UCLA's Dorrell has been fired.

by Joe Trojan on Dec 3, 2007 2:56 PM PST Comment 12 comments

Bumped...We will obviously be interested in who ucla picks as their next head coach. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter as SC needs to stay on message and focus on their own thing. I may have some thoughts in a few days as I already have a post in the can ready to go but I will more interested in some of the fall out. Dorrell is only part of the story, recruits other coaches and the like will all be in play as things progress. It will be fun to watch. - Paragon

UCLA told head coach Karl Dorrell on Monday that he has been fired, a source close to the coach told ESPN's Joe Schad. Dorrell's buyout will pay just over $2 million.

This taken from the LA times with a statement from athletics director Dan Guerrero:

Dorrell out as UCLA coach

By Chris Foster, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
11:41 AM PST, December 3, 2007

Karl Dorrell's tenure as UCLA's football coach came to an end today with the announcement that ended weeks of speculation about the coach's future.

"This was a very difficult decision for me," UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said in a statement. "Karl has represented this program with dignity and class. He is a true Bruin and I respect what he has accomplished in his five years as our head coach, particularly off the field. But, at the end of the day, the focus has to be on results and I felt that a change was in the best interest for the future of our program."

A news conference at UCLA was called for early this afternoon.

Boise State's Chris Petersen, Texas Tech's Mike Leach and former NFL coach Steve Mariucci have already been contacted by representatives on behalf of the athletic department. DeWayne Walker will be the Bruins' interim coach for the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22.

Petersen, sources said, is Guerrero's top choice, but Mariucci and Leach are equally strong candidates. Mariucci also comes with less red tape, as both Petersen and Leach are under hefty, multiyear contracts that would have to be bought out. Walker, whom Washington State has contacted for its head coach opening, will also get some consideration. A source familiar with the athletic department said that Bruins officials will try to retain Walker, the lynchpin in recruiting efforts, no matter who is hired as head coach.

Edited for length.

UPDATE: From Dohn’s Blog

Let the games begin…

(Emphasis mine)

Head coaching experience a must?

Karl Dorrell didn't have any head coaching experience when UCLA hired him five years ago. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker would be a candidate, but he doesn't have head coaching experience either. In Dan Guerrero's press conference today, he said head coaching experience was ''pretty important''.

But he also said: ``You never say never.'' Certainly doesn't sound good for Walker, who's a candidate for the Washington State opening.

What do you think? Does UCLA need a coach with head coaching experience?

By the way, Boise State's Chris Petersen said today that he's not interested in the UCLA opening.

He’s interested, don’t be fooled.

Update II: here is a link to Peterson saying he is not interested in the ucla job. Reading a transcript is one thing seeing him say it is quite another. We’ll see…

Poll

Who do you think will be the next coach for UCLA?

Chris Petersen, Boise State

11 votes

Mike Leach, Texas Tech

5 votes

Steve Mariucci, former NFL coach

10 votes

DeWayne Walker

3 votes

Who Cares!!

3 votes

32 votes | Poll has closed

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Conquest Chronicles' writers or editors.

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Comments

And there was much rejoicing

Dorrell was a good Bruin and a generally good guy, except for the recent race card imbroglio, but he was in over his head from the first and totally outclassed by Carroll & Co., which made his failures even more obvious. He should have paid his dues at a small school or as a coordinator for a program (NFL or college) where he had real responsibilities. In any event, I hope that the new HC will be able to make UCLA a top-tier program and competitive in the cross-town rivalry as it used to be.

by ucladj89 on Dec 3, 2007 12:37 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Good luck in the search

Do you guys think you have a shot at Chris Petersen? I read somewhere that he wasn't interested in coaching ucla. I think Mariucci would be a mistake. I know that Walker isn't a fan favorite to take over the head coaching duties, but will he be retained if he doesn't get the HC job.

by frak on Dec 3, 2007 1:21 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Interesting take...

it is obvious that he was not qualified for the position based on his body of work. but obviously someone thought he was qualified and so he was offered the job...and he rightly took it.

Who are we to say who is qualified or who isn't if we haven't walked in those shoes and without seeing their body of work.

You have to reach for the brass ring when you have the opportunity because you may not get that chance again.

Regardless of whether or not he succeeded the experience is invaluable and it will ultimately help KD in the end.

did he drag ucla's "football image" through the mud? yes he did. but it is sanctimonious for some to say he should "do the right thing" for the sake of the program and step down. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't ask any of us to do that after jumping at the chance to do the job of a life time.

but that's just me

by Paragon SC on Dec 3, 2007 1:50 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Disagree

I don't know about your take here. I have seen enough and heard enough about Dorrell's hire that it is hard to conclude that he was hired for anything other than his "potential" to grow, his color and his apparent reputation as a no-nonsense, clean guy able to restore order to the program which was an issue following several off-field matters. He did receive endorsements from Donahue and several others, but his experience was extremely limited: no HC experience at any level, he was the WR coach for the Broncos at the time he was hired and while he had been an OC previously at Washington IIRC, it was under Neuheisel who liked to call his own plays.

Bottom line was that this man was clearly unqualified to take the reins of a major college football program (please leave your snarky comments for later:-) It was a gamble and the rest of the pool of candidates was not terribly appealing (Mike Riley was the other finalist.) By all accounts, it was a selection made over the AD's head by the then-chancellor Carnesale (an Ivy League boob with no comprehension of the significance of college football) who was impressed by Dorrell's appearance and interview, if you can believe that.

