ESPN radio is reporting that Norm Chow has taken himself out of the running for the head coaching position at UCLA. There was no mention of the reason, but the fact that he is no longer a choice must have the Walkeristas and Dorrellistas furious. Also, lets remember that Chow never got a second interview! Did he bow to save face??
We have not checked the boards or any other news sources … it's going to be get interesting the next few days!! read more
ESPN’s college football analyst Ivan Maisel was on Colin Cowherd’s ESPN Radio show this morning talking about UCLA football. We are told that Maisel talked about Rick Neuheisel as a replacement for Dorrell. His exact words, quoted to us were “Neuheisel makes UCLA interesting again.” If anyone else heard this interview and what was said please let us know. As we have said many times, we at DD are not endorsing any replacement yet. We want to keep the discussion going.
In other news, we are getting Sunshine Reports of great practices, and another choice Dorrellism, from Karl Dorrell again this week, per Brian Dohn:
“It was good to see guys with a little bounce to their step, and really try to work hard on the plan. Tuesdays are usually the hardest day, because that’s when you’re getting most of the information of the game plan, and it seems like these guys did a nice job of attacking the information and trying to get it to be perfected on the very first rep, instead of the third or fourth rep. I was really encouraged with everyone’s focus.”
Look for more fluff from Spaulding Field. At least we can be sure that since the players are “attacking the information” and most likely that Dorrell and the coaching staff are “discipling the resources” and “coaching hard” that we should get a great game on Saturday at Arizona! Looking forward to that. Go Bruins!!
Editor's Note: We have been informed that the Trev Alberts FireMarkMay.com website is actually a farce (just like Dorrell). So the joke is on us apparently. Trev Alberts may still actually be Dorrell's biggest supporter right now.
Trev Alberts, a once Dorrell stalwart at CSTV.com, has joined the now long list of sports commentators, analysts and talking heads, in pointing out that Dorrell has not gotten the job done. You may remember Alberts as being the tool who said Dorrell was doing an "incredible job" in Westwood after last year's 7-6 season (thoroughly mocked here)! Now, just like Dorrell's second wife Matt Hayes, the Trevster, as he would have you call him, has turned on Dorrell.
Let us set it up for you. In his weekly college football picks on his website, FireMarkMay.com, Alberts noted how hilarious it was that he did not have to pick a winner in the Cal game because there was no Vegas Line on the game at the time (Thursday morning). It was hilarious because he had obviously picked UCLA over Utah and Notre Dame and got burned just like everyone else, and this time Vegas helped him out by not putting up a line.
As you know, Vegas did eventually put up the spread on Friday, and after UCLA returned the favor by turning Vegas on it's head again, Trev Alberts had this to say: read more
More and more the MSM is getting it right … who says all our efforts are for naught! ESPN’s Pat Forde has a column that discusses, among other things, the coaches on the hottest seats. #4 on his list, the hapless Karl Dorrell (behind foot-out-the-door Callahan - Nebraska, Franchione - Texas A&M, and Nutt - Arkansas). Here is what Forde had to say:
Karl Dorrell (14), UCLA Year: 5th.
Record: 4-2 this year, with no-show upset losses to two teams that were winless at the time: Utah and Notre Dame. Dorrell is 33-23 overall.
Breaking point: Being blown out by wounded Utah was not in the game plan for a team that began the season with more experience than any in the country: 20 returning starters, 25 seniors. Following that up with a home loss to the Fighting Irish only further underscored the erratic nature of Dorrell’s tenure. Quarterback injuries can only explain so much.
Sticking point: The Bruins are 3-0 in the Pac-10. What if they win the league? Can you fire a guy when he goes to a BCS bowl?
Bad stat: Of Dorrell’s 23 losses, 11 have come when his team was favored.
Chances of survival: Four of UCLA’s final six games are against ranked teams, so there is an opportunity to salvage the season. But past Bruins history shows that road games against bottom-tier teams Washington State and Arizona will be just as difficult. A coin flip by AD Dan Guerrero would almost be fitting.
A coin flip fitting?! If it takes a coin flip then any AD should know what the answer already is. But we get Pat’s point, it really is a toss up what Dorrell team shows up for the rest of the season. He is on point there. Nice job Pat.
If there are still some nuts that think Karl Dorrell deserves to stay on as our football coach, then we will have to consider them lost forever. UCLA’s football brand has been taking a beating. This time, Ted Miller of ESPN.com calls UCLA the poster team for the struggles within our conference. Nice. Thanks Karl. Thanks a lot. Miller: read more
Update: Our editor will be on at 5:20 …
One of our editors will be on ESPN Radio's The Big Show with Mason & Ireland today at 5 pm. The Big Show is on AM 710 locally. Show up in numbers, call in, and make your views known!! Or tune in or listen to the live streaming broadcast online. Hear DumpDorrell.com talk about the new "We're #4!" Dump Dorrell campaign. John Ireland is a UCLA alum and wants Dorrell fired. Should be fun.
