Ben Howland Remains Jobless

March 16, 2013; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Ben Howland reacts against the Oregon Ducks during the second half of the championship game of the Pac 12 tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Oregon defeated UCLA 78-69. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Former UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland continues the his job search as it has been reported that he has broken off talks with Oregon State University. The Beavers have been on a coaching search since they let go of former head honcho Craig Robinson on May 5. OSU will have to continue their search without Howland, but just as well, Howland remains jobless.

There are rumblings that Howland has been looking to get back into coaching since he was let go at UCLA just over a year ago. Howland was recently considered for the recent vacancy at Marquette, unfortunately, he got passed up for Duke assistant coach, Steve Wojciechowski.

When word of Robinson’s firing hit, Howland’s name was quickly in the mix for candidacy and especially since it appeared to be a decent fit. Corvallis, Oregon is a short plane ride from his home base in Santa Barbara, California, he would still be coaching in a major conference and can start from scratch in rebuilding, both the OSU team and his reputation.

Things did not go well for Howland in his finals years at UCLA. A Sports Illustrated expose, a mass exodus of transfers and a first round NCAA tournament loss in his final season lead to his eventual termination.

Now it seems Howland has to continue his search if he is looking to get back into the business. Still, it begs the question, what happened at Oregon State? Some that are more in the know have some interesting speculations.

The next question is, where does Howland go from here?

Mike W.R.

Twitter: @TheBigDisco