As for taking the chance when it comes your way, I'm of two minds. In the immortal words of Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations." I have been offered jobs where I felt that I was not up to the task for any number of reasons, and have said no to the deal, and things have worked out pretty well. So I knock Dorrell for not seeing that maybe he should try running a program or even being an OC where he was actively calling the plays before going for broke as an HC at a major university. OTOH, your point may be more salient in this context-in sports/entertainment, one chance is all you may ever get, so perhaps he was justified in taking the chance. Either way, I don't condemn him too much for gambling on himself. But he really should never have been hired as the HC in the first place.

While it would have been nice to see him display some level of self-awareness regarding his not-so-mad coaching skilz and resign after the USC loss, I certainly don't condemn him for not doing so, since seemingly nobody outside of Victorian novels would do such a thing, especially in sports/entertainment.

by ucladj89 on Dec 3, 2007 3:35 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That's cool...

I agree with most of what you say here and your sports/ent. clarification helps me make my point.

This isn't law or medicine where peoples lives are at stake. This was Dorrell's dream job... it was offered to him, he jumped at it.

Like I said, we couldn't possibly know what was in his head and I would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. That chance only comes once in a lifetime. Love the Dirty Harry line! But as Clint Eastwood also said, "Tomorrow is promise to no one". He may have never got this chance again so I don't blame him for taking it.

Right or wrong, someone thought he was qualified enough to offer him the job so he took it. It's not like he lobbied for it.

BTW, I love how everyone across town is now "being Nice" to KD after he is out the door.

Jeez take a side will ya...Hillarious!

by Paragon SC on Dec 3, 2007 4:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Dorrell is a fine gentleman

Unfortunately, he was a terrible coach. I blame Canresale more than anyone else in using Dorrell as a prop in his efforts to show everyone how much better UCLA was than everyone else.

It's a shame that it came to this for Dorrell, if only because I think he could have grown up as a coach somewhere else and perhaps been better prepared were the opportunity to coach UCLA ever to open up in the future.

As it were, he was given the job way before he was ready, and he floundered. If I recall correctly, in his first game against Colorado, during the post-game press conference he mentioned that he was so flustered during the game that he didn't even know exactly where to stand. That pretty much says it all, I think.

One more closing note: I get a little tired of the 'lack of institutional control' and 'cleaning up the program after Toldeo' memes I often hear. It's not like Toldeo was running a west-coach branch of the U or anything. The big transgression was that some football players received handicapped placards from the DMV. OH NO! ALERT THE AUTHORITIES!

Yes, it's not smart, but Good Lord, let's keep it in perspective.

by CAJason80 on Dec 3, 2007 4:07 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

We don't bring that up here...

to me its nonsense, these are 18-22 y/o's that do dumb things. it happens to a lot of programs. but with a "published list of SC trangressions" circulating over there you can see why some SC fans will bring it up.

its out of frustration because ucla was not performing where some thought they should and SC was skyrocketing getting all the good pub.

issues yes, lack of control no.

by Paragon SC on Dec 3, 2007 4:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

One quibble

I got into quite a dispute over at BN about what exactly Toledo's transgressions were and the extent of the clean-up necessary following his termination. For the record, since I assume you didn't read the thread, I never claimed that the program was the Miami of the West under Evil Bob Toledo and Dorrell came in like Mr. Clean and made everything sweetness and light. However, there were multiple off-field incidents and issues that embarrased the adminstration and part of the reason Toledo was canned was the perception that he ran a lax program (not a dirty program-big difference.)

I think that keeping a program clean is part of the job description for an HC, so its not as if Dorrell did anything special when he took the reins. But there is no question that UCLA has had very few off-field issues compared to the Toledo years, and for that, Dorrell does deserve some credit.

by ucladj89 on Dec 3, 2007 5:05 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, no doubt

there are certainly fewer issues. That's commendable. I just got tired of having to listen to people defending Dorrell and talk of the Toledo era as if five people were arrested and convicted of murder on the football team during his reign.

A kid got in a bar fight, and they got some handicapped placards. Big freakin' deal. And the same thing for those folks who talk about SC's program as inherently dirty because someone gets in a bar fight. Again...wow, big deal.

Yeah, it's stupid, but to Paragon's point, these are 18-22 year old kids. They're going to do some stupid stuff (I know I sure as hell did in college).

by CAJason80 on Dec 3, 2007 5:11 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

One more note....

you want to look at someone trying to clean up a program, look no further than Randy Shannon at Miami. He's got a much harder road to plow than Dorrell ever did, and he's already made tremendous progress. Hopefully it starts to translate to the field for him.

by CAJason80 on Dec 3, 2007 5:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Only things that I know of

that Coach Toledo did was:

Handicapped parking scandal.
Desean Foster free car suspension
Cory Paus DUI x 2

There were some brawls that his players got into, but those 3 things were the major deals. Of all of those the handicapped scandal was probably the most embarrassing.

by frak on Dec 3, 2007 5:45 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Here's an excerpt from KD's list

-Remember Andrew Baumgartner? A kid who, as a walk on, earned his way into a scholarship during the 2005 season. Dorrell decides he needs another scholarship for his next recruiting class, revokes Baumgartner's scholarship and notifies him via letter. -Jim Svoboda, the offensive coordinator for the 2006 season, is fired via text messaging. -With his job on the line for the USC game, Dorrell can either play the healthy quarterback Osaar Rashaan, OR he can play the quarterback who has recently injured his hamstring, knee, and has suffered a punctured lung within the past couple of weeks. Well, that guy won last time, so let's just put him in and if he gets hurt again so be it. Cowan, of course, gets hurt again. Does he go to the healthy Rashaan? No, he goes to the also injured Ben Olson. -After the game, he calls out players individually to the media in particular names one of the hardest working members of the team in Christian Taylor. But you know, he had "the call on" just like he always has.

by Joe Trojan on Dec 3, 2007 6:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs