Dump Dorrell

To get your mind off of basketball, UCLA will open its 2007 football Spring Practice on Thursday afternoon, April 5. All practice sessions are open to the public and weekday sessions are scheduled for 3:50 to 5:50 p.m. Get on out there!!

UCLA will host a Fan Appreciation Day, with players and coaches signing autographs and posing for photographs on Saturday, April 7. Practice will conclude on Friday evening, April 27, with a final scrimmage.

Following is the schedule (tentative and subject to change):

Week One – April 5 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 6 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 7 (11:00 am-1:00 pm).

Week Two – April 9 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 10 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 12 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 14 (10:00 am-Noon).

Week Three – April 16 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 17 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 19 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 21 (1:00-3:00 pm).

Week Four – April 23 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 26 (3:50-5:50 pm), April 27 (7:00 pm scrimmage).

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Former UCLA equipment manager died today. Condolences to the Nichols family.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Richard “Nick” Nichols, the head equipment manager at UCLA for 25 years, died Monday following a long illness, the school said. He was 63.

Nichols joined the UCLA athletic department staff in 1968, and became head equipment manager eight years later. He retired after the Bruins’ 21-20 loss to Wisconsin in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 29, 2000.  Nichols is survived by his wife, Sherry, a son, Richard, a daughter, Kathy, and three granddaughters.  A graveside service is scheduled April 10 at the Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica.

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Hopefully last post on football while we are in the middle of our true basketball season. Another article of note regarding our ‘08 commits, noting that all the commits, in their own words, are solid. It’s a love-fest written by a UCLA fansite representative for rivals.com. As we have noted before, give credit where credit is due. If these commits do sign a year from now, great. We do have a ton more scholies to give out, and a lot can happen in such a long period, so the story of ‘08 is not anywhere near complete … but great so far.

The article does point out three important things: (more…)

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You read that bold bit of chest thumping correctly. It's on page 3 of the UCLA Football Spring Practice Guide, according to Howland-hater Dennis Dodd of CSBSportsline.com. Our Sports Information Director (SID) Marc Dellins, apparently peaved that Dodd left UCLA out of his preseason 2007 rankings, sent Dodd the glossy guide even before it was ready for publishing along with a note that informed Dodd that UCLA had 20 returning starters from the team that beat SC.

The Bruins are in! You knew that, and you didn't know that. Final Four? Sure. The Spring Top 25? Let's just say I am making Marc Dellins' day. Dellins is the UCLA Minister of Propaganda — they call him the sports info director in Westwood — who was quick to point out that his Bruins have 20 returning starters from a team that beat Southern California.  

This is an issue because the Bruins got, uh, well, somehow left out of my first 2007 Top 25 in January. Being the good MOP that he is, Mr. Dellins quickly shipped me the galleys of the spring guide. He apologized in advance for the typos (the bound version is coming). I didn't notice any except the bold prediction on Page 3 about beating USC. Again. By 20. To win the Pac-10. Now that's a good MOP.

Dodd, that perfectionist and detail-oriented nut, recalculated his high precision analysis and, presto, he now has UCLA ranked #9. But we digress. This is BIG. Morgan Center is stating in bold clear language, printed in a glossy media guide they will send out to journalists across the country, that Dorrell will take our football team to the Coliseum and beat USC by 20 points!! AND … and … in doing so Dorrell will have won the Pac-10 championship that he hasn't come close to sniffing as head coach. Well hello EXPECTATIONS!! Might as well call out Carroll and his thugs by name while you're feeling confident.  Heck, call out the (more…)

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Just days ago everyone was hyping the 08 class with the 8 early commits, praising Dorrell, Walker and even EScott for their recruiting bonanza. So much can happen in a year as we have seen many times. Yet, in only a couple of days we get our first de-commit in safety EJ Woods of Crespi, as reported by Scout.com (membership required). Brian Dohn of the LA Daily News, who has pushed the great recruiting agenda a little too enthusiastically, has more on the de-commit which he is saying is actually NOT a de-commit but a “re-opening” of his commitment. What is a journalist doing mincing words for the subjects of his articles?? Whatever … Dohn is getting away from objectivity a little bit here. Woods is now talking to Miami and Ohio State, and lets not forget he is a teenager. What exactly about that sounds like a commitment?

