San Diego Hires Ex-St. John’s And UCLA Coach Steve Lavin

Steve Lavin has a new gig.

The former St. John’s and UCLA head coach who has served as a FOX and FS1 analyst since the 2015-16 season is now the new head men’s basketball coach at the University of San Diego, according to his Twitter bio.

Lavin, a San Francisco native, will coach in the West Coast Conference against the likes of Mark Few of Gonzaga and Randy Bennett of Saint Mary’s.

Lavin, 57, has coached in eight NCAA Tournaments, leading UCLA to five Sweet 16s and an Elite 8.

He last coached at St. John’s during the 2014-15 season, and finished 81-53 in five seasons at the Big East school with two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Before that Lavin led UCLA for seven season to a 145-78 mark with five Sweet 16s and one Elite 8.

Lavin replaces Sam Scholl who was fired last month after going 50-66 in five seasons

“Decisions like this are very difficult, especially when it involves people you care so much about,” said AD Bill McGillis. “Coach Scholl is an amazing man, and he has been a tremendous mentor to the young men in our program. Although we have not achieved the competitive progress we expected, Sam has poured his heart and soul into USD basketball, and he has led our program with great integrity from day one. Both as a student-athlete and as a coach, Sam has represented the university with great class, and no one cares more about the Toreros than he does. We are truly grateful for his leadership and wish him the very best moving forward.”