I was just listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio and he was Killing us! Just KILLING UCLA! What’s worse: NOT a single word that he uttered was incorrect. He said that UCLA lies when its AD says that it’s committed to football. He said that UCLA is a liberal school that will never pay the assistants. The key is the assistants, and paying them.

He then said something that was scary. HE said that Chris Peterson of Boise STate makes $850,000. YEs, that’s right, 850 !! KD makes A million. The point Colin was making was that UCLA would only pay Peterson about 100,000 more, but since he would be living in a more expensive city, it would all be a wash. HE added that the assistants would be the ones to suffer, as UCLA has never paid for real assistants. THey wouldn’t be able to live out here only making 60K per year. He’s right.

Someone else called and added that Peterson makes about $250,000 of his salary from the school, but that boosters, corporations, etc., cover the rest. That’s what we’re going to have to do. We’re going to have pay a coach 1.5 million and we’re going to have to raise the assistants’ paychex by about 70K

Given the perspective Don Morrison offered us, there’s no FUCKING way that UCLA is going to go for this. I’m so distraught right now. Honestly, my spirits are down after hearing this upsetting news.

You have covered all the points, DD.

I found a typo in the following line:

“Our experience also shows us that our greatest successes at UCLA in both sports have come when he hired proven, winning, experienced head coaches (Wooden, Sanders, Prothro, Rodgers, Brown, Harrick and Howland).”

Replace “he” with “we”… let’s look like professionals, not amateurs.

way to long __ get to the point __ this is not about football __ any facet of this university , should be operated at a competent level __ therefore whether it is the medical school or the ping-pong team , competence is expected demanded and shall be up held ___ dorrell has failed on every level ( eric scott negativity) __ dorrell does not have the character or self-respect to admit the truth and step down __ therefor the sake of the entire university, dorrell has to be forced out

Paragraph #1:
“..For the last 2 decades UCLA football fans have experienced very few seasons that we can be proud of.”

“..Our successes at UCLA in the 2 major college sports, football and basketball, show us..”

DD -

You might want to reword this; the phrases above seem to contradict each other. How can we have very few seasons we can be proud of and have successes in football. I know, I know, I am probably slicing the baloney too thin here and I know what you mean; it’s just that you want the message to be absolutely perfect lest the detractors tear those in our camp apart.

..otherwise, good job!

“..He then said something that was scary. HE said that Chris Peterson of Boise STate makes $850,000. Yes, that’s right, 850 !! KD makes A million..”

I am not sure about this; There is a .pdf file copy of Dorrell’s 2003 contract and the 2006 updates. It is not a clear copy and I have not deciphered it in its entirety (hey, I got a day job, guys) but it appears that a lot of this money is in the form of bonuses – many of them tied to PAC-10 championships and bowl appearances.

Clearly, Dorrell is overpaid on the basis of ability and results but he may not be receiving as much as one thinks.

..any authoritative sources to the contrary (or a clearer version of that .pdf file) most welcome.

“For the last 2 decades UCLA football fans have experienced very few seasons that we can be proud of. We have hired 2 successive coaches with no head coaching experience and with little significant assistant coaching experience. The results are predictable and clear - we are a mediocre program run by mediocre coaches.”

I don’t know if that’s a good way to start it, because ALTHOUGH IT IS LOGICALLY CORRECT, it FEELS almost insulting. Which it should be, I know, but it is hard to garner support that way.

Also, if you say “with little significant assistant coaching experience”, that makes DeWayne Walker seem like a good candidate because he might be thought to have significant assistant coaching experience by some of his supporters. This is not a message you want to convey.

I agree. Way too long. Most would stop reading after the 1st paragraph.

btw, Peterson makes $1.2M/yr.

correction: you were right, his base salary is $850K. He can make more with incentives.

Yeah..may not fit…maybe replace most of the last paragraph with:

For a football program located in a city with some of the best weather in the country (Los Angeles), that plays in one of the best stadiums in the country (Rose Bowl), and is part of the most successful sports program in the country (100 National Championshis), UCLA football has not delivered the results that should reasonably be expected in such an environment. We urge you to make the right choice for our football program and athletic department - make a Commitment to Excellence. Replace Karl Dorrell with a proven, winning, experienced head coach.

When is it going to get printed? I’d think ideally it should be right before the game, or right after the game.

Whenever it gets printed, I think we’ll need to the synchronize our posts for people who are coming to this website after reading the letter. We’ll need to make posts that further explain and go into detail some of the points made in the letter.

dana has a good point. It would be good to show a bit of professionalism, so try to reduce the insulting posts after the ad runs.

Dana and Diego, you both raise good points. Someone emailed us with an entire outline of “next steps” as well. Right now we are focusing on the ad, but once we get that in we will focus on the aftermath.

Can you believe Bob Toledo is the best coach UCLA for the past 15 years? We hated Toledo then, but looking back, he’s the only UCLA coach to defeat USC 7 years straight! Dorrell has not even come close to beating SC in consecutive years. Terry Donahue never even accomplished that feat, especially in is final years in which he didn’t even care. This is sad that we look back nostalgically at the Toledo years. Please hire Neuheisal or someone with a history of winning!

actually, we beat USC 8 years in-a-row. Toledo wasn’t necessarily good, but his teams were fun offensively. We were able to keep recruiting talented players, and that kept us competitive, but his lack of instituional savvy cost us dearly, and squandered our talent.