You know, there are MANY things that separate a Trojan from a Bruin. Never, in a million years would I ever hope to read any Trojan refer to another fellow Trojan as bringing “dishonor” in playing the game of football (one who was injured no less, and one who GAVE HIS ALL on the field of play. What the author and/or Dummit-Bruin has characterized QB’s Prince and Brehaut as being) while still in uniform.

Worse yet, they (Krikorian and Dummit) refer to some other anonymous Bruin football players as “miscreants”. What. The. Fuck?

I’m not the best person in the world, and in no means am I saying that Trojans are fundamentally or sensibly BETTER than Bruins, but good Lord! Unless a Trojan has brought upon himself or our beloved university in some degree of ill-repute (yes, like OJ Simpson, or Reggie Bush? I’m not saying “I” would say those things, but I can see how other Trojans might want to)- I will never say such things about kids sporting the Cardinal and Gold colors in competition. I mean. . . . . ? Am I missing something here?

I want to know what our fellow Bruins who frequent here on CC think of this Krikorian piece.

As far as the Bruin who is highlighted in this article: ex-Bruin QB Dennis Dummit? Let’s just say his name (if he referred to Brehaut and Prince this way, and why Krikorian wrote down as such) fits him well.

Fight On Bruins! There’s always next year.

He doesn’t attack the high academic standards. He specifically says:

I really believe the problem with UCLA football can be traced to the UCLA culture," he says. "The president wants the school to be known for its academics, not its football team. "You think that’s the case at places like Florida, Alabama, Texas, LSU and many other schools renowned for their football programs. UCLA receives more student applications than any university in America.
“That’s nice, and I’m sure they’re prouder of that than anything the football team could accomplish. “I know when you bring up athletics, they hang their hat on the fact that UCLA has won more NCAA titles than any other school. Now I’m not going to put down water polo, or volleyball, but many of those titles came in those sports.”

Dummit says UCLA simply isn’t willing to spend the money needed to lure quality assistants to Westwood, and it’s his feeling that there are some on Neuheisel’s staff who wouldn’t be there if this wasn’t the case.

This is not a complaint that the adminstration’s high academics tandards for recruits is the problem. Instead, he (correctly IMHO) identifies the problem: the culture at UCLA does not value football highly enough to do what is necessary to make UCLA a contender for a title. High academic standards is an aspect of the culture, but he does not claim that the standards are the reason or even a reason for UCLA’s continued suckitude. I think he somewhat off-base complaining about the need for quality assistants when we have at least one, but he is absolutely, 100% correct in general regarding the pay for coaches at UCLA. We aren’t paying Neuheisel very much, and in college football, as in life, you generally get what you pay for. We pay big $ to Howland, and although we’ve been down the past two years, its pretty tough to do better than he has. We pay for a coaching retread, we get mediocre (or worse) results. If the adminstration was as heavily invested in creating and maintaining a highly successful football program, we would go out and pay top dollar for a head coach and assistants, not to mention at least make our eligibility requirements the equivalent of Cal.

ucla just stinks at football. Sure they will have an up season here or there, but let’s be honest. ucla sucks.