The Petition to Dump Karl Dorrell has been sent via email to Dan Guerrero, UCLA administrators (Blackman, Morrison, Field, and the Chancellor’s Office), and to various members of the press (Daily Bruin, LA Times, LA Daily News, LB Press Telegram, OC Register, AM 570 radio, ESPN.com, ESPN Radio). The press did not receive the .csv files with names and contact information of petition signatories. The petition is still viewable and apparently signable (the ipetition team is working on closing the petition). We are going to send a hard copy tomorrow.

Here is the text of the email sent: read more

The petition to Dump Dorrell will be sent to Dan Guerrero later today. You still have time to send it to your Bruin friends at work, across the country, anywhere. After the petition is sent we will close the petition, meaning no more signatures will be accepted but you will still be able to view it. We are nearly at 850 signatures so lets get that last push on.

If you are having trouble convincing loyal Bruins, have them consider this: read more

Editor: There are many great notes on the petition to Dump Dorrell signature page made from passionate and loyal Bruin fans and alums. There is one that stands out that we’d like to print here (with minor editing) before we send the petition to Dan Guerrero tomorrow (please sign the petition if you haven’t already). Thank you Howard A. Grey, Ph.D., we could not have put it better.

As a life-long Bruin, alumnus (all 3 degrees), and former instructor, UCLA has been my “second home”. I have hesitated to express these views, thinking last year marked a turnaround in the football program. But read more

The petition to Dump Karl Dorrell will be sent to Dan Guerrero next Monday, January 8. We will send it with the many signatures we have. We are closing in on 1,000 so let’s make one last push to get it signed by every Bruin we can. It’s important to send the message regardless of what the chances are of Dorrell being fired. Dan Guerrero needs to know that a large number of Bruin faithful believe strongly that our football program is in the wrong hands. It’s significant that nearly 1,000 students, alums, boosters, donors, and fans have signed their names to this effort.

Next year, after 5 long years, DG will have to measure the progress of this program under Karl Dorrell given the goals he set out when he hired KD. If KD does not win the Pac-10 championship with the nearly the entire starting team returning and the easier schedule we have next year, he never will. And if Dorrell doesn’t win the conference championship next year, read more

The petition to Dump Dorrell is getting national attention thanks the more than 430 people who have signed it in the first 5 days. Sports Illsutrated On Campus has alerted their readers to Bruinsnation.com, their “favorite college football blogger,” and their efforts to get rid of Karl Dorrell. Correction, Sports Illustrated On Campus now has DumpDorrell.com as the Blog Of The Week, and they note and link to the Petition! This is great exposure for our cause to change the direction of our football program. This will help us and Dan Guerrero.

DG has to get rid of KD this year because it will be much harder later on and we will be stuck in mediocrity for years to come. We can help DG. It starts with all of you, loyal UCLA fans that want the best for our football program and university. Once the first mention nationally hits, other exposure follows. Let’s keep the pressure on so that we can give DG the political backing he needs to do the right thing. Get the word out!

It used to be enough for Karl Dorrell to say after losses or pathetic peformances that the team was “learning” or “growing.”  We all know that is Steve Lavin’s, er, Karl Dorrell’s lexicon. His post game press conference stump speech was written a couple of years ago. After yet another horrendous season, and 4 straight losses, Karl has added a new twist.  The team is getting better!  Exciting News!  The caveat …. our team is just not getting as better as much other teams are getting better.

The beat reporters are doing their best to make light of a bad situation, to give KD and the team some credit.  After all, they did score more than 1 touchdown en route to 24 points and over 500+ yards of offense.  There is a huge problem with the glowing analysis.  Cal’s defense is ranked #92 in the nation.  That’s worse than Utah and Arizona, whom we beat.  Cal’s pass defense is even worse, ranked near dead last at #106, more pathetic than even Stanford or Rice.  So this improvement on offense is a mirage, a hoax.  If anything, we have gotten worse on offense.  Against better defenses we scored more points.

Karl Dorrell’s best team yet has not gotten better.  His spin from day 1 was suspect, when he boasted on Media Day that “this team is going to shock people” and of course his now infamous “best team yet” comment.  Now that his best team yet has gotten off to the worst start of any KD coached team (in this his 4th year!), KD is trying to make the case that the team is getting better!! Better than even his the ‘best yet’ tag he already gave them?! Wow.

For anyone who feels sorry for KD and the heat he is taking, the whole “firing” of a nice guy thing and the whole “he is a Bruin” thing, take a second to think about the implications of keeping him on board.  First, KD is getting a nice base salary as a public official at $850K per year. Plus he has clauses in his contract to get paid even if he get’s fired. Don’t worry about KD.  Second, he is costing the university much more money than his salary(!) - money that would go to erstwhile important programs that we all care about and affect so many, because revenues from football, boosters, and donations are down due to his inept coaching.  That is the crux of the issue. 

