As we have been saying here for almost 2 weeks, Lane Kiffin is interested in going back to the college ranks. And we told you a few days ago, UCLA is in his sights. Apparently, UCLA is interested in Kiffin as well, according to NFL.com's Adam Schefter (in video format). Schefter in an interview with Rich Eisen also put another interesting name into the mix: Kansas City head coach Herm Edwards. We have been hearing rumors of Edwards for a couple of days now but did not believe it. Now one has to take his name seriously. What is great about all this is that UCLA football is being talked about again, and current and former NFL coaches are being talked about. Many good names have come up. And Brian Doh!n would have you believe that NO ONE wants this job (therefore Hire Walker!). UCLA remains important even though we suffered and were embarrassed under Dorrell. Go Bruins!!
Back to the lighter side of football … OC Register columnist Randy Youngman did some journalistic sleuthing and uncovered a bombshell fact about the Utah slaughter (HT to DD reader WM for the heads up):
This just in: The NCAA is investigating allegations that Belichick sent UCLA's playbook and game plan to the Utah coaching staff, before the Utes embarrassed the Bruins, 44-6, on Saturday.
At least that's what Karl Dorrell has been telling people.
Hilarious. It absolutely felt like Utah had our playbook and was reading our signs. On both sides of the ball. Their players were everywhere on defense that we went to with the ball and everywhere on offense we weren't. More Youngman: read more
Per Brian Dohn, Dorrell interviewed a third former UCLA receiver for the vacant WR coaching position. Reggie Moore, who spent the last 3 seasons as WR coach for North Dakota State (damn that’s dedication), played for 3 years as a Bruin ending in 1991 (during years we were there but we can’t remember him). Moore did play a few years in the NFL for the Jets and the Rams as a receiver and return specialist according to his bio at NDSU. We will withhold judgment on the WR coach until Dorrell hires one.
In other coaching news, former NFL and college coach Jerry Glanville took over the head coaching job at Portland State, after long time head coach Tim Walsh left for the OC position at Army. Why are we writing about this? Glanville is yet another consummate pro who is not above going back to a smaller program to rebuild his coaching resume. He started at small college programs in the late 60s, and after working his way up through the NFL and two head coaching jobs at Houston and Atlanta (taking them to the playoffs many times), he went back to college as a DC at Hawaii 2 years ago following a stint in broadcasting. Just like Dennis Johnson, Glanville worked his way up then went back to work his way up again. Dorrell should learn from such pros, but he is above earning it at smaller programs.
What a day in the NFL and for the Chargers yesterday. First the Chargers hire Norv Turner as their head coach, then the Bears announce that they are not resigning DC Ron Rivera, who interviewed with a number of teams off-season for their head coaching positions, including the Chargers. Later in the day the Chargers made a deal with Rivera to be their second of 2 line backers coach. Great pickup for the bolts, but one has to wonder what was going on in Chicago. That defense looked pretty good in getting an otherwise average team to the Super Bowl. Bears coach Lovie Smith was actively trying to help Rivera get a head coaching job … and now we know why, he had no intentions of keeping him.
Dan Guerrero and Karl Dorrell should take notice. Dan should note that such a process is legit and could work. And Karl should note that if he doesn’t win the conference championship next season he should take what he can get in the NFL because he may just be shown the door anyway.
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
The odd saga with the Daily Bruin is over. We are done with Ben “LaRouche” Azar, who makes no apologies for invoking a racist nazi to attack criticism he doesn’t agree with, and DB editor Jeff Schenck, who makes no apologies for not taking responsibility for the poisonous perceptions his paper creates. They are done with us. There will be no retractions or apologies and we will not stop with our factual case for firing Dorrell. More on the rest of Ben Azar’s piece later.
Oddly, another DB student reporter, Gilbert Quinonez, came out with a biting piece on the coaching vacancy in San Diego, arguing sarcastically that Dorrell is right for the job. We agree. We expect for Ben Azar to write another hit piece on the “LaRouche-like assertions” his fellow reporter makes in his own rag (which all DD readers know are the same assertions we have made here so often), but we aren’t holding our breath. Have a read of Quinonez’ piece.
Here is an excerpt: read more
The long wait is over, Dallas has a new coach. Wade Phillips hasn’t exactly lit it up in the NFL, barely building a .500 resume in 3 seasons with Buffalo and 2 in Denver, with short fill-ins in Atlanta and New Orleans. He is 0-3 in the playoffs as well. Not exactly the resume one would expect the next head coach of the Cowboys to have, but he is from Texas and he has spent 30 years in the NFL, and he is Dallas’ new head coach. The Cowboys normally go for coaches with no NFL head coaching experience and do quite well (Landry, Johnson, Switzer). It’s a head scratcher that owner Jerry Jones goes with a proven mediocre coach.
Dorrell missed a golden opportunity with read more
Today is national signing day, the first day high school seniors can sign their binding letters of intent to attend and play at a school of their choosing. We have verbal commits from 2 of the Rivals.com top 100 players in the country, our highest being rated #68 (Brian Price). By comparison, USC has 9 commits in the top 100, 3 of which are in the top 11 and 7 of which are in the top 50. Several more in the top 100 are seriously considering USC, including the #2 ranked player in the nation.
Dorrell apologists are quick to point out that read more
A NY Giants blogger wonders if the Giants can get rid of their coach maybe they can pick up an “excellent” coach like Karl Dorrell. We suspect we will be seeing more of this kind of media hype rehash as next season’s team picks up 8 easy wins. Let’s hope they add fuel to the fire. We should at some point stop outing these mistakes publicly so that some NFL team can take our problem off our hands. We should let them make their mistake before pointing it out. At this stage in the game it isn’t going to matter much. Here is the Dorrell quote: read more
UCLA alum Brian Fletcher has his ring. As 2nd year tight end for the Super Bowl champ Indianapolis Colts, Fletcher had 2 catches for 9 yards but more importantly helped the Colts rush for nearly 200 yards against the best rush defense in the league. He did cough up the ball when Chicago Bears CB Charles Tillman stripped him of the ball on a pass play in the 2nd quarter, but Bears QB Rex Grossman fumbled it right back on the very next play. No points were scored on the Colts due to Fletcher’s turnover. Fletcher also had a tackle in the game.
UCLA alum and Bears CB Ricky Manning Jr. fared ok as CB for the Bears getting 2 solo tackles in the loss. But Manning missed badly on a tackle on at least one play that helped seal the game for the Colts towards the end. UCLA alum and Bears LB Brendan Ayanbadejo recorded 1 tackle according to Yahoo Sports, although we don’t remember seeing him on the field. No USC alums were in the Super Bowl.
