FanPost

To Give or Not to Give, That is the Question

A week or so ago, right in the middle of Final Four Fever, someone at UCLA sent me a solicitation to contribute.  I announced that fact here in the BN, and suggested that I was going to take that opportunity to explain that I would contribute nothing until Coach Dorrell was replaced.

There were several comments, some expressing agreement, and some expressing great dismay that I would let my opinion about football outweigh all the other reasons why a contribution would be a good thing.

The solicitation was the second I had received in a relatively short time.  I responded to that in roughly the same manner that I intend to respond to this one.  The first draft of my letter is shown below, and is about ready to go.  I would be interested in your comments, although I make no promises about whether any suggestions will be used.

To those who think it is sacreligious even to consider not contributing, this is your opportunity to explain why my view is shortsighted (or worse.)  

Here is what I propose to send.  You should recognize the list, which I found here at BN.  I chose not to refer to BN in the letter in case the reader is one of those who views BN and its contributors as Larouchians (or whatever the term is).

Dear Fellow Bruins:

I refuse to donate one penny to my alma mater as long as Karl Dorrell remains as Head Football Coach.  I believe his tenure has been an absolute disaster.  I fear that unless he is removed, the deterioration of the once-proud football program will continue until it cannot be revived.  We will become the West Coast version of Duke - strong in basketball, but a laughingstock in football.

Here is a partial list of items which demonstrate his ineptitude.  

  1. He is 1-3 against Southern Cal.  Two of the losses have been total embarrassments.
  2. The team has no Pac-10 championships.
  3. The team has no BCS bowl games.
These three items were established before he coached his first game as the earmarks for success for the program.  Nonetheless, A.D. yet to explain why corrective action has not been taken.  These minimum expectations were recently reiterated (including a win by 20 points over sc.  (Sorry, I am constitutionally unable to capitalize those letters in this context.)  Why these minimum expectations are suddenly relevant again has also never been explained.

But the list continues:

  1. Coach Dorrell is 1-3 in bowl games (all of which were minor)
  2. He is 1-10 on the road against teams with a winning record.
  3. He has the worst starting 3- AND 4- year record of any UCLA football coach since WW2, including Bob Toledo who was fired.
  4. He has a worse winning percentage (.580) than Bob Toledo, who was fired.
  5. He is 3-11 against ranked teams.
  6. He is 2-7 against top 10 teams.
  7. He has only 6 conference wins against teams who finished over .500.
  8. He is 19-14 against Pac-10 teams.
  9. He is 8-17 against teams with a winning record.
  10. He has 10 losses to unranked teams.
  11. He has a losing record after October, 6-12.
  12. He "lead" us to embarrassing losses to Wyoming, Fresno State, Arizona, Southern Cal and Florida State.
  13. His inability to attract or retain assistant coaches has reached nearly legendary proportions.
  14. His penchant for spouting meaningless cliches about "moral victories," and how a loss (no matter how embarrassing) is a "learning experience" demonstrates an apparent constitutional inability to deal with the truth in an open and honest manner.
The items on this list are objective, except perhaps for the last one.  They are enough.  There is no need to go into any subjective reasons why Coach Dorrell should be fired immediately.  Indeed, on the subjective side, there are many qualities of Coach Dorrell which are to be admired.  All Bruins would be honored to include Coach Dorrell as a friend.  But he was not hired to be everyone's friend.  He was hired to lead the football program.  He was given a list of minimum expectations, and has failed to live up to them.

Again, not one cent will be donated to UCLA until Coach Dorrell is dismissed.  I will do my job and contribute to my alma mater as soon as my alma mater does its job, and puts a proven leader in charge of the football program.

I would not be surprised if many alumni respond to your solicitation in this manner.

Please pass this along to Mr. Guerrero.

                        Very truly yours,

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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