nice try D.D. but Chow is the exception! I don’t care what you guys say or think of him! he has over 30 yrs. of experience and as I was reading your article and as you pointed out he is the exception! we have never hired a coach with his experience and he would fit right in as H.C. sorry D.D. Chow is a great hire!

I’m going to have to second ucla34. Despite the fact most of the posters and writers for DD and BN don’t like Chow — even on the official polls it seems that there are many more supporters of Chow than you guys let up. I think he’d be a great catch! Go CHOW!!!

Sorry DD…But the Worst Coach award goes to Karl Dorrell.

For the past several days I have been trying to convince anyone who would listen that Rick Neuheisel is the guy UCLA should hire. What everyone needs to understand is…..even though you may have your favorite candidate, there is NO perfect coach out there. Every coach, if he’s been around longer than a year, will tell you he has made mistakes somewhere in his career. Maybe it was a poor call in a certain situation that cost his team a win, maybe it was playing one guy at QB when he should have gone with another, maybe he made some recruiting mistakes trying to win at any cost.
If I had to name the one coach I think was operating at maximum effectiveness at one point in his career, it would be Steve Spurrier. Some of his Florida teams were untouchable. But, as you may have noticed, now that Steve “Superior” is at South Carolina, and Bob Stoops isn’t there as his assistant, even he can’t win with the same regularity he did at Florida. You have to have good players and you have to surround yourself with a good staff.
So, knowing that there is no such animal as a perfect coach, and since I have already mentioned as many positive characteristics as I could think of regarding Neuheisel, let me mention those things I DON’T like about Neuheisel.

1 - I don’t like the fact that he falls in love with his offense at the expense of his defense.
2 - I don’t like the fact he tends to want to play “finesse ball” at times instead of “smash mouth.”
3 - I don’t like the fact he sometimes comes off like a know it all sissy attorney.
4 - I don’t like that he tends to get away from a solid run game at times.
5 - I don’t like the dumbass mistakes he made at Washington. Once again, he wore his attorney hat and tried to play fast and loose with recruiting rules, however minor they were.

If I were interviewing Neuheisel, I would say:

“Coach, you have a fine record. I know you have won conference championships in the Big-12 as well as the Pac-10 and you also won the showcase bowls for both those conferences. However, as you know, we at UCLA have suffered through many years of mediocre football and we want to turn our program around. I have some concerns about you and I would like you to address them. Before I can offer you the head coaching position at UCLA I need to know that you will do your best to abide by all NCAA rules to the letter of the law. This is imperative. Second, we want a team that is well balanced. We want to score points, but we want a dominating, physical defense. We want an offense that is more than one-dimensional. And, coach, we want a team that can beat our crosstown rivals, compete for our conference championship and be a player on the national scene. Tell us, coach Neuheisel, how do you plan to accomplish all the goals I’ve mentioned.”

If Neuheisel gets defensive or can’t give clear, definitive answers, scratch him off the list. However, if he does address his former transgressions and lays out a clear plan for reviving the program, he deserves to be on the short list of candidates.

Hopefully we are coming out of a long dark tunnel. For over 25 years our basketball program followed the model set by the football program. Hire some coach with limited experience and hope he pulls off a miracle. But do it on the cheap.
It didn’t work in babketball and somebody in Morgan Center finally got his head out of his ass and decided to hire a real coach. Final 4 Baby!
I’m hoping against hope that the same people decide it time to apply that same approach to the UCLA football program. Hire a real football coach.
I want our football program to have the same image that the BB program has. I want opponents to shake in their Nikes when they think about playing us. I want people to think of us as a hardnosed, kick ass football program not those gutty little Bruins. And I sure as hell want the Brain Surgeons to remember when we owned them for 8 straight and we are going to do it again!
If we don’t hire the best football coach we can get than it’s time for all the fans, alumni and supporters to march on Morgan Center and let those bean counters know how we really feel!

