With just a few strokes of the pen, the UCLA athletic department
has made great strides in changing its penny-pinching
reputation.
On Friday, UCLA announced that men’s basketball coach Ben
Howland and football coach Karl Dorrell had both accepted
multi-year contract extensions. Howland, coming off a season in
which his team fell 40 minutes short of a national title, received
the more lucrative of the extensions, at seven years with a
starting base salary of $1.15 million. The football team, which
went a surprising 10-2 this season, saw its coach gain another five
years of contract security. Dorrell will make $850,000 as his base
salary.
In the past, UCLA has made a habit of underpaying its coaches.
John Wooden famously received just $32,500 in his final year, 1975.
With this move, the UCLA administration is breaking from its
tradition and recognizing the success of its two money-making
teams. In the statements from Howland and Dorrell released by the
university, both coaches reaffirm their commitment to remaining
Bruins for the foreseeable future, with Howland repeating his
oft-quoted line that UCLA is his “dream job.”
Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who hired both Howland and
Dorrell, spoke of the return to elite status for the UCLA
basketball program and Howland’s status as one of the top
coaches in the country in his comment on the contract extensions.
In Dorrell’s case, Guerrero spoke of his excitement for the
direction and future of the program ““ fitting for a coach who
has seen improvement in each of his three seasons.
“Karl is an outstanding leader, and we feel the future of
UCLA football is very bright with him in control,” Guerrero
said.
Both coaches have been at UCLA for three seasons. Last year the
basketball team lost to Florida in the national championship game
and finished with a 32-7 record, while the football team beat
Northwestern 50-38 in the Sun Bowl for its tenth victory. Howland
has reached the NCAAs in two of his three seasons, while Dorrell
has made it to a bowl game in each of his three years.