Now if Woods picks up his grades to qualify academically for UCLA, Dohn quotes Woods as saying he will enroll here. Yeah, and Dohn will put up his lunch money on that happening. Hey, we don’t know what the kid is thinking any more than Dohn, but we sure as heck know that a teenager of the 08 class talking to other schools in March 07 certainly isn’t a commit. It’s also only 1 of 8, and since that big commit announcement there have been a few more commits, but it shows how precarious this 08 stuff is. Nevertheless, the coaching staff has to be out there getting commitments … we have to reload in a big way in 08. There has to be progress there in a significant way to deal with the mass 07 exodus, but to get all hyped up about 08 commits is a bit far-fetched.

Recruiting is a largely thankless process … there should be no praise until recruits sign, yet there can be hell to pay if there are no commits.  But getting paid a million dollars a year to do it should lighten the worry some.

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We just heard that Dan Guerrero lost his father on Tuesday to cancer.  DD would like to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to Dan and the Guerrero family.   Our thoughts and prayers, along with those of the Bruin family, our with them. 

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The two worlds of college football are at odds again concerning UCLA football and Karl Dorrell. There is the MSM reporters and columnists love affair with Karl Dorrell no matter how awful his numbers are and then there are the analysts that don’t give Dorrell any respect. We saw it last year with the MSM hyping Dorrell to challenge USC for the conference title while analysts had us finishing no higher than 4th. We know how last season turned out, 7-6 and 4th in the conference during an average conference year. The analysts, including DD, were right and the MSM were left with only the win over SC to fuel the Dorrell hype.

Now, analysts have our ‘07 pre-season national ranking all over the map with 4 ranking us top 20 and 2 not ranking us at all, but one analyst, ESPN’s Greg Schlabach, doesn’t even have us finishing in the top 2 of our conference next season. You may recall that Schlabach is the only analyst saying that Dorrell is on the hot seat in ‘07. But it may be even more significant to point out that (more…)

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In a continuation of a series of bizarre head coaching hirings in the NFL, the Chargers replaced Marty Schottenheimer with Norv Turner today.  Earlier in the off-season, the Raiders hired a kid, Lane “Play Happy” Kiffin, who had barely any coordinator experience in college as their new head coach. The Cowboys hired a new coach, Wade Phillips, committed it appears to being average. And now the Chargers hire a guy who has an abysmal losing record in the NFL and for whom you can’t find one single former player to say anything positive. The Chargers would have been better off hiring Dorrell, as we suggested and one Daily Bruin reporter actually wrote a column on.

In other news, you may know that we submitted our Letter to the Editor of the Daily Bruin in response to Ben Azar’s LaRouce piece. No word from them on whether they will print it. Keep sending them your emails to let them know that you want it in the paper.

editor@media.ucla.edu, bgordon@media.ucla.edu

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Hard to believe, but going 14-2 isn’t getting the job done in San Diego. Sure, the Chargers bowed out of the playoffs too quickly and Scott should be held responsible, but can anyone imagine UCLA doing this?? Dan Guerrero, are you paying attention?

The company line is that there was a “dysfunctional” situation between Schott and general manager AJ Smith, so team President Dean Spanos made Schotty the scapegoat. Maybe Al Davis or Jerry Jones want a mulligan!! Lets hope that the fallout from this firing isn’t so bad as to make the climate bad for firing Dorrell, or pushing him to the NFL, next season if he doesn’t win the Pac-10.

The timing of this news is interesting … done after hiring season to force the hands of Dallas and Oakland?? Ha!! If so, the Chargers must have someone they’ve been talking to that is waiting in the wings. Otherwise, the timing may hurt them, because who is available? Mooch?? Hey, Dorrell!!! Quick, someone get Spanos’ email. Lets start a campaign!

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The news cycle on football has slowed down now that the January firings and hirings have pretty much concluded. We will continue to watch all things football as it pertains to UCLA but expect the postings to not be as regular or numerous. We will have at least one post a week, a Monday Morning Roundup, and we’ll see some other action from time to time. So keep checking back, keep sending us your comments. Spring practice is right around the corner and we still don’t have an OL coach nor a WR coach apparently. We will keep an eye on these developments, and any other big news in college football.

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