Nice write-up ATP! The real question is, with the list of people we see on the possible coaching list, who in that list could most effectively answer that question? Maybe DG needs to ask himself that question, and then focus his candidate search on guys that he thinks are capable of answering said question…

good job Puke! here’s the thing though,i feel Neuheisel might do an o.k. job at Ucla. but let’s also remember that he lost to Ucla quite a few times while he was at washington! he has never struck me as a hard-nosed,smash-mouth,coach during his H.C. career. Chow has 30 plus yrs. of experience as an assistant and coordinator. all anyone can say about Chow is that he has never been a H.C. that all! he has shown the results,and I think hiring him would not be a gamble,but a huge step in getting Ucla back to a National level! Chow is the man for Ucla! just like you had said before Puke,we need a man that can beat U.S.C.! Chow knows Carrolls defense and knows how to beat S.C. the rest will take care of itself! Chow time baby! Go Bruins!

Norm Chow=Successful Experience!

Count me as another supporting Chow.

I have to disagree with the notion that UCLA has only had mediocre football for the last 40 years. Although many on this site seem to have a low opinion of Donahue, it should not be forgotten that he had an extended period of distinguished success that included UCLA challenging for the national championship (1988). His predecessor, Dick Vermeil, won the Rose Bowl in only his second year and certainly would have had greater success had he stayed with the program. And Toledo, as much as he is also criticized, brought UCLA within a hair of playing for the national championship. In fact I would say the football program really hasn’t recovered since that devastating loss to Miami in 1998. We were knocking on the door and it could have been a breakthrough moment but instead we got thrown into the alleyway of mediocrity.

It seems that this topic’s intent is to steer support away from Chow (or Walker) but I would say that lack of previous head coaching experience was only really an issue with KD.

ucla34…You have a damn good memory. LOL I really appreciate the fact you want a winning football program. I do, too. I think we differ only in our approach to how the coaching “system” works. If Chow could somehow prove that his expertise in one component of the system will translate into the same efficiency and effectiveness throughout the entire system (a head coaches responsibility) I would be happy to give him the shot.

It seems to me like most of the people on this message board are content that it’s either going to be Neuheisel, or Chow (and / or) Walker. Are any of these guys going to lead UCLA to a national title? I don’t think so.

The whole point of this site is for the fans to dictate to the administration the direction of our (I use our as a UCLA alum and California resident) football team.

That being said, it seems that the search firm and DG have come up with a mediocre list of candidates, and now we are arguing over which of those mediocre candidates should be hired.

We should still be demanding more of DG than mediocre candidates. Let’s hope that DG is playing his cards tight, and that after Bowl Season and the NFL regular season, we will see some real coaches’ names surface.

Get a clue if we wait that long there will be NO recruiting class left. This is all about saving the recruiting class. Losing this recruiting class will have a huge impact on the next 4 years.

Interesting how this site, over time, has turned so pro-Chow. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking it! Give it another week and he’ll probably beat Rick in the next straw poll. And the more you think about Jim Harbaugh, his rivalry with Carroll, and his coaching accomplishments, he starts to make sense too.

Bay Area Bruin–I disagree that UCLA is not capable of winning a championship under Neuheisel or Chow. First of all, are you expecting any coach to suddenly take UCLA to a championship in the next few years? I would say even if we could get Vince Lombardi to come back and coach the Bruins, it would be unlikely.

I think with the right person at the helm (such as Chow or Neuheisel), UCLA can get steadily better until we are at a level where we can compete for the national championship regularly. But it’s not going to happen overnight. Please remember that twice within the last 20 years, we have had seasons (one under Donahue and one under Toledo) where we were at the doorstep of the national championship. Both under coaches with little or no previous head coaching experience.

As for whether the list of candidates are mediocre or not, I’ve said it before that the potential candidates this time around is much better than the last time. The seeming two front-runners Neuheisel and Chow are both infinitely better choices than KD. Also, consideration has to be given to the fact that the top name coaches are not busting down the door to become UCLA’s next coach. If they were, it would be a different situation. Whether you or anyone else wants to accept it, compared to other schools, there are some issues that make our environment less attractive for a head coach, whether it’s the salary, staff salary, grade requirements, offsite football stadium, etc. Now five or ten years from now if we’ve had a run of highly successful seasons, this perception of UCLA’s attractiveness may change, but for the time being it is what it is. Asking DG to come up with a list of candidates that are not even interested in coming to UCLA would not be helpful. Personally I’m confident he’s going to make a great choice.

Puke–great post! Well said!

Hey Buycker, it’s John Harbaugh, not Jim.
I agree with Bay Area Bruin, these are second and third tier candidates. I’m still hopeful that DG is going to pull a rabbit out of his hat. That’s about all that gets me through the day without getting too pissed about how this whole thing is going.

