|
 The
2005-2006 season will be Brad Holland's 12th at the
helm of the USD men's basketball program. Holland
has guided USD to 108 victories over the past seven
seasons, including a personal-best 20 win season in
1999-2000. This past season he directed the Toreros
to a 16-13 overall mark and 3rd place finish in the
competitive West Coast Conference. USD tallied the
biggest turnaround in Division I basketball for wins
with an improvement of 12 victories. With the team's
69-61 home win over San Francisco on February 9th,
Holland notched his 161st career USD victory to
become the program's all-time winningest coach.
CollegeInsider.com tabbed 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.
In 2002-03 he guided USD to an impressive 18-12
mark; to the 2003 West Coast Conference Basketball
Championship title; and to the program's first trip
to the NCAA Tournament in sixteen years.
That season was highlighted early on by the team's
86-81 overtime win at UCLA. The Toreros would go on
to tally a 10-4 2nd place finish in the WCC
standings. With the 2nd place mark the Toreros
earned a double-bye into the WCC Tournament
semifinals; they knocked off San Francisco in the
semi-final, then beat Gonzaga in front of a national
TV audience in the title game to earn the league's
automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. They gave
the Stanford Cardinal a battle before falling 77-69
in NCAA 1st round action.
Senior center Jason Keep became the program's first
ever 1st Team NABC District 15 selection Four
seasons ago, for the second straight year, Holland
guided the Toreros to a 16-13 mark and a semifinal
appearance in the West Coast Conference
Championships. The Toreros earned quality
nonconference wins over UC Irvine and San Diego
State (4th straight year), along with key WCC wins
over Santa Clara (on the road) and San Francisco
(twice). Senior guard Andre Laws became the first
Torero since 1987 to earn NABC District 15 honors
(2nd Team). Six seasons ago he guided the Toreros to
a 20-9 overall mark and 10-4 WCC finish.
The 20 wins and 10 WCC victories were the school's
most since the 1987 season. For his efforts, Holland
was named the WCC Coach of the Year by his peers for
the second straight season. The Toreros won seven of
their final ten games to finish strong again, a
trait of Holland coached teams. The season was
highlighted by WCC wins at Gonzaga (82-70), and at
home over WCC champion Pepperdine (73-62). The
Toreros finished 11-2 at home, and were 9-7 on the
road, including an excellent 5-2 WCC road mark.
He earned his first WCC Coach of the Year honor
during the 1998-99 campaign when he directed USD to
an 18-9 record and a second place finish in the West
Coast Conference race (9-5). Highlights from the
1998-99 squad included the team's victory over Texas
in the Torero Tip-Off, and the team's upset over
then No. 25-ranked Gonzaga (75-59). In 1997-98
Holland guided USD to a 14-14 overall record and a
third straight semifinal appearance in the West
Coast Conference Tournament. The Toreros won five of
their final eight contests and earned solid
victories over WCC champion Gonzaga, and two wins
over WCC runner-up Pepperdine.
Holland owns a twelve-year mark of 164-150 at USD --
including his two-year stint at Cal State Fullerton,
his career coaching record sits at 187-181. During
his USD tenure he owns nine seasons with .500 or
better records. In 1996-97 he directed the Toreros
to a 17-11 record; the 17 wins were a personal-best
for Holland in six years as a collegiate head coach.
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
Kansas to seven points in Lawrence (72-79) and
Stanford to two (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 at USD
Brad guided the Toreros to an 11-16 overall record
and a fifth place finish in the West Coast
Conference.
The season was highlighted 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 USD 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, theTitans 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 national 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, reside in Carlsbad.
They have three children -- twins Kristin and Lisa,
seniors at USD, and a son, Kyle. |
