Scott Schultz sschultz@media.ucla.edu
Click Here for more articles by Scott Schultz Â
It goes without saying that Peter Dalis is leaving his post as
one of the most successful, if not the most successful Division I
athletic directors of the modern era.
As I write this, I can envision the hate mail filling up my
Daily Bruin e-mail account from observant Bruin fans pointing out
that we’ve only won one basketball championship during his
tenure and zero football championships.
But if it’s championships that measure the success of an
athletic director, then Dalis’s commencement gown would be an
extra-extra large. Check out this number:
39.
That is the number of national championships won during the
19-year Dalis era. Under Dalis, UCLA won at least one championship
in all but two of his 19 years. UCLA has placed in the top five
rankings for the Sears Cup every year since the trophy was first
given to the university with the most overall success in athletics.
He’s also averaged five conference championships per year
over his 19-year run.
When it comes to women’s athletics, no athletic director,
EVER, compares to Dalis. Seven different women’s teams have
won national championships during the Dalis era.
Compare that to Cal, which just won its very first women’s
championship for any sport last month.
Dalis also was as effective as any athletic director ever when
it came to hiring women coaches. Dalis hasn’t merely filled
coaching positions with women to fill quotas; he hired women
coaches who know how to win and graduate their players like Bruins
are supposed to do.
Oh, and there are those little buildings that he was responsible
for, including the Wooden Center, which aside from the crappy music
that they play inside, is a great health club. He also oversaw the
building of the Hall of Fame, which is the most state-of-the-art
college athletics hall of fame anywhere.
What makes these accomplishments even more amazing is that these
championships were accomplished in the modern era of college
sports, when recruiting and competition is far more intense than it
was during the J.D. Morgan era.
But UCLA athletics isn’t just about winning. The athletes
have been graduating at a respectable clip. UCLA athletes are
involved with the community on both the local and the national
level.
UCLA sends enough Bruins to the Olympic games that we could be
considered our own country. That is also a reflection of the fine
job Dalis has done.
Dalis also accomplished this in the fishbowl of a media market
that is Los Angeles. Every time an athlete so much as had a beer,
Dalis would have to cope with more media than the O.J. Simpson
trial. That can’t be easy or enjoyable.
Pete, you’ve earned your retirement. UCLA is still the
best athletic university in the country and is set to maintain that
status for the near future. Have a good time improving your golf
swing.