You had to have heard it walking out of the Rose Bowl on Saturday after UCLA’s embarrassing loss to the Irish.
“UCLA is a basketball school.”
Sure, it’s an uplifting comment, a way to maintain the Bruin pride that is so palpable at the start of a school year.
But is it true?
With basketball season around the corner ““ practice starts Friday ““ and the football season at its midpoint, the question is certainly worthy of consideration.
First and foremost is the legacy of John Wooden. The man planted this fine school’s national reputation with his indomitable teams of the 1960s and ’70s.
Yes, there are 11 banners hanging in Pauley Pavilion. And no, unlike almost every other school in the nation, none of those banners commemorate anything less than a national title.
Wooden’s dynasty is unmatched in all of college sports. It’s unrealistic to expect that any football coach could amass a comparable record.
But let’s not rule out the football program just yet.
UCLA has 11 former football players and coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1954, the program won its only national title. Gary Beban, one of those 11 Bruins in the Hall of Fame, won the Heisman trophy in 1966.
Don’t be fooled into thinking UCLA’s football dominance is ancient history. The Bruins have had dominant teams in recent history.
From 1997-1998, the Bruins won 20 straight games under coach Bob Toledo.
Those two seasons saw the Bruins reach the Cotton Bowl (which was, at the time, as prestigious as a BCS bowl is today) and the Rose Bowl.
In those years under Toledo, UCLA had the top program in the Pac-10, period.
But now, with the omnipresent buzz of that program across town, that’s definitely not the case.
Clearly the football program has enjoyed both good times and bad.
The men’s basketball program is no different.
From 2002-2005 the Bruins had a cumulative record of 39-47. And in the 32 years since the Wizard abdicated his throne in Westwood, UCLA has won just one national championship.
Back to 2007: Ben Howland’s team has gone to two straight Final Fours and enters the year ranked in the top five of every preseason poll you’ll find.
And UCLA football hasn’t won a Rose Bowl since 1986.
But the truth is that this is a school that prides itself on all athletics, and focusing on a single time period ““ even the current one ““ is entirely misleading.
Unlike schools such as Duke, Georgetown and Kentucky, UCLA has a fan base that expects a competitive football team year in and year out.
The Bruins have the location, resources and brand name necessary to build a powerhouse football program.
They’ve done it in the past, and they can still do it in the future.
Obviously UCLA is a basketball school. The point is that it should be a football school, too.
And UCLA fans shouldn’t sell themselves short by thinking otherwise.
E-mail Allen at sallen@media.ucla.edu if you have a Gary Beban jersey in your dorm room.