Quicker than lightning, Washington State jumped on the Anyone But Walker train and passed on Walker for their open head coaching position. So much for Walker being a hot coaching property - one of the bottom dwelling Pac-10 teams didn't think so. Instead, Wazzu hired the Easter Washington University head coach Paul Wulff. Who can argue against going with any coach from that powerhouse football program EWU (HT Nestor at BruinsNation): read more
The ABW (Anyone But Walker) campaign has caused a bit of a commotion and hit a nerve, and we haven't even gotten underway. People are responding positively and negatively far more passionately than we ever expected. It is a just one symptom of something larger going on. We are at a crossroads for UCLA football - the path we take now we will affect the program for a long time. We cannot take the wrong road. The feeding frenzy on the boards regarding who and what is right has reached new levels. UCLA fan sites are reporting record traffic. This is a battle for the future of the program. We know that the frustrated fan will not take any more losing seasons, so this decision Dan Guerrero makes could be a watershed moment.
The battle lines are drawn. There are those read more
We didn't have the time to put up the stats on Walker today. Hopefully we will have that for you tomorrow. Instead, we wanted to get started on the ABW (Anyone But Walker) response to the Hire Walker campaign currently in full swing in the press and on the boards. We at DD do not want to go through breaking in a rookie coach again … at all. We are done with that as so many Bruins fans are. Lavin and Dorrell have killed it for anyone else. Not to mention 2 decades of mediocrity in football. So our primary goal now is ABW. Anyone Dan Guerrero interviews is better than DeWayne Walker. Anyone. That means Chow, Leach, Mora, Neuheisel, Mariucci, Jones, Kelly, Gill or anyone else that shows up on his radar that has experience.
We are taking a stronger tack now because read more
Editor's Note: We will have a new poll out tomorrow taking into account the recent changes in potential candidates.
How many Save Dorrell reporters and Dorrellistas were there that said what the players think is most important … and that the players wanted to keep Karl Dorrell? Even though that argument didn't work the first time, it sounded good enough to use now with DeWayne Walker. Chris Foster, LAT, writes up a piece with the same mumbo-jumbo touchy feely bs that we heard from the Dorrellistas: players love him, there's a new vibe, the players are going to win for him, and oh who can forget this one … they had a great practice! read more
Do we need 5 more years of this:
(DeWayne Walker) also got a laugh out of reporters after being asked about the condition of offensive tackle Brian Abraham, who did not practice and was wearing a walking boot on his right foot. "Not sure," Walker said, "I’d rather not comment on that just yet." Then he added, "Wow, look at me, I sound like a real head coach now." read more
DeWayne Walker has taken self-promotion to new levels in the college coaching world. And Brian Dohn is providing the stage and promotion:
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said Thursday interim coach DeWayne Walker would interview for the Bruins' vacant head coaching position, and added the school was close to hiring a search firm to help in the process.
In addition, several players already went to Guerrero to voice support for Walker as the next coach, and BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe also endorsed Walker.
"I'm flattered, and I think that says a little bit about what they think of me," said Walker, UCLA's defensive coordinator. "Hopefully, I can do a good enough job to be considered a legitimate candidate."
WTF?! We never thought we'd see read more
DeWayne Walker's press junket has hit the OC Register. In a tempting piece titled "Search list grows for UCLA," Robert Kuwada brings out the trojan horse. He starts the piece by naming all of the big names Dan Guerrero is interested in and quickly dispenses with each of them for a number of reasons. Bottom line, according to Kuwada, the search has to go wider. He covered that in basically the first 3 paragraphs. Kuwada spends the rest of the article talking about one guy, who apparently is the reason why the search list grew: read more
The post-Dorrell era got started the way we all had hoped. Karl Dorrell gave a classy, welcomed, public statement. Thank you Karl! It already has gone a long way towards bringing the UCLA community back together. The inevitability and acceptance and gratitude he displayed are showing up brightly across the Bruin internet. That is a tribute to Dorrell. Thank you again Karl!
Dan Guerrero followed up with a great press conference that echoed some of the main talking points we have long pushed here at DD. Here is what he says about UCLA football and the constraints of winning here (we are borrowing heavily from Nestor and bruinhoo at BruinsNation): read more
It has been an incredible day. Phone calls, emails, text messages … we are with you Bruin Nation. There is excitement again! There is interest in UCLA Football again … nationally. There will be articles about this. But there is also work left to be done. We have to make sure that Morgan Center and Murphy Hall do not repeat the same mistakes they have made the last 2 decades. If you haven't been reading the UCLA internet we will tell you …. there are potential problems ahead.
There is a concerted organized effort to get public opinion behind DeWayne Walker to replace Dorrell as our head coach. That would be a disaster. While Walker read more
It's getting interesting, but our wait got a little longer. Chris Foster of the LAT is reporting that the Monday presser is not scheduled. No word on whether it ever was scheduled, even though the Daily News said it was. So we will NOT hear about Dorrell's fate tomorrow … apparently. Not a problem folks, because Dorrell's days are obviously numbered, Foster:
The search for a new UCLA football coach has begun, even as current Coach Karl Dorrell awaits his fate. Dorrell will be fired this week and a short list of candidates has been assembled, sources familiar with the athletic department said today.
No doubt in our minds that this will go down! Obviously read more
