Dorrell Out As Head Coach Of Ucla

NT80 · December 3, 2007

Dorrell out as head coach of UCLA

Associated Press,

UCLA coach Karl Dorrell was fired Monday, a day after the Bruins accepted a bowl bid and two days after a loss to cross-town rival Southern California.

Dorrell was let go despite leading the Bruins to a postseason game in each of his five seasons at UCLA, which had an outside chance to reach the Rose Bowl before its 24-7 defeat by USC over the weekend.

The 43-year-old Dorrell, a former UCLA player who previously had not held a head coaching job, had a 35-27 record.

The Bruins (6-6) will play BYU (10-2) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22. UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said Dorrell will decide whether he wants to coach that game and, if not, defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker will serve as interim coach.

"I hired Karl five years ago in the hopes that this program would grow and prosper under his leadership," Guerrero said at a news conference. "In many ways, it did.

"But after an analysis of the five-year tenure at the helm, and my discussions with him through the season, my discussions with him even yesterday, I felt it was important for us and this program to move forward."

UCLA had some off-the-field problems when Dorrell took over, and he essentially cleaned up the program. But that success wasn't reflected in the Bruins' won-loss record.

"Certainly the issues of injuries came into play this year," Guerrero said, alluding to a string of injuries to quarterbacks and others. "But the concerns that have plagued us just in a general sense over this period primarily relate to inconsistent play.

"In my mind, it created a scenario that I felt needed to be changed."

Dorrell's teams had a knack for losing games they should have won, including this year's stunning 44-6 defeat by Utah and a 20-6 loss to Notre Dame.

Guerrero said one reason Dorrell was hired was to "build this program into a consistent winner, a program that would be in the national discussion on a regular basis."

While UCLA flirted with national prominence several times with Dorrell at the helm, the Bruins always seemed to stumble into one of their mysterious losses.

That inconsistency, Guerrero said, was a factor in his decision to let Dorrell go.

Dorrell's firing leaves five black coaches at 119 major college programs.

Talk of Dorrell's ouster has been building all year. If the Bruins had made it to the Rose Bowl, it would have been the first time a team with five losses had played in Pasadena.

Boise State's Chris Petersen, Texas Tech's Mike Leach and former NFL coach Steve Mariucci reportedly have been contacted by UCLA about the job, but Guerrero said that wasn't the case.

StealthEagle84 · December 4, 2007

Bring back DeLoach!!!!!!!!!!!!

ntsumck · December 4, 2007

I second that!!!

STE · December 4, 2007

I think this is potentially bad for us in the long run.

The rumor mill has Leach from Texas Tech going to UCLA. He was making 1.6 million at TT.

If he leaves that puts enormous pressure on TT to find a good replacement. That means that they will likely have spend more than 1.6 million since Baylor is now at 1.8 million and there would then be 3 openings in the state (TT, SMU and UH)

Likewise, Houston will probably have to increase its package to over million to find a good replacement for Broyles since SMU is offering 1.5 million for its new coach. Having said that, it also wouldn’t surprise me if SMU has to offer more than 1.5 million for their coach. There are fans right now at Ponyfans.com calling for a bidding war with George Tech for Paul Johnson.

This all has a trickle down effect and will eventually work its way down to us.

Get ready.

Dodge2007 · December 4, 2007

Would Dodge be gone if he went 6 and 6 and if the Defense would have been at the top of its game?

STE · December 4, 2007

Would Dodge be gone if he went 6 and 6 and if the Defense would have been at the top of its game?

SMU would have had to have taken a look at him had he had gone 6-6 .

And with SMU offering 1 mill plus and UNT offering 300K I think we all know what would happen.

Dodge would go to SMU and Mendoza would become our new head coach (that would be our luck)

MeanGreenBuzz · December 4, 2007

Peterson has only been at Boise for 2 years. How are they sure that his W-L record isn't just a result of Hawkins good recruiting? and yeah PLEASE bring back DeLoach. We are probably not going to get another shot at him for a couple years. Hell if nothing else making him and Mendoza Co-Defensive Coordinators. I'm sure we have someone out there that loves DeLoach enough (or just hates Mendoza that much) to donate the money for that.

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 4, 2007

It is good to see that some of you still know how to Dream, because that is as close to UNT as DeLoach will get - TD has stated multiple times, there will be no changes with this staff.

FirefightnRick · December 4, 2007

It is good to see that some of you still know how to Dream, because that is as close to UNT as DeLoach will get - TD has stated multiple times, there will be no changes with this staff.

But he did allude to the fact that they "tweaked" the defense at times. I would be curious as to what that meant. As I stated several weeks ago now that I saw a much more improved defense during the ASU and WKY games, especially the ASU game. So this may be what he meant, that they did some changes like when he added a tightend(Victor Gill) to the offense on certain situations.

Thoughts?

Rick

GoMeanGreen1999 · December 4, 2007

But he did allude to the fact that they "tweaked" the defense at times. I would be curious as to what that meant. As I stated several weeks ago now that I saw a much more improved defense during the ASU and WKY games, especially the ASU game. So this may be what he meant, that they did some changes like when he added a tightend(Victor Gill) to the offense on certain situations.
Thoughts?
Rick

You know, I don't know, it did look as if the defense played a slight bit better in those two games, but then FIU game was a disaster. The fact that they scored so many points when they had the nations worst offense really makes the ASU and WKU games null and void. Some mentioned the Lousiville situation earlier today, there is not a BCS school that is serious about their football team, that would look at their defense (if they had the results like we had) and not make some changes.

NT80 · December 4, 2007

You know, I don't know, it did look as if the defense played a slight bit better in those two games, but then FIU game was a disaster. The fact that they scored so many points when they had the nations worst offense really makes the ASU and WKU games null and void. Some mentioned the Lousiville situation earlier today, there is not a BCS school that is serious about their football team, that would look at their defense (if they had the results like we had) and not make some changes.

The hint of any changes from the ASU and WKU games were voided after the FIU fiasco.

So, next year we're adding about 6 redshirt freshman on defense, taking away about 6 seniors on defense, carrying over the same DC = 5 more wins? I don't understand new math. :blink:

Edited December 5, 2007 by NT80

greenminer · December 5, 2007

The hint of any changes from the ASU and WKU games were voided after the FIU fiasco.
So, next year we're adding about 6 redshirt freshman on defense, taking away about 6 seniors on defense, carrying over the same DC = 5 more wins? I don't understand new math.

Or disguised by an utter collapse in pouring rain.

I'm not saying, I'm just hoping lol

Did anyone here actually witness the FIU game?

Edited December 5, 2007 by greenminer