The 1974 - '75 Basketball Season and the Wizard's Suprising Annoucement
by Alice I. Chen

Wooden's Last Team

    
TOP (left to right): John Wooden, Gary Cunningham, Marques Johnson, Dave Meyers, Richard Washington, Ralph Drollinger, Brett Vroman, Wilbert Olinde, Casey Corliss, Frank Arnold, Len Friedman (manager). BOTTOM: Marvin Thomas, Gavin Smith, Jim Spillane, Raymond Thompson, Pete Trgovich, Andre McCarter.

The Beginning of the End

     With nine NCAA championships under its belt, UCLA men’s basketball was well established by 1974. John Wooden had been coaching the Bruins for the past 27 seasons, since 1948, and his 11 year reign over Pauley Pavilion had been a big success. At the end of the 1973 - '74 season, starting center Bill Walton was the number one draft pick for the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers. Along with him left three other starting seniors, Keith Wilkes, number one draft pick for the San Franciso Warriors, Tommy Curtis, number seven draft pick for Buffalo Braves, and Greg Lee, number seven draft pick for the Atltanta Hawks. Despite the loss of the four players, the the 1974 - '75 team started, and ended, their season strong

     Wooden announced his retirement March 28, 1975 at the age of 64. It followed the Burin’s 75-74 double overtime win over Louisville in the semi-final game of the 1975 NCAA tournament. Though the announcement was expected, most didn’t plan on Wooden dropping the bomb until the end of the tournament. “My reason for announcing it when I did was articles that appeared in the Los Angles Times and Herald Examiner (both had stories dealing with his expected retirement). Since I had made up my mind I decided to let the media know. Otherwise, I would have probably done it after the tournament.

     In a following Monday’s Daily Bruin article, Wooden explained that he had “personal reasons for [his] decision which [he did] not wish to discuss.” John Sandbrook, special assistant to the executive dean, said “He retired at age 65 for a variety of reasons. He had suffered a mild cardiac problem at age 62 and he also felt that he would be leaving a good team for his successor (the 1976 did go to the Final Four). He just felt it was the right time.”

     However, Wooden made his retirement official later that year on October 14, one day before the real season began, explaining that he did “not want to be looking over anyone’s shoulder.”

Reactions

     After Wooden’s announcement, reserve forward Wilbert Olinde recalled the incident in the Daily Bruin, “We came running into the locker room and were very noisy. Coach came into the room and asked us all to be quiet. He told us he was proud of the way we came back from being down. He said that winning wasn’t everything, but he really wanted this win, because he is bowing out. After that we were all quiet. He said a few more things and then left the room.”

     The announcement had come just as a shock to the team as it had to Wooden himself.

     “Coming off the floor after the NCAA semifinal win over Louisville in 1975, it just hit me. Time to go. It was an emotional thing. I can't explain it. I went to the dressing room and congratulated my players on a fine game. I said, "I don't know how we'll do Monday night against Kentucky, but I think we'll do all right. Regardless of the outcome of the game, I never had a team give me more pleasure. I'm very proud of you. This will be the last team I'll ever coach." They were shocked. I went to the press and told them, and my athletic director almost fainted. My wife didn't know. I didn't know myself until it happened. It was an emotional thing,” said Wooden in an interview with Cal Fussman, a writer for UCLA magazine.

His Last Game

     There was one more game left in Wooden’s final season upon his announcement. The team had lost the NCAA championship last season to North Carolina State. This year, they were back, facing Kentucky in the final match off for the championship title.

     The battle against Kentucky would challenge, “Kentucky, the most physical team UCLA faced this year, had the unenviable task of trying to defeat Wooden in his final game. Credit the Wildcats, they almost succeeded. Almost however, has become a very familiar word for teams facing UCLA,” reported Daily Bruin sports writer Jamie Krug. Bruins won the game, 92-85, giving Wooden his tenth national title in his twelve years in Pauley Pavilion. It was a “fitting close to the most fabulous coaching career ever,” wrote Krug.