UCLA Football Beat Press: Dorrell On The Hot Seat, Must Deliver

On the occasion of the opening of Training Camp, the beat press has come out with their UCLA football preview articles … and surprisingly the message is getting out there folks: Dorrell is on the hot seat and he must deliver this year. No excuses. Incredible. Less than a year ago, after the shocking victory over title game bound SuC, the beat press and main stream media were lauding the great Karl Dorrell and his coaching prowess, keen as they were to shed that “in over his head” image they all finally admitted they had of him until December 2. He had “turned the corner” finally, they said. Never mind that he turned around and got blown out by an average FSU team in the Nut Bowl, Dorrell had made his mark, was among the nations young elite and was now an obvious future NFL coach.

We, of course, didn’t buy that message as you all know. We kept pushing the facts of Dorrell’s mediocre tenure despite the irrational exuberance following the SuC victory and we are satisfied to see that our efforts, and the efforts of countless others, are finally paying off. With the story lines being printed recently and today Dorrell will not be able to hide behind all the excuses he pulls out every year: bad assistant coaches, lowered expectations, growing and learning, new systems, 3 game seasons, injuries, etc. etc. etc. This year, as all the beat press is pointing out, Dorrell has everything in place to succeed. If he doesn’t, he is solely to blame. Nice.

To prove our point, here it is in print, Chris Foster LA Times:

That leaves no tolerance among Bruins fans for another 7-6 season. The Bruins faithful have a bare minimum of expectations: double-digit victories and a bowl date that does not come with a trip to Fort Worth, Las Vegas, San Francisco or El Paso. Oh yeah, and beat USC again.

True Dat! There’s more, Brian Dohn Daily News:

Norvell, who opens his first UCLA training camp today,was brought in as offensive coordinator to provide structure and direction to an underachieving offense that averaged 23 points and ranked 71st in the nation in total offense (330.1 yards per game) last season.

Along with that pressure comes the underlying current that the offense must succeed this season for the Bruins to challenge for the Pacific-10 Conference title, and cool the heated embers now burning under Dorrell’s seat.

Nice! Robert Kuwada of the OC Register, adds more facts to the sad image our football team has become during the Dorrell era:

And it is emblematic of the Bruins the past four seasons. The loss to the Seminoles marked the 10th time under Coach Karl Dorrell that UCLA has lost a game it was favored to win.

That is more losses as a favorite than any other team in the Pac-10 in four seasons. That is more than all but three of the 65 teams from the six BCS conferences.

And even the players are supporting our position that UCLA Football has been a joke under Karl Dorrell. DE Bruce Davis:

“We’re too good of a football team to be really a joke sometimes,” Davis said. “For us to beat USC and then come back and lose to Florida State … I mean, we had everybody in the country going, ‘OK, UCLA might be serious.’ Then it was like, ‘Oh, wait, no they’re not.’

We could not agree more. So there you have it. The beat press, even players, have set expectations for this season that are loud and clear. They have defined Dorrell’s tenure as inconsistent, mediocre, bad, and even a joke. Those are their words. So this is not a DumpDorrell vendetta … this is widely held conventional wisdom, drawn from a large body of work that is based on facts. No Excuses. Go Bruins!!

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