland > Joe Torre:

Ben Howland hasn't been there yet, hasn't won the ultimate titles that Torre has, or even his first, but he's hungry, and driven, and always afraid, he says, "of losing my job."

Interesting question: Do you want your coach or manager resting on his laurels and maybe holding up one of his World Series rings so the sunlight catches it just right?

Or do you want someone almost unable to contain himself while sitting on the couch in his office, practice for Sunday's USC game 30 minutes away, and saying "we have to prove we can beat them"?

"I don't know any other way," Howland says. "It's just not me, it's trying to get my team to be that driven too. That's always the challenge -- trying to get your team to feel the drive you have inside."

If Torre has nothing to prove, what does his team feel?

THE LAST two years Howland has pushed his team into the Final Four, a monumental task in college basketball these days given the comings and goings to the pros and the parity throughout the game.

No reason to think now he can't make it three years in a row -- beginning in Anaheim, and moving on to Phoenix before advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio.

"Winning the conference title is everything," Howland says, and with intensity, as if he's delivering a halftime speech. "That's how you stay closer to home, which gives you the best chance to win in the tournament."

And when it comes to winning, he's done it with an emphasis on hard-nosed defense, by no coincidence a reflection on his own hard-headed insistence on controlling every game and winning every recruiting war.

"It's always the fear of losing and how that makes you feel," Howland says. "The expectation here is to win. Winning is relief. Losing is death. Slow death.

"Let me tell you this, I was really honestly worried about Cal State San Bernardino in November. I'm sick to my gut before whoever we play. Every game means everything."

Just a hunch, but that probably rubs off on his players. I have said it all along. You can never take TJ seriously. You have to take him with a grain of salt. Yes, those grafs made me LOL. I don't need to write more here on what I think of Coach Howland. But on the other hand its a little silly to slam a great manager like Torre by comparing him to Howland. Both coaches are great at what they do. And its fun to have two of my favorite teams led by such good guys.

By the way note how Coach Howland mentioned ever game is important. In other words today's game against JustSC is just as important as that November game against Cal State San Bernardino. Anyway, read rest of the article here.

GO BRUINS.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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