One of our editors just got off the air with Mason & Ireland on ESPN radio 710. It was a good show … John Ireland "ate crow" as a result of our last appearance on his show after the SuC game when Mason and Ireland said we should shut down our site. Now Ireland admits that he is firmly on the DumpDorrell side. Mason put to our editor an interesting question, one he dubbed The Mason Plan. The Mason Plan is this: Dan Guerrero fires Karl Dorrell today(!) and makes DC DeWayne Walker interim head coach, as a sort of trial head coaching gig.
Mason asked what our editor thought of the plan. Our editor said that was a bad idea. Mason went nuts, saying several times that he thought it was crazy that DumpDorrell.com does NOT want to fire Karl Dorrell today (he then said he was going to start a site called DumpDumpDorrell.com - hilarious). The reason Mason wants to fire Dorrell today is because it avoids the risk of ending the season with the nuclear record of 9-4 (where DG can't fire Dorrell and the NFL doesn't hire Dorrell away). Our response deserves explanation, which we couldn't really give in the interview.
Here is DD's full response to the Mason Plan: read more
One of our editors will be on ESPN Radio at 3 pm today on The Big Show with Mason & Ireland. Tune in lcoally at AM 710. Show up in force by calling in early, before the Dorrell cultists, to let them know we want a new coach!!!
Other note: We know that the sidebar to the right is messed up. We will have it fixed by this evening. In the meantime, continue posting your comments. Fixed. You can now also post your comments on the Potential Head Coaches post.
Speedpost today folks, a few things to cover:
- By now you may have read ESPN’s Pat Forde’s article on Karl Dorrell and the special year we all expect this season (HT Nestor at BruinsNation). The upshot of the article is Pat Forde’s undeniably fair assessment of Dorrell’s job performance thus far, noting that:
- “If Karl’s golf game is anything like his head-coaching career to date, he cards a bogey for every birdie.”
- “These Bruins have never seen a Pac-10 title up-close and personal.”
- “With 20 returning starters and a bunch of winnable road games, the time is now for UCLA to win back a share of Los Angeles and make a push into the national elite.”
- “In terms of schedule, this season sets up nicely.”
- The Bruins’ first five road games — Stanford, Utah, Oregon State, Washington State, Arizona — are against teams with an un-threatening 2006 average Sagarin rating of 50th.
- Backup QB Patrick Cowan pulled up holding his left hamstring as he went out of bounds on a drill. Tests will be performed tomorrow. Bethel-Thompson has been made the #2 in his place. One reporter, Brian Dohn, prefers Bethel-Thompson as the #2 over Cowan.
- From the Irony Department, WR coach Eric Scott made Ossar Rasshan shed his gloves for missing a wide open TD at the scrimmage Saturday. Eric Scott had this to say: “I have a rule, if you drop passes, you have to take your gloves off for at least the period. Sometimes, I’ll make them go without gloves the rest of the practice.” Now that is some funny stuff right there. Hey Eric, the United States has a rule, don’t buy or carry unregistered weapons!!
- Morning practice today was very lethargic according to a few reports. The afternoon session was better. Let’s hope the guys are well conditioned as they stated they were when Training Camp started. Stanford is next week.
- “WR Osaar Rasshan didn’t practice in the night session because he is dealing with some after affects of the concussion he sustained last week.” - Brian Dohn.
- Following up on our Scrimmage report on the sudden illness of Jerzy Siewierski’s grandfather Jack Turrentine at Drake, we are happy to pass along the report that although he is still in critical condition, Jerzy’s grandfather is feeling better and talking. Get well Jack.
Brian Dohn is reporting that Eric Scott will meet today with Dan Guerrero and that a decision on his reinstatement is expected later today. The decision as has been long suspected will be to reinstate Scott, as Dohn confirms with his sources. If this indeed is going to happen, Guerrero would be wise to make it publicly clear that there will be a “zero tolerance” policy on Scott getting in trouble. Hanging around the wrong crowd when trouble goes down, regardless of his culpability, should be enough to get Scott dismissed. If Guerrero must reinstate, that is the minimum condition that would have to be placed on Scott.
We of course disagree with bringing Scott back. Too many questions about the integrity of the hiring process are left unanswered. How a program that prides itself on Character and Integrity allows these questions to linger is beyond our comprehension. A clean program would first eliminate any appearance of impropriety and that surely has not occurred here. Further, if Eric Scott were honorable in his intentions to be a coach at UCLA, and if he truly believed he has departed from his past behavior, he would have disclosed his conviction record to Dorrell and Guerrero, which both men have said did not occur, instead of intentionally or unintentionally trying to game the system by remaining silent on the issue.
What a shame. If it goes down this way, read more
