UCLA hired Washington assistant coach Steve Axman to assume the
offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach positions
Thursday.
After an exhaustive search that extended from Idaho’s Tom
Cable to Virginia’s Bill Musgrave to Indiana’s Al
Borges, he finally turned to an old friend.
Axman returns to Westwood after a 14-year leave. in 1987 and
1988, Axman was the Bruin offensive coordinator and current head
coach Karl Dorrell was a graduate assistant.
“I’m very excited to be coming back,” Axman
said. “It’s a great chance to work with Dorrell. We go
way back, when I was offensive coordinator with Terry Donahue.
Since then, we’ve worked together many times.”
Indeed, the career paths of Dorrell and Axman have never strayed
far from one another since 1988. They crossed again in 1990 and
1991, when Dorrell was offensive coordinator and Axman was head
coach at Northern Arizona. They worked together again at
Washington, when Dorrell was the offensive coordinator in 1999 and
Axman was the quarterbacks coach.
“We’ll be able to do a lot of things
together,” Axman said. “But it’s his offense. I
know he wants to implement the Denver Broncos’ West Coast
system. We have a lot of things to work with.”
The hiring gives Dorrell a veteran of offensive coaching. The
54-year old Axman has coached quarterbacks, the offensive line,
receivers and running backs at myriad colleges across the country
over the span of 22 years.
However, Axman is most renowned for his ability to develop
quarterbacks, which have included former Bruin Troy Aikman,
Washington’s Marques Tuiasosopo and current Husky quarterback
Cody Pickett. This past season, Pickett became the first Pac-10
quarterback to throw for over 4,000 yards.
At UCLA, Axman will be assigned to develop freshmen quarterbacks
Matt Moore and Drew Olson. Both gained playing time this season in
a platoon system following Cory Paus’ ankle injury.
“They’re young and talented,” Axman said.
“It’s a good situation for me to get into. It’ll
be great to work with them and help them grow.”
Axman said he would be flying to Los Angeles on Monday. He
replaces Kelly Skipper at offensive coordinator. Ron Caragher, who
was considered for the quarterbacks coach position, will also
depart UCLA after serving as wide receivers coach.
Dorrell has now hired three assistant coaches since replacing
Bob Toledo as head coach in December.
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Junior defensive tackle Rodney Leisle announced Thursday that he
will return for his senior season rather than enter the NFL
Draft.
“I’m excited about our prospects for next
season,” he said. “Coach Karl Dorrell will do a great
job and I’m looking forward to working with (defensive line)
coach (Don) Johnson for another year.
“I feel that another year in the UCLA program will greatly
enhance my opportunity to play in the NFL.”
The 6-foot-3, 307-pounder was named a second-team All-American
coming into the season, but he fractured his foot in the Pac-10
opener against Oregon State and missed the next five games.
After the Las Vegas Bowl, Leisle said he would probably leave
the team, but added that the he would consider staying if Dorrell
were to retain Johnson who was re-hired in December.
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UCLA has received a verbal commitment from defensive end Noah
Sutherland, a 6-foot-5, 250-pounder from Virginia. He will help an
area of need, as many Bruin defensive linemen will graduate by next
year.