Curly, there’s only two more weeks til the bowl season is over. We won’t lose all our recruits in that time, and if we make a big hire that proves we’re serious we’ll make up the difference in spades with next year’s class. That said, we can recruit some JC guys to fill the void. I’d rather get the right coach and have to play a few inexperienced players than get the wrong coach and be forced to endure another 5-6 years of KD like coaching.

LBF, the frustrating thing is that some decent candidates have spoken up about being interested and are seemingly not in the list of people who were given interviews. I think Neuheisel and Chow are both decent candidates, but John Harbaugh?
When coaches such as Bowden, Leach, and June Jones have expressed interest and aren’t even being interviewed you have to wonder if the commitment is really there or if it was just lip service.

Walker has to stay. Ergo, I think Chow will be hired as HC and he will keep Walker as DC. Chow has already said a lot of good things about and respects Walker as a coach. And, we need someone who understands USC as well as Chow. Plus, that combination will keep our recruits and entice others to give us a look. Chow/Walker combo I think will be announced this week before the game!

Ug.. I hope you’re wrong bones. Walker doesn’t have to stay. Retaining recruits isn’t as important as getting the best coach in there.

This Chow knows USC better than anyone argument has a flip side, nobody understands Chow as well as USC. Did any of you consider that?

JRBruin–regarding contacting these other coaches you bring up, Starakawa made an astute observation (on another thread) that the coaching candidates who have been publicly revealed thus far have nothing to lose by being thus named, whereas other possible candidates such as Peterson, Leach, and Jones are currently coaching teams preparing for bowl games. Doesn’t apply to Bowden but perhaps this could explain the candidates who have been revealed thus far.

Completely agree with you about Harbaugh though. Nonsensical would be an understatement.

On a side note, Brian Dohn is now forcing anyone who wants to post on his blog to be a registered user. I guess this way he can eliminate any posts that don’t support Walker.

To DD, Why has this mediocre standard festered for so long? I don’t get it. TDonahue was the cause of Neuheisal not being hired, but why has it gone on for decades? I was at UCLA when Prothro was there. Since then no one has been good.

Steve

Tommy Prothro (1965-1970): 9 years HC experience include at Iowa St. and Oregon St. Led OSU to 2 Rose Bowls and a Heisman QB. Assistant under the great Red Sanders for many years incl. NC year 1954.

As a matter of trivia, Tommy Prothro had two (count ‘em, two) Rose Bowls in consecutive years — 1965 with OSU and UCLA in 1966. He also had two Heisman Trophy winners in three years: Terry Baker at OSU and Gary Beban at UCLA.

My opinion the top three were Sanders, Prothro, and Vermeil. Prothro was a miracle worker; left UCLA because of a bad call in a UCLA-USC game that broke his heart. He went to the pros because he felt that his teams wouldn’t dissolve with graduation.

first things first! Toledo was not mediocre and we all know we came within a bad fumble call away from winning a N.C. Donahue was just too damn conservative and cost us 1 or 3 National Championships! Chow with his experience overall,is by far the most qualified! he can easily transition into the H.C. given all his experience. as for Walker? we went from last in the nation to 30th! that’s a damn good job! and like Puke and others who are passionate fans,we want to compete for National Championships and be in the top 10 every year! this is Ucla! there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be!

Steve … we can only guess. How is it that Peter Dalis could hold the position for so long that the legendary JD Morgan held? Something was rotten in Denmark. The LA market and top HC market got rich and we didn’t know how to succeed when the environment changed. Either Dalis, et al, were cheap all along and the markets caught up to them, or they just didn’t get college football (and that institutional ignorance is shining through again), or they simply felt they could get away with the minimum and just lie. Whatever the case, the culture certainly needs to change, its been a long time coming.

WHP….I’m with you. Prothro is my favorite, as well. I’ll never forget the time he said he was ashamed to be a southerner when we got robbed at Tennessee.

Also, he used to carry a carton of cigarettes and a tuna sandwich around in the briefcase. I have a funny story about one of his halftime speeches as told to me by a player on his ‘68 team. Stiles probably has more than a few.

UCLA is NOT your first head coaching job!!!

Sorry Chow, but you should have gone to a small school early in your career to get experience if you wanted to be a Head Coach at UCLA.

