PASADENA ““ Fire Karl Dorrell. It has a certain ring to it
for the UCLA football fans that had the displeasure of watching the
Bruins’ offensive 31-13 loss to Oregon on Saturday.
The feeling at a Rose Bowl that was filled with unrest was an
eerie one. While so much had changed for UCLA in the past year, it
seemed as if nothing had really changed at all.
The untimely turnovers are still there. So are the late-season
losses. And while the ominous sky held up, the boos rained down
harder than ever on the Bruins.
Heck, Bob Toledo at least dragged us through this, all the while
running an exciting offense. Dump Dorrell!
Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, however, no longer wields an
axe. Instead, the man who fired Toledo and hired Dorrell in the
offseason carries with him a message for the Bruin nation.
“People have to be patient and give (Dorrell) a chance to
build a program,” Guerrero said after Saturday’s game.
“I mean, they’re going to give Ben (Howland) a chance
to build a (basketball) program, and they should do the same thing
with Karl and allow him the opportunities to sort out the kinks and
move forward.”
Rome, after all, wasn’t built in a day. Neither was
Troy.
“Look at ‘SC. They finished .500 and their offense
was a mess,” Guerrero said. “Look at Kirk Ferentz at
Iowa who has a great program and started 7-21. Look at (Texas
A&M coach) Dennis Franchione, who’s making $2 million a
year or whatever. They got beat 77-0 last week (against
Oklahoma).”
The reference to salary carries with it a subliminal message.
Guerrero must know that many fans criticize him for supposedly
hiring Dorrell on the cheap, choosing to pay a base salary of about
$600,000 to someone with no experience as a head coach.
Of course, all that has gotten UCLA is a 6-5 record right before
the rivalry game against No. 2 USC, which has flourished under
big-dollar coach Pete Carroll, and another blown chance of going to
a big-time bowl game. This coming after a season under Toledo in
which the Bruins finished 7-5 in the regular season.
But Guerrero is looking more at the long run, and Dorrell, his
work in progress, did actually show some emotion for once at the
post-game press conference.
“(The loss) is on me. It’s on the coaches,”
Dorrell said. “It’s a shame we’re playing this
way at the end of the season. (The coaches) just aren’t
getting it done. There are a lot of things that need to get better
““ including me. Some way, somehow, we’ll make it
work.”
Cynics can call Dorrell a defeatist, but Guerrero, who gave him
a hearty handshake following the press conference, is going to
stand by his man.
“Karl will never put anything on the kids,” he said.
“He will take the responsibility for whatever kind of
performance we have. He will give kudos to the kids when they win
and will take the responsibility and the blame when they lose.
That’s a coach that displays great character and great
class.”
The implication this time is that Dorrell is no Toledo, who at
times publicly pinned losses on his players, drawing the ire of his
team as well as his boss.
“(Dorrell) is going to be an excellent head coach,”
Guerrero said. “He’s a leader, our kids respect him and
respond to him, and he’s a Bruin that wants to win here more
than anyplace else. That’s a good core to establish a great
foundation for the future for this program.”
The emphasis here is on the future, not the pathetic
present.
Leung was a football beat writer in 2002. He can be reached
at dleung@media.ucla.edu.