The Dan Guerrero Watch: Simers & Roggin Interview Transcript

There has been much talk on the boards about Dan Guerrero’s extended interview with Simers and Roggin on AM 570 early this morning.  As with DG’s recent comments to the press, we think he leaves his options open.  The Dorrell apologists have things to be happy about with this interview, however.  Yet so do the loyal Bruin fans who want a new coach who can make the football program mean something again.  Below is a near full transcript of the interview, which lasted nearly 12 minutes. What is left out is some discussion about Notre Dame, Pom Pom Pete and Karl Dorrell’s ‘growth.’

Our take is this: DG gave a great defense of Karl Dorrell’s achievements, but he also noted his shortcomings.  Most importantly, DG did not specifically state that Karl Dorrell is ’safe this year,’ as some on the internet have reported.  Here is one of the most talked about parts of the interview, judge for yourself:

Simers: So its fair to say though that Karl Dorrell is not in trouble this year in any way, shape or form? Down the road, its like every program you would expect more consistent results.

DG: Absolutely.

Simers: That’s a fair description?

DG: You bet.

As you can see, when Simers asks DG (in the 11th minute) if Karl is ’safe this year,’ Simers blows the question.  It’s hard to believe Simers blew it because you can tell throughout the interview he was dying to get a commitment from DG on the air. But Simers did not stop talking after asking DG the all important question.  Simers added that statement about consistency THEN waited for DG’s response.  The response by DG, “absolutely,” can be interpreted to mean DG was agreeing with the statement about consistency Simers made, not the question of KD’s being safe.  Simers did not catch the potential confusion, and DG did not make any effort to clarify anything.  It’s all at the end of this transcript. Judge for yourself.  One could also make the claim that ‘this year’ refers to only 2006 and not next year. Plenty of ambiguity there.

Another important point about DG’s interview: DG had many opportunities during this interview to state clearly and unequivocably that Karl Dorrell is going to be UCLA’s football coach next season and he clearly did not.  He hedged many times purposefully, and he hedged well. So the only thing we can still say for certain is that DG has left his options open. Which means, of course, that KD may still be fired at the end of the season. 

Transcript of Dan Guerrero Interview with Simers & Roggin, 12/1/06 

Rogin: A couple of weeks ago you made a statement. It was in the paper about KD and basically there were 4 games left to right this ship. I think some could have interpreted that as “he better get this done!” Is that what you meant?

DG: Well we made an investment in Karl and certainly there are expectations and things of that nature.  There was a lot asked of him at the time that we made that hire. And he’s come through with a lot of things. The one thing we need to do obviously is to win on a consistent basis, and certainly we won last year and had a great year. This year we knew going into the season that it would be a tough one for us. Tough road schedule, young quarterbacks that we had to break in and all those kind of things. And you know we make a first down or make a tackle in that Notre Dame game and it might change the complexion of the season somewhat.

But you know Karl and the guys have really battled back and finished the last two games relatively strong and now we get the chance to play the #1 or #2 team in the nation, again, and its a good opportunity for us.

Simers: Do you think he mishandled the Notre Dame game?

DG: No

Simers: This is TJ by the way.

DG. No we beat them for 59 minutes. You know you can always speculate whether you should pass on the last down or whatever. But you know the situation is TJ we had Notre Dame 80 yards away from their goal with our best side of the team on the field. They had no timeouts. We wanted to keep those guys in front of us. and you know we just didnt make a tackle on the last play.

Simers: And I agree with all that. Talk about speculation. Im just curious where your head is. Do you think they should have thrown on that last series?

DG: No

Simers: Good I just wanted to make sure you know your football (everyone laughs).

Miss Simers: Dan, how much does the alumni viewpoints of Dorrell and the other coaches make an impact on your decision making.

DG: Well you always have to keep your pulse on what’s going on out there. I mean there’s no question about that. But you know the bottom line is you have to be able to ascertain where you are with your program, what strides you’ve made. Because you know what’s going on in the infrastructure of your program. You know what the issues are, you know what the concerns are. And you have to evaluate whether the progress that you are making is the right kind of the progress over the right period of time.

……………….

DG (on Notre Dame loss) When you’re sitting in my seat, when you lose on Saturday you are going to hear it no matter what. And whether its Notre Dame or any other team, that’s just the nature of the business. And that’s just the nature of the expectation. And I think thats great. Thats what’s wonderful about our programs here in Los Angeles, is that the fan base expects a very high caliber product. And by and large we’re able to deliver that pretty much across the board. And obviously when you dont win to the level that everyone desires, well you’re going to hear that. So its always about evaluating, reassessing, making adjustments and doing what you need to do to get better.

