SAN DIEGO — Moments before he spoke for nearly a hour straight, Steve Lavin paused. Before he detailed his upbringing with a pair of teachers for parents, before he discussed the eight NCAA Tournaments, the five Sweet 16 appearances, the Elite Eight, before he described a unique decade spent on the other side of the court as a broadcaster, the 57-year-old took a deep breath to compose himself.

"I want to begin with gratitude," Lavin said on Friday afternoon before a packed crowd in USD's KIPJ Theatre. "Because this opportunity is as special as anything that's happened in my life professionally…I only wish my mother and father were here (to see it)."

The veteran basketball man's burst of gratefulness came as he was officially announced as the 14th head coach in San Diego men's basketball history. It was preceded by an impassioned address from Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis, one that emphasized the premium that he and university president James T. Harris III place on success in athletics, particularly on the hardwood.

"(Harris) cares about building and maintaining a model Division I collegiate athletics program," said McGillis, the president at his right as he delivered his speech. "And he doesn't apologize for that. He's interested in having a nationally prominent and successful men's basketball program."

Lavin, they hope, will restore that prominence. He strode to the stage on Friday with a wealth of experience under his belt, a body of work that includes 11 full seasons as a head coach, a 226-133 record, and 10 postseason appearances at storied programs UCLA and St. Johns. Most recently, his career included an accomplished stint as a national college basketball broadcaster for the likes of Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and ESPN.

"I enjoyed my time in television," Lavin described. "But I ultimately wanted to come back to coaching, because I miss it."

McGillis landed on Lavin after a thorough national search, one that spanned a month and considered a diverse range of candidates from all levels of basketball. But once the pair began meeting, the union began to seem almost inevitable.

"That first time I met (McGillis) it was four o'clock when it started, and it was 1 a.m. when it ended," Lavin detailed. "The second day, we met for three, four hours, the third day, another nine hours. And through it, we were already beginning — we sometimes would forget that we hadn't come to an agreement. We were so focused on the future."

Why that agreement eventually came to fruition became increasingly clear as Friday afternoon's proceedings rolled on. It became clear that as much as they were impressed by his championship-caliber resume, Harris and McGillis were equally enamored with the quality of Lavin's character. They were sold on the man who spent seemingly equal time during the press conference extolling the values of his beloved parents — a pair of educators so dedicated to the community that they volunteered their time teaching inmates at San Quentin Prison — as he did describing the value of his runs to the deepest portions of the college basketball postseason. They were sold on the coach who showed up unannounced to the funeral of a former player's loved one more than a decade after he last took the court for him, sold on the leader who maps out a 50-year life plan for his players and supports them long after their playing days are done. Sold on the son who described his time spent away from the sideline working in television as a gift, not only because it allowed him to "get in the lab" with the sport's top minds, but also because it afforded him the time to care for his aging parents. McGillis and Harris III, it appeared, were sold on the totality of Lavin's basketball acumen, a journey that's been shaped by the type of life experience for which there is no substitute.

"This process has led us to a man who's basketball credentials are impressive," Harris III said during the press conference. "But what we were really looking for was someone with a strong alignment with our university values."

As a four-hour lunch in New Orleans unfolded, both McGillis and Harris III found that alignment, with a singular story cementing Lavin's fit at USD in the eyes of its president.

"There was a former player of his, about 20 years ago at UCLA who had fallen on hard times, and actually was homeless," Harris III recounted. "Not only did Steve reach out to him to help, he invited him to live with him, and he lived with him for six months. He helped him get ready for employment, now that man is employed, owns his own home, and has his life back together. Our new coach didn't take him in because he saw publicity, he did it quietly because of his love for that person. And love of others and doing something to help those who may never be able to return the favor is at the heart of our values that we hold dear at the University of San Diego."

And so, more than 30 years after he coached fourth and fifth graders in the Toreros' Sports Center Gym as part of a Hank Egan basketball camp, Lavin was back in Alcala Park, this time ready to lead the big team into a new era.

'The focus of my life moving forward is our student-athletes and the staff that will be working tirelessly toward all of our goals," Lavin added. "Winning in the classroom, winning on the court, and most importantly, putting a foundation in place to win in life."

Ripples from Lavin's introduction have already begun to be felt around the Jenny Craig Pavilion. On Thursday, local talent Wayne McKinney Jr withdrew his name from the transfer portal as he posted a message on Instagram indicating he was ready to "run it back." 

A challenging road lies ahead of Lavin, one with perennial contenders Gonzaga and St. Mary's in its midst. On Friday, after he paused to collect himself after an emotional show of gratitude, after he thanked who he needed to thank and reflected on how he got here, he talked basketball for the first time in San Diego.

"It's everyday, the mantra I've used is 'Hammer the Rock,'" Lavin said of what it will take to rise to the top of the West Coast Conference. "You look at the top four teams in the league and see, what are they doing, what can we do to close the gap."

Then he took a more stern tone, showing a flash of gameday-level passion after just an hour on the job.

"It's going to be our work, our commitment, and our cohesiveness, and representing this university in a first-class manner," San Diego's new head coach added. 

"Mottos and slogans and mantras won't get it done."