In 1994 I was in a Psychology of Sport class with several of the football team. Carl McGown was the teacher, and he would bring in coaches to "guest lecture" when his team was on the road. Lavell spoke to us one time about something, but there were four or five players in that class. I think it was Itulu Mili, Mike Ulufaele, and some others. They came in and sat in the back, and were totally unprepared for anything.
They were good people, just did not seem interested in what was happening.

After class, Lavell called them back. I walked out slowly to eavesdrop, and Lavell laid into those players! He was quiet, not profane at all, but it startled me a bit. He chewed them out about letting him down and that is not how he or his program would be represented on or off the field. It was pretty epic. I admired him at a different level after that.