Coordinators don’t always make good head coaches. Ask Notre Dame, San Diego Chargers, Dorrell, etc. etc. etc.

Excuse my ignorance but ,who is this Brian Dohn guy ?

Yeah D.H.M.,what does Chow know ? He’s only been coaching since before Ricky Neuheisel was using ZIT CREAM .

Dear Mr. “About”:

Please, please, please regale us with your tale! Failing that, send me an e-mail with it. Also, we all would love to hear what Bob Stiles has to say on the subject. He was my all-time “gutty little Bruin” hero..

The picture of him being carried off the field after the hit on Bob Apisa of MSU in the Rose Bowl should be enlarged and mounted on the locker room door at the Rose Bowl so that all Bruin footballplayers know what “leaving it all out on the field” means.

R-UP, Chow does NOT know Head Coach!!!

Just Don’t Chow It.

WHP..Well, I can’t do the story justice because you have to be able to hear an imitation of Tommy Prothro’s deep voice. But, it seems in the first half of a game, one particular player was called three times for holding. After the team left the field at half time, Prothro came in, lit up a cigarette and leaned against a table.
The player who had been called for holding was just entering the room when the ref yelled from down the tunnel, “Hold that door, son.” Prothro looked up and said, “Don’t hold that door for that asshole, he just wants to throw his GD flag at you again.”

People may not agree with this, but in 1998 UCLA could have won the national championship if certain member(s) of the defensive team did not (allegedly) compromise the Bruins.

If any of you have game tape of Miami game (and believe it or not Wisconsin game also), you should watch it carefully.

Miami did not squarely beat UCLA in that game. UCLA defense helped the Canes (while Bruin offense was doing their best to keep up). The Vegas line insinuated that the upset was in order when Bruins were only 4 point favorite against a team that looked dismal in a blowout loss against Syracuse in the previous week.

Bob Toledo almost won the national championship that year. I really think Rick Neuheisel can win the national championship.

Lifelong Bruin fan…..I know what you’re saying about Stoops and Tedford. But, don’t you agree that Stoops has been a disappointment as a HC, so far? Arizona is still the only Pac-10 team to never play in a Rose Bowl game. They always seem to have one upset each year, but that’s it.

Jeff Tedford was a helluva OC at Oregon. But look what happened to him this year. Ranked #2 in the nation, his indecision and confusion on the sideline with 20 seconds to go in the Oregon State game cost his team the win and the ranking. Plus, after that loss, the team collapsed, even losing to Stanford in the end.

Bruin Genius–right you are. Edgerrin James ran over our arm tackling corners in that game like they weren’t there. It made me wonder if our linebackers and secondary were ever coached on how to tackle.

BG and ATP - Brendan Ayanbadejo … great Bruin player turned that year into his own political crusade and selfishly used that monumental game to push his agenda. Toledo’s lack of HC experience showed he was unable to control a group of college kids, and that trip exposed him embarrassingly. The true turning point for Toledo’s downfall was that Miami game when Ayanbadejo showed up his coach. Toledo hit his peak before that game - that was as far as his inexperience would take him. Still, Ayanhadejo deserves credit for that defensive no show, or worse, our defense throwing the game. Frankly, we were happy to see his Chicago Bears lose in the Super Bowl and see them suffer this year. In his pre-game comments to the press at last year’s Super Bowl what did Ayabadejo talk about?? The game, his teammates, his coach? No … his political message. Mark our words, that selfish guy will never win the Super Bowl. Ayanhadejo = Reggie Bush without the desire to win. Selfish, only cares about himself. At least Reggie wanted to win.

Wow ,I guess Ricky was the first and only O.C. capable of becoming a superstar head coach .I can’t believe how lucky we are that nobody has sent a jet airplane for JESU oops … I mean Ricky .All those teams that were looking for head coaches this year must have been devastated when they found out Rick was unavailable for all but the U.C.L.A. job .The demand for him must of been overwhelming !It’s kind of strange how their efforts to recruit him went unpublicized , yet our love for him is well known. Could it be that we’re the only football fans that know what an amazing head coach Ricky is ? NO ,that’s crazy . Arkansas, Michigan ,West Virginia, Mississippi ,and all the rest are sure gonna be jealous !

DD you sound like you where in the hotel conference room.

Pretty close.

DD….Thanks for the info. Simply amazing. That loss still hurts.

I’ve been trying to find the ‘66 Rose Bowl picture online in downloadable form for years. Anyone have any idea if it’s available somewhere?

Those defensive no shows smelled of something crooked .I remember reading about some of those players having meals and associating with a reputed wise guy.

Rise…..yep, but they didn’t beat a path to Norm’s door, either. And why not? I mean, heck, the guy is Gandhi with a pencil behind his ear. However, those perennial powerhouses Stanford, Arizona St., and NC State didn’t hire Norm because they didn’t want to take unfair advantage of the teams they play. With Norm on the sideline, who could possibly beat them?

I hear that when one of the interviewers asked him the importance of special teams, Norm said, “Well, I don’t know Jerry Lewis personally, but I’m all for those kids playing football.”

I can’t believe some of the things I’ve read. WOW!!!

Guys, I’ve just about lost my patience with this. We’re stuck in the mud with tehse choices.

Now I see a considerable number of you falling for the Chow / walker Trap.

someone asked why we’ve been mediocre for so long; try our Fan base who believes lies like Walker and Chow.

Well we’re all gonna find out shortly , and then a year from now one side or the other gonna say “I TOLD YOU SO”. I just hope they’ll be talking about something positive .

Their is a rumor that Rick Neuheisel is the top candidate for the UCLA head coaching job. Come on Guerrero; just hire Rick.

Diego….hang in there. We’re just having some fun. I caught myself taking this process a little too seriously. After all, we can shout our arguments for one guy or another from the roof of the Beverly Hilton and it still comes down to DG making the decision.

Over at Bruinsnation there is a letter to DG from Hector Miranda. It is a touching example of the way many of us feel. In his letter, Hector makes a plea for Guerrero to interview Mike Leach. I read his letter and was hoping he was going to name a coach with eye-opening credentials. Brian Kelly? You bet. Bronco Mendenhall? Absolutely.
Hector, if you read this, you are an amazing Bruin fan. It is guys like you that make me wish for a dream season where we are ranked #1 with the entire nation watching our games as they shake their heads wondering who is ever going to be good enough to beat us.
I just wish you hadn’t plugged the name of Mike Leach into your letter. No doubt, Leach is a good coach. But, to be truthful, he hasn’t done enough to warrant top billing. Yes, he has Texas Tech going 9-3 most years, but there are some chinks in his armor. His schedule always seems to carry 3 or 4 absolute lightweights. Teams like Florida International, Sam Houston St., Stephen F. Austin, etc. Then, there is Texas. He doesn’t do well against Texas. Not many teams do, though. Its just that I figure, if the guy can’t win his conference and his W-L record is padded with wins over terrible teams, and his bowl record shows wins in the Tangerine Bowl and Houston Bowl, but a loss in the Cotton Bowl, why should we consider him? I really wish I could agree with your choice. I just don’t see Mike Leach as the coach who can turn our program around. Best regards.

God I Hope so. lets get a real HC and start building this program again. We have the money and the fan to do this. Come on DG get your head out of your A_ _ and get Rick, He wants to be the Bruin head coach.

i just heard its Dewayne Walker, per Joe McDonnell…pls tell me im wrong

Sick to my stomach. I am just going to pretend I never read this Walker as HC rumor. I’ll just deal with it when and if the nightmare comes true.

Other things to consider:
Besides HC experience, what candidate is a great recruiter? And, who can recruit players that fit UCLA’s academic standards?
Which candidate’s football strategies can mesh with the current roster? Remember how Aikman became a Bruin? OU changed offenses and Troy didn’t fit the wishbone.

I’m surprised someone hasn’t mentioned Todd Graham’s name (Univ. of Tulsa coach). In spite of being the smallest Division I-A school, Tulsa has had successful years (9-4 this year) and is going to a bowl game (albeit, the GMAC bowl). Todd has 5 years of HC experience (Rice & Tulsa) and has coached in 5 bowls (1 as Asst Coach at West Virginia, under Rich Rodriguez), plus played in the NFL.

For what it’s worth, ABC News said that Neuheisel was the only one called back for a second interview. If he is hired, would I be disappointed? A little, not because of his coaching ability but because wherever he goes something not kosher seems to come up and the next thing you know, Neuheisal is on the next plane out of town.

If Neuheisel is hired, I hope that he gets paid well to compete with the guys across town and that he can keep Walker who is a great recruiter.