Has it come to this?? We at DD would have never thought so before yesterday evening. Now that Karl Dorrell played the race card and said that he hasn't "gotten a fair shake" and that he has not been given "a level playing field" he opens the possibility of suing UCLA for discrimination.
Say all you want about race-baiter and tabloid "journalist" Kurt Streeter of the LAT dressing up a potentially out-of-context quote into a race debate. Say all you want about Dorrell possibly bettering his bargaining position with regard to his severance package or even keeping his job. But one fact remains immutable: Karl Dorrell ANSWERED the race question of his own accord.
We all know Karl Dorrell is read more
Well this will blow your mind …
I ran some of (Dorrell critics) criticisms past (Karl Dorrell): He is too inexperienced; he has never been a head coach before. He cannot recruit; after all, don't those other teams have all-star players on their second and third strings? Only then did (Dorrell) shake his head. "I don't feel like I've gotten a fair shake."
This is from Kurt Streeter of the LAT, a Cal grad (!), on his new personal blog … wait for it … read more
Here comes the second wave of Save Dorrell articles. The first as you may recall was the set of articles last week by TJ Simers, Bob Keisser, and Brian Dohn after the Arizona loss lamenting the series of injuries that have hurt Dorrell's team this year …. so "Dorrell deserves another year." Of course, they completely ignore the fact that Dorrell already has next year's excuse lined up - 17 starters and 25 seniors total graduate - so we know what articles they will write when Dorrell turns in his 5th average season in 6 years … "It's a rebuilding year, next year ('09) is THE year." Every year there is an excuse for Dorrell and the beat press lovingly oblige.
Today, Chris Foster of the LAT started the second wave of Save Dorrell campaign, as prophesied by Big Joe McDonnell, with his full article on how the recruits will leave if Dorrell isn't back next year. We don't want to give the impression that Foster is part of a concerted effort by the media to protect Dorrell. In fact, Foster gives the counter argument in his article about how recruits pick the school not the coach. However, be prepared to see more articles and discussions like this. Foster: read more
You think Dorrell getting fired is a lock?!! Today we get another pathetic final plea to save Karl Dorrell. This time it's TJ Simers with an article about how it would be a mistake to fire Dorrell. What a piece of work TJ is. Just 2 days ago he calls UCLA's football program a "joke" and now, even after saying it was a mistake to HIRE Karl Dorrell, TJ says it will be a mistake to FIRE Karl Dorrell. WTF?? And you want another WTF? TJ uses the same pathetic excuse the race-baiting hypocrite Bob Keisser of the LB Press Telegram used yesterday in his last gasp plea to save Dorrell … injuries (TJ):
UCLA didn't get it right when they hired him, which wasn't his fault. Now they'll probably goof again and fire him for things again out of his control. He goes into Saturday's game against the ninth-ranked team in the nation with his fourth-string quarterback, a week after playing a walk-on at running back and a scrambling quarterback with a tender hamstring. Name a coach who looks like he knows what he's doing when armed with so little.
TJ goes on to show how Carroll has only had to deal with a 2nd string QB starting just once (which is the sole reason why he is winning and Dorrell isnt??!!) … how convenient that he chooses to overlook coaches from all the other … oh … 118 Div 1 football programs out there who continue to win WITH injuries. Say, for example, Utah! Utah, read more
Dorrell admits he is getting the message. First, Chris Foster of the LAT, in his piece titled "UCLA's Dorrell gets no slack in cyberspace," acknowledges that are large base of Bruin fans are done with Dorrell, especially those on the internet: read more
TJ Simers pretty much devoted his column yesterday to you all, "the Dump Dorrell crowd." Oddly, he was kind … well sort of. First, Simers sets up the final moments of the Cal game and how it all was on the line for Dorrell and UCLA football on one single play:
Just a minute to go in Saturday's game, and it appears (DC DeWayne) Walker's career is developing quite nicely if he wants to be a head coach. And soon.
Cal is in position to essentially end the Bruins' season, the Dump Dorrell crowd swelling, the pressure about to mount on Guerrero. One minute to go and Guerrero is standing on the goal line, arms folded, judge and jury, watching Dorrell's team. The Rose Bowl is alive with noise and excitement, as good as it gets — as horrible as it might be if all goes askew in the next few seconds.
As we said, one play - one single play - ended up being the fine line between Dorrell getting hammered for another loss and Dorrellistas talking national championship again. Crazy, manic stuff. If Guerrero read more
We saw this picture of a UCLA fan with a Fire Karl Dorrell t-shirt posing with Josephina Bruin and the spirit crew on the LA Times website a few days ago but thought that the picture would quickly go away. This same picture circulated on BruinsNation last year as well. A DD reader alerted us to the fact that the picture is still there on the Whats Bruin blog (under Perelman's bio in the Your Scene section) … so we're bringing it to your attention. Apparently you can vote on the picture and because the picture is getting the most votes it remains the picture shown on the front page of the Whats Bruin blog. Get on it and vote for the picture. Too funny. Once Morgan Center gets wind of this the LA Times will most likely get rid of the picture. But it was very entrepreneurial of a UCLA fan to send that in! Nice job.
