Rivals.com On UCLA Baseball: Nations #1 Rising Program

While Dorrell cultists find numerous excuses for why Karl Dorrell has cemented our football program in mediocrity, two other coaches are going about doing exactly what they were hired to do, without excuses.  We all know about Ben Howland and our basketball team. Two Final Fours in his first 4 years, top recruiting classes, from a program that had its first losing season in half a century, that had 20 losses.   John Savage, our baseball coach, has taken a moribund program and in his first 4 years took UCLA to the College World Series Regionals in ‘06 and then the College World Series Super Regionals in ‘07, one game away from the CWS.  And that is after having sustaining key injuries.  Now, Rivals is calling Savage’s program the #1 rising program in college baseball!  Here is what Rivals has to say (HT to rybreadraz at BN):

Why are they rising?
After four seasons as the head man at UCLA, coach John Savage finally has the Bruins thinking Omaha on a consistent basis. The Bruins have yet to break through and reach the College World Series, but the future prognosis looks promising. The Bruins turned some heads by reaching the Regional round two seasons ago. But in 2007, they overcame adversity at times throughout the season and faced in-state foe Cal State Fullerton in the Super Regional round. UCLA took two giant steps forward during the past two seasons, but now they’re aiming for more. Just look at the Bruins’ returning roster. Sure, they must replace talented right-hander Tyson Brummett. But left-hander Gavin Brooks finished his freshman campaign on a high note. Additionally, reliever Garett Claypool was a Rivals.com Freshman All-American, while fellow sophomore Charles Brewer should be outstanding if he can stay healthy. The Bruins also have much to look forward to offensively with the return of Brandon Crawford and others.

“Bruins thinking Omaha on a consistent basis.”  And Howland has Bruins thinking Final Four on a consistent basis. That right there says it all.   Does Dorrell have Bruins thinking BCS on a consistent basis??  Hardly at all. How about just Pac-10 championship on a consistent basis? How about a Pac-10 championship just once??  Exactly. The differences between good coaches and a bad one could not be more striking!!

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