Don't think Howland would be a good recruiter.....sounds like he had a hard time recruiting in LA. Imperative that generation y players like him for him to be successful here imo.
Actually he was historically a great recruiter. Just had some weird, off-the-court stuff go on including NCAA issues and a team cancer (Reeves Nelson) wreaking havoc in the locker room. He handled both poorly and eventually through NBA defections, transfers and dismissals the team withered away. There was a pretty comprehensive expose on it around the time he was fired which spelled it all out. I haven't been able to find it but will post it once I do.
One of the knocks on him was he took superior talent and didn't do much with it. Many felt his style of play was more conducive to east coast basketball, i.e. no run-n-gun. Remember he had Russell Westbrook coming off the bench of one of his squads. Had Shabazz Muhummad and IIRC Zack Levine and out-recruited Duke for Tony Parker (although he amounted to nothing) despite hot seat rumors.