December 16, 2007
Reports On Big Recruiting Weekend
The initial reports of the big recruiting weekend, when 18 or 19 of our commits made their official visits, contain the usual story lines. Some recruits are saying they will stay committed if Walker stays, and some recruits are saying they are committed to UCLA, not the coach. There is more Walker hyping too. We won't get too much into the recruit story here because that talk has been around for some time.
What we want to highlight are the quotes from current players, Chris Foster LAT reporting:
"I tell [the recruits] it's about the institution more than anything else," defensive end Bruce Davis said. "This is UCLA. There is going to be a good coach coming in."
It's been a while since Bruce Davis had given a good quote. We know he has been pimping Walker too so we hope he refrained from doing that this weekend. Chris Joseph also had a nice quote:
"If you like the school, if you like the guys you're coming in with, then come here," senior center Chris Joseph said. " . . . Don't come for the coaches. Coaches come and go. I have had four offensive line coaches here."
True dat. Nick Crissman, QB recruit from Huntington Beach, was shadowed by Chris Joseph Saturday and Chris said Nick is "committed to the University." Nice. That's the way it should be. But a good coaching hire, and a good coach, can bring in recruits, as we all know well.
Ok, we will point out one thing about the LAT article. We have talked enough about the Walker camp bunk that our football program's future depends on this one recruiting class and that without Walker we will lose it. Chris Foster reports this bunk almost as fact …
Many recruits already think there is (a good coach) in place. Interim head Coach DeWayne Walker, who has been interviewed for the job, was responsible for a good portion of what is expected to be a talented recruiting class. His presence is a big reason that a mass exodus has not occurred.
Do we really know this to be true?? It's impossible to know because Walker is still on staff. Foster has gone on record as saying he thinks Walker should be the next head coach. Might this be a little biased reporting here? With Doh!n, Foster here, Kuwada and his sidekick at the OCR we won't name, Simers and Streeter, we can't get a fair and balanced report on our football team. We have long witnessed the national press report more fairly than our very own local press. Oh well, it's too nice of a day to get worked up over another Hire Walker piece. We'll get to more later …
23 Comments on Reports On Big Recruiting Weekend
December 16, 2007
Scott Bilo @ 2:34 pm:
It seems that according to the Sporting News, Jim Harbaugh has been contacted by the firm, and it is figured he could and would interview for the job early in the week. This is AWESOME!!!!! I wanted UCLA to fire Dorrell last year so that they could hire him away from San Diego, where he turned that program from a doormat to a 1-AA power quickly.If Walker left, he wuold most certainly bring his brother John, who was on the candidate list, as DC if Walker left. His father, Jack, who is also a coaching legend, would be brought on as an advisor, much like he was at USD.
He brings energy and passion, and would be every bit as marketable as Pom Pom Pete, not to mention that with full backing and success, we could have him for years due to his age. He would bring energy and stability, along with passion and success, which is exaclt what we need after the ho-hum last couple of decades.
Get on board people….this is a great deal if it happens!!!
JRBruin @ 3:09 pm:
I’m pretty sure the article was wrong. I saw that earlier and now that I’m looking for it I can’t find it anymore.
Interviewing John Harbaugh makes absolutely no sense, hiring him does not show a commitment to turning this mediocrity around.
RISE UP @ 3:20 pm:
Hey Scott, checked out that sporting news report.It said that John Harbaugh was interviewed .Did you see something different ?
jeff @ 4:56 pm:
what I read was in reference to John Harbaugh,but I think his brother Jim,should be interviewed! I like his attitude an willingness to get under Carroll and the pac 10 coaches skin! we need a coach like him!
SameoldUCLA @ 5:12 pm:
It seems clear to me that DG’s plan all along has been to steer the process toward hiring Walker as Head Coach. He was hoping that WSU would elevate his status with an interview. Now, he is hoping for a blowout win in the Las Vegas Bowl which will probably cement the slection of Walker while a defeat wouldn’t be fatal. If we lose, then stall the selection process until it becomes necessary to select DW to “keep the recruits” and give him an “Interim Head Coach” position with a one-year contract. The backup plan would be to give Chow his “early retirement and relocation to southern California” package for a couple of years, with Walker as sidekick ready to take over. Every UCLA head coach over the last 30 years has come from the former player or Bruin assistant ranks. I don’t think there ever has been a serious nationwide search for Head football coach here and I think the talk of it now is just a smokescreen. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not optimistic.
Fred @ 6:28 pm:
The recruiting game is insanely competitive. Without leadership in place, you will absolutely loose recruits!
Not wanting Walker as the next HC is one thing, but clearly his presence plays a key role in keeping this recruiting class in tact.
Anyone who thinks a school will keep recruits based on a university’s reputation should look at all the blue chippers Notre Dame loss when the George O’Leary hiring fell apart. With all the confusion and coaches turning down the job, many of the recruits they coveted went elsewhere. By the time they hired Willingham, they’d lost too much ground.
I’m sure Walker realizes he’s probably setting the table for someone else, but give the guy credit for what he’s doing on the recruiting front.
Scott Bilo @ 7:48 pm:
John Harbaugh interviewed as well as the fact that the search firm has contacted Jim Harbaugh. It is being said that Jim Harbaugh would talk to DG sometime in the next couple of days.