UCLA, our community, is more important than any one individual! So sign the petition to Dump Dorrell.   Get the word out!

For those who don’t yet know, the petition to Dump Dorrell that will be sent to Dan Guerrero and other decision makers is available here for your signature.  Read it, sign it, viral the heck out of it by emailing the link to friends, putting it on your Facebook, Friendster, Myspace, or other website pages.  Get the word out!

The new tshirts will be available online Sunday morning (we are working on the website coding), check back here then.  New Dump Dorrell tshirts have been designed and voted on by Bruinsnation and DumpDorrell readers.  Due to the demand for two styles, we are making both available in limited edition (500 qty).  We want to get them out to your door by Saturday, November 11, for the Oregon State game at home.   More details later.

The petition to Dump Dorrell is now available online. Read it, sign it, leave a comment, and send it to your friends. Get viral with it by using the viral bookmarks at the bottom of this post, by sending this post to your friends, or using the links on the petition to send to your friends. You can also link directly to the petition on your Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, or other website pages. Now is the time to start building momentum to change the direction of the football program.

Once we reach a large amount of signatures we will send it to Dan Guerrero and all the appropriate people in Morgan Center and Murphy Hal. So get the word out!!

*pdf version will be available soon

Here is an updated draft of the online petition. It will be made available for online signatures after we get some feedback. Please read and comment. If you have a petition that you’d like to write or have everyone consider by all means send it in via the contact page.

October 31, 2006

Open Letter To Dan Guerrero, UCLA Director of Athletics

Dear Dan:

We the students, alumni, faculty, donors, boosters and fans of UCLA and its athletic programs strongly believe it is time for you to replace Karl Dorrell as Head Coach of our football program. We make this appeal to you after careful consideration of his achievements and of the short- and long-term consequences of making such a change.

Karl Dorrell changed the character of the football program and cleaned up many of the off-the-field issues that disgraced our community in years past. He has set a great example for future teams in this regard, and for that we are grateful. As you know, our football program requires more than just those achievements to be successful.

On the field Karl Dorrell has led our Bruins to unacceptable results. When you hired Karl four years ago you said at the press conference that you expected our football team to win Pac-10 championships, compete in BCS bowl games and to beat Southern Cal. After nearly four years, Karl Dorrell has achieved none of those goals. In fact, he has had the worst start in his first 3 years than any UCLA coach since Edwin “Babe” Horrell during WWII, and he has a worse record than Bob Toledo, who was fired. However, coach Dorrell’s achievements are more deeply disappointing than those failures (please refer to the list following this letter).

We understand that our displeasure with the coach, however, could be viewed as nothing more than the expected grumbling of an unrealistic, unreasonable or overcritical few. This is not the case, and the implications as you know are much more significant. You have already witnessed both in person and on the balance sheet the measured effect our displeasure has had on the football program, the athletic department’s budget and the budget of the university in general. Attendance at home games is down considerably, viewership on television has suffered similarly, and donors and boosters are calling for a group-wide effort at withholding donations to your department and its programs, the Athletic Fund, and the university. Many have already stopped giving. There is also a call for students, alumni and fans to boycott the remaining games at home, which would further negatively affect your department’s revenues.

The cumulative negative effect on your department’s bottom line, as you know, affects your ability to provide the best resources and support to all UCLA athletic programs, something you promised you would provide not just days ago in answer to a reporter’s question.* As our athletic programs close in on our 100th national championship this point could not be more salient. Karl Dorrell is costing UCLA far more than what we are paying him.

What we all want is a football program worthy of the pride and excellence of our community. Karl Dorrell the coach does not meet that standard. We would like to have a football program run by an experienced and proven winning head coach so that we can achieve the goals you set. We know of many candidates that fit our needs (Butch Davis, Bobby Petrino, Rich Rodriguez, Steve Kragthorpe to name a few). We do not accept the premise that UCLA football is a training ground for unproven or inexperienced head coaches.

In closing, we would like to offer you our support in taking this difficult step. You have restored excellence in our basketball and baseball programs by hiring Ben Howland and John Savage. We have every confidence that you can do the same with our beloved football program.

Karl Dorrell’s Record (as of 10/31/06)

1. No wins against Southern Cal.
2. No wins on the road against teams with a winning record. He is 0-9.
3. No big game wins.
4. No Pac-10 championships.
5. No BCS bowl games.
6. Worst starting 3 year record of any UCLA football coach since WW2, including Bob Toledo who was fired.
7. Worse winning percentage than Bob Toledo, who was fired.
8. 3-10 against ranked teams.
9. 1-6 against top 10 teams.
10. Only 3 conference wins against teams over .500.
11. 16-13 in the Pac-10.
12. 9 losses to unranked teams.
13. Embarrassing losses to Wyoming, Fresno State, Arizona, Southern Cal.
14. Revolving door for assistant coaches.
15. 80% of Bruins fans polled on Bruinsnation.com disapprove of the job KD is doing.