Roggin: If we can tie this part of it up with a nice little bow Dan. You’re pleased, everything is fine? Is it safe to say that given what you’re saying here.?

DG: Well be specific. Im pleased in general?

Roggin: With the performance of Karl, with the direction of the football program. You’re pleased?

DG: I think there’s an excellent foundation in place Fred. When you look at what we had when he came in, and what we needed to be fixed, if you will. A lot of those things are in place. So he’s done a lot of the things we’ve asked for him to do. Now the next step obviously is to have the progress that we want on the field. Which is when its all said and done thats the most important thing. And you know we saw glimpses of that last year. You know the tough thing for us has been able to put a team out there thats had a great defense and a great offense all at the same time. I mean if you look at the 4 years here, weve had a great offense one year and we’ve struggled on defense. We’ve had a great defense one year and we’ve struggled on offense. Its about doing it on both sides of the field. And I think we have a chance to do that.

Simers: Alright, but if you’re looking right now, you’re at 6-5 Emerald Bowl. Does that meet your expectations for this season? As you said, you knew this was going to be a tough year. Is he on course or do you end this year going hmmm, we better get a lot more out of this next year?

DG: No, our expectations are always high TJ. You know this isn’t the place for me to say is he’s on course or he’s not on course. I like what Karl has done for our program. He has developed relationships from a recruiting standpoint in places where we hadn’t done in a long time. He’s brought in the right kinds of kids into our program that can make it academically at UCLA. He’s brought in good character kids. He’s represented the university well. I mean all those are the kinds of things that we needed to put in place. And he’s done that. We had one good season. 1 out of 4, if you will, based on what our standards are. And obviously that’s the next step for us. And we need to make certain that we continue to move in that direction so that we can be the kind of national caliber program we think we are.

——————

Simers: Hey you got the number 1 basketball team in the country.

DG: Right

Simers: So one of the questions there is with the Galen Center. When are you going to do something with Pauley Pavilion?

DG: Well we’ve been in the process of doing things for quite a while now. In fact, we have a select committee of individuals that are out raising money in whats called a “quiet phase” and we’re going to continue to raise dollars probably up until the fall and then we’ll launch the public phase for the project.

Simers: What is the project? Are you just going to remodel, or are you going gut it?

DG: Yeah, it will be a renovation of the facility. We’ve done a lot of focus group work and things of that nature with our constituent base, with our fan base. And to demolish Pauley Pavillion is not what most people would like to see. So we’re not going to do that. We’re going to give it a great facelift and make it look like a new facility, but its still going to be Pauley Pavillion and that’s important to many of the folks associated with UCLA.

——————

Simers: Now I find Karl Dorrell of course fascinating. Because, first of all, you were wrong. You hired the guy and he was in way over his head from the very beginning. Ok. Would you agree with me on that?

DG (over Simers): That doesn’t make me wrong.

Simers: Didn’t you blow it when you hired him? Would that be fair to at least say that?

DG: No no no, not at all.

Simers: You’re not going to agree with me on that?

DG: No

Simers: He was clearly in over his head when you hired him? Would you agree with me on that?

DG: No, Im not going to say it was over his head. What Im going to say is that we knew there was going to be a transition as we moved forward with the program, but not over his head.

Simers: So that’s like higher education talk that there was going to be a transition.

DG: Well no that’s TJ Simers talk.

Roggin: There would be a maturation period. There would be growth.

DG: There you go. Thank you Fred.

Roggin: My pleasure Dan.

DG: I knew you were there for something for crying out loud.

Roggin: Thank you.

Simers: And he has grown on the job.

DG: Absolutely

————-

Simers: You say get a coach (unintelligible) you know you judge him on how he’s getting his players to play at an optimum level. Has he done that this year do you think?

DG: Well, we’ve had moments.

Simers: Moments?

DG (over Simers): Thats the issue. The issue is in every great program in order to win you have to be clicking on all cylinders pretty much at all times. And we haven’t done that in every respect. And we knew that was going to happen. We had 2 quarterbacks that have never really played before … and as you well know, its like your starting pitcher man. You’ve got to have somebody that you’re #1 picher is going to go out there and throw strikes. And the team knows that when that person takes the field you have a good chance to win. And sometimes that takes time when you develop a new quarterback. And thats a critical position.

Simers: So its fair to say though that Karl Dorrell is not in trouble this year in any way, shape or form? Down the road, its like every program you would expect more consistent results.

DG: Absolutely.

Simers: That’s a fair description?

DG: You bet.