JRBruin @ 8:22 pm:
Can you link to that article about Jim Harbaugh? The sportingnews coaching update only mentions John.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=319291
JRBruin @ 8:36 pm:
Scott, on bruinsnation they saw the same misprint that you and I did. It’s been retracted. No Jim Harbaugh, only John.
Apparently, the reporter thought the same as I did. It’s ludicrous that we would contact a no-name like John Harbaugh for this position. He must have heard wrong, they must have meant Jim Harbaugh.
ucla34 @ 11:36 pm:
at yahoo sports I just read that Jim Harbaugh was contacted by the search firm that Ucla hired! supposedly Harbaugh is interested in the job.
December 17, 2007
alx324 @ 8:22 am:
If Jim Harbaugh can breath life into a anemic Stanford squad, Imagine what he would do with the Bruin team that has more talent.
BruinBuddy @ 9:11 am:
What’s up with some of these commited recruits now saying they are going to wait and see who becomes the next head coach before they sign? Well thats their right and I say “don’t let the door hit you in the a$$ on your way out.”
The next head coach will likely be interested in some, but I am sure he may have some players in mind that he would rather have than some of them.
Maybe I am old fashioned, but I think you choose the school, not the coach. Very few of these players will ever be playing on Sundays, so take that out of the equation.
MEMO TO NEXT HEAD COACH: Start measuring the heart before you measure the high school stats.
BruinBuddy @ 9:23 am:
Jim Harbaugh isn’t going anywhere, soon that is. He will keep rebuilding Stanford the way he did the USD program and make them a winner first. I really like the guy and if you ever saw any of his USD teams play you would be amazed at what he does offensively. But he only has to worry about competing with Cal up there and he is going to take advantage of that and recruit better players that Cal until his system takes hold and they are a bowl competitive team. After that, who knows where jim may go. He likely will be able to call his own shot. If Nolan gets canned I could see him taking over that team, but thats it on any short term move for him.
Note to new HC: Look and see who Harbaugh s recruiting hard, because he has a great eye for talent.
Curly @ 9:26 am:
I can’t believe any of you would actually want a coach from the SEC!?! We do not play southern style football.
BruinBuddy @ 9:39 am:
Curly,
That’s obvious.
Tom @ 10:30 am:
Very True BruinBuddy…But it seems that this whole hiring process is turning into a damn political decision rather then a sound one. I say if any recruits don’t want to be a Bruin because the coach isn’t a certain race, rather then getting a coach that could make a team a contender then SCREW THEM!!! I’m just sick and tired that everything has to be about race!!! Boo hoo hoo! Everyone should just stop their bitching and stop playing the race card. That shit is getting old already. We should find a coach that will make us win Championships!!! That’s it, plain and simple.
Bruce Nagy @ 10:59 am:
I think Sameold UCLA is absolutely correct about the hiring process….if we beat BYU, I believe Walker will be the coach by next Monday. Bruinbuddy, I do believe any recruit has the absolute right to go anywhere they want and change their minds, but I don’t want to see UCLA held “hostage” by recruits saying if you don’t hire this guy (Walker), we’re going elsewhere. We all love POTENTIAL….love prospects, love the NFL draft. What I want for the Bruins is two-fold:
1. an offensive system that will ATTRACT top quality QB’s and 2. Recruiting classes that include 12-15 nasty BIG UGLIES that protect our QB, open holes for the RB’s and knock our opponents QB-RB’s on their asses at the Rose Bowl and — are you ready for this — ON THE ROAD TOO!!!!!!
Lifelong Bruin fan @ 11:16 am:
Even though Walker is being interviewed, I highly doubt he will be hired regardless of what UCLA does against BYU. Just my opinion though. If he his hired, there will be a lot of unhappy Bruin fans, myself included.
Tom @ 11:19 am:
If Walker is hired, like I said b4, then I am done with this program.! Why the hell should I spend my hard earned money for a program that doesn’t give a damn?!
Andre @ 11:33 am:
Norm Chow has developed some really good quarterbacks, its true. However, I remember Rick Neuhesil tutoring one of our own quarterbacks. A guy named Troy Aikman.
Andre @ 11:40 am:
I believe that if D. Walker was the choice for HC, he would have been named by now. Why not? What would DG have to lose? In fact, he could use the naming of Walker as HC to keep the recruits we are supposedly going to lose and get the team fired up for BYU. So, IMO Walker is not going to be hired.
shony420 @ 12:05 pm:
Thats so true!!oh” you know what elce is true? TROY AIKMAN never beat sc!and never won a pac 10 chapionship!!!.But then he flourished in the pro’s wining a couple of superbowls! But I guess you can’t Blame SLIK RICK for losing against sc?
afterall, they we’re playing against the great RODNEY PETE!!!
Lifelong Bruin fan @ 12:24 pm:
Rodney Peete may not have had a great NFL career, but he was a great college QB. Aikman was a great QB in both college and the pros, but it did disappoint me that he could not guide us to victory in ‘87 or ‘88, both gut-wrenching losses (for me at least). How we lost to Wazzou in ‘88 with our national title hopes on the line I have no idea either.