Just when nearly everyone on the planet is finally giving UCLA a shot at having a special season for the first time in 10 years, including Karl Dorrell and the players themselves, Dorrell is starting to backtrack on his earlier rosy assessments for the season. Before we show you how he is backtracking, let us show you what Dorrell was saying before the expectations obviously started to get to him:
"Inside and out, this is the best team I've had," Dorrell said. "Inside as people, and outside as performance. Our expectations are so high. The pressure we put on ourselves is greater than any outside pressure."
That was just last week. Now, the Chris Foster of the LA Times reports in an article titled "Dorrell tries to diffuse expectations" read more
Speedpost today:
- Brian Price paperwork update: It appears Brian Price needed additional paperwork turned into the NCAA to process his application to be cleared to play and those documents only arrived at the NCAA just last week, Chris Foster of LA Time reports. It also turns out that UCLA received all Price’s documents in mid-July and thought it all looked OK. That was about the time CEO Karl Dorrell was out on the golf course getting interviewed for a fluff piece when he should have been “double- and triple-checking” the paperwork to make sure his prized recruit sailed through, as Price’s father said. According to Foster, if the NCAA doesn’t clear Price by September 24th when classes start he can’t enroll! Nice job Karl.
- Secondary ranked 3rd in nation: There is a big writeup in the LA Times by Chris Foster about how our secondary could be the best in the nation. Aside from the usual fluff, Foster points out that Sporting News ranks our secondary as 3rd best in the nation, behind SuC who is first in their minds. That is great news! And we expect great things. Lost in all the love however is the fact that our pass defense ranked 87th in the country last season. So to expect our defense to go from 87 to top 5 is expecting a bit much, regardless of the number of returning starters. Nevertheless, we expect great things.
- Recruiting as good as advertised?: Rivals top 101 recruits for ‘08 currently ranks only 2 UCLA commits on the list, tied for 13th with other programs. There are 12 programs that have more top commits, including Ohio State leading with 7 and Miami, Notre Dame and SuC trailing close behind with 6 commits each. We may end up top 20 but certainly not top 10.
- Lineman honored: 4 UCLA lineman have been named to the Lombardi Trophy “watch list” of 103 players. They include, DE Bruce Davis, DT Brigham Harwell, LB Christian Taylor, and OG Shannon Tevaga.
- Character at USC??: The other USC, University of South Carolina, is stepping up to the plate when confronted by issues of character. Coach Steve Spurrier has suspended indefinitely one of his best players who was arrested for possessing an unregistered gun (that was in his friend’s possession and wasn’t his). Sound familiar?? It should. While Spurrier won’t allow even a great player with an alleged gun possession charge (his first brush with the law) on the team, Dorrell will allow a COACH with two CONVICTIONS for unregistered gun possessions, with one as recent as less than 2 years ago, on his sidelines. Nice!
Some interesting news to report … but first, just a reminder that tonight is the inaugural Bruin Show live online radio program, at 6 pm PDT. One of our editors will be a panelist on the show to talk about all things Bruin. Tune in! On to the news:
- As we reported on earlier, Dorrell is clamping down on player interviews with the media. In what is increasingly becoming a bizarre scenario, especially given the great promise of the upcoming season, Dorrell has instituted an odd and strict interview blackout rule. Chris Foster, LAT, reports:
- Dorrell has expanded his banned-from-talking-to-the-media list to include 1) any player who is practicing at a new position, 2) those who are hurt but go through a portion of practice and 3) those who are unable to participate in contract drills because of “soreness.”
- When asked by Brian Dohn, Daily News, why the new strict policy, Marc Dellins, UCLA SID, said “Our reasoning is we feel the head coach is the best person to address the injury situation of the team. Ok. Let’s see what the coach has to say.
- Here is Dorrell addressing new backup QB Bethel-Thompson’s strengths, courtesy of Chris Foster LAT: “Asked what Bethel-Thompson’s strengths were, Coach Karl Dorrell quickly replied, ‘We’ll figure that one out.‘” Wait … what? You are the coach, you brought the player in to the system, you have been coaching him, he has been #3 in the depth chart for a QB and you don’t know what his strengths are?? If you want to hold your cards close the vest then say so, if you really don’t know then maybe we are in trouble.
- Here is Dorrell talking about QB Pat Cowan’s injury situation, per Dohn: “‘It looks like it’s more significant than a day-to-day thing, so you know, it looks like he’s, uh … I don’t know,’ Dorrell said.” Yep, these things are better addressed by media savvy Dorrell. Nice.
- We asked Brian Dohn if Ben Howland ever instituted such a strict policy and here is what Dohn said: “Ben is remarkably upfront about injuries. And he doesn’t keep a player from talking if that player is hurt.” Sounds about right. No need to hide anything when you know what you are doing.
- Meanwhile the injury situation is beginning to affect the depth a running back. Markey and Bell are healthy, but at fullback Pitre is out with a knee injury and Thierot is out with a hamstring injury. Also Moline is out for a while. Dylan Rush, a converted DE, is not having a good camp according to Dohn, which leaves Christian Ramirez, former HS RB.
- The guys over at EDSBS have a hilarious take on Dorrell responding to the Cowan injury: “When asked to assess the strengths of McCleod Bethel-Thompson, Karl Dorrell thumbed through his Manual of Ineffective, Alarming Communications Techniques and sent Bruins fans rushing to their desk drawers for loaded pistols.” We’re not at that point yet …
