When the announcement came last week that Karl Dorrell had signed a one-year extension, it didn’t strike me as a particularly groundbreaking piece of news.
But it did seem to reignite a debate that had been put on hold in the wake of the UCLA basketball team’s success: Is the UCLA football program moving in the right direction under Dorrell?
Listening to people talk and reading some of the stuff being posted online ““ particularly at dumpdorrell.com ““ would lead you to believe that, so long as Dorrell is in charge, the program will be nothing more than mediocre.
Maybe it’s just my nature, but I tend to be a little more optimistic.
Dorrell’s third year in 2005 saw a 10-2 season in which the two losses stood out because of their blowout nature and because they forced UCLA into the Sun Bowl rather than a BCS Bowl or even the Holiday Bowl. Still, it was by far the Bruins’ best season since the memorable 1998 season.
Coming into 2006, Dorrell was hit with many obstacles to overcome. He lost his star quarterback, his best receiving threat, his best linebacker and, unexpectedly, his play-making running back (and you can bet that Maurice Jones-Drew would have made a substantial difference last season if the Bruins had him). Oh, and the Bruins were facing one of the toughest schedules imaginable.
Dorrell’s replacements were all pretty solid, though. A group of offensive players that included Ryan Moya, Ben Olson, Marcus Everett, Joe Cowan and Chris Markey was about as good of a cast of replacements as you could have expected from an unproven coach competing with Pete Carroll at USC for recruits (and Moya and Cowan were lost early in the season to injury). Defensively, the team was much improved from the year before and the 2006 season bore that out.
Recruiting-wise, Dorrell signed a play-making receiver in Terrence Austin, a bruising running back in Chane Moline, and a bunch of strong line recruits, most of whom weren’t able to play right away.
So before we say that the drop-off in record in 2006 was a reversion to mediocrity and the beginning of a depressing cycle, let’s be fair about the situation.
UCLA had a chance to win every game on its schedule last year. Critics will fault Dorrell for not being able to win those close competitive games (although the USC game should have erased that notion) but nobody is giving him the credit he deserves for having UCLA in position to win those games in the first place.
Meanwhile, heading into 2007, most would agree that Dorrell has gotten the Bruins in a position to contend for a Pac-10 title and possibly even more. And no one would question the quality of his 2007 recruiting class, which includes a defensive tackle and running back that will make an immediate difference. Why people who agree with this sentiment can still justify and want his firing is beyond me, and a look at the inconsistent pattern in their reasoning really boggles the mind.
The dumpdorrell.com Web site has criticized Dorrell for every reason imaginable, including poor in-game coaching, failure to take responsibility, inability to recruit and insincerity. It makes some ridiculously baseless, LaRouche-like assertions that should serve as red flags to the people that actually put stock in the Web site. One assertion that really has me chuckling is that the assistant coaches that have left have mostly been forced out by Dorrell, who is using them as scapegoats to deflect responsibility from his “horrible” beginning as a head coach.
It won’t happen, but let’s say this movement actually got what it wanted and a new head coach was hired for this season. How ludicrous would it be to implement a new system and revamp the whole program in a season where they are prepared to be an elite team? It would make a rebuilding year out of what should be a great year for the program.
If next year is a flop, then the discussion of an overhaul has merit. But let’s see what happens next year first. For now, with the last two recruiting classes and the team in a position to do great things next year, I’m standing by coach Dorrell as a coach that has the potential to lead this program out of the depths of mediocrity and into the wave of elite football programs.
E-mail Azar at bazar@media.ucla.edu.