Norton Staying at Southern Cal

by bruinbabe2000 on Jan 15, 2008 11:54 AM PST

USC linebackers coach Ken Norton, who was wooed by UCLA to return to his alma mater, said today that he would remain with the Trojans.

Norton, 41, said he spoke with new Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel and defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker about joining the UCLA staff as an assistant head coach. Chuck Bullough is UCLA's linebackers coach.

"I'm flattered. They'll always be a team in my heart," said Norton, an All-American linebacker for the Bruins in 1987 who played 13 seasons in the NFL. "I feel real good about Rick Neuheisel and what he's going to do there.

"The timing just wasn't right. I'm really appreciative of what Pete Carroll has done for me over here, and my business is not finished."

~~Since I have not yet learned the HTML codes for shading (perhaps after the second part of my class tomorrow),~~ I now need to complete my 200 word minimum.

I would like to say how much I have enjoyed sharing my excitement for basketball and football with all of you. As I am now exiled from Los Angeles for the next few years, this is my outlet for contact with those who share my passion for my alma mater, as well as my one-stop shop for all news Bruin. I can't tell you how nice it was during the weeks before CRN's hire to come hear, get up to date on the latest rumors, then go about my business. I am a more informed fan because of this site, and I have all of you to thank for that.

I don't know what the future holds for us in basketball and football, but I know we are in good hands (wow, that feels good to say that about football after far too many years). My only regret is that I am too far away to take in all of these wonderful events, but sharing them with all of you is the next best thing.

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.

0 recs | Comment 22 comments

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Now you know

Click "Edit Story" to see the codes I added.

As for Norton, I'm bummed, but not surprised. I wonder if this will be Norton's last chance to come back to his alma mater though.

by Menelaus on Jan 15, 2008 12:01 PM PST 0 recs

Many thanks M

I have been learning HTML for my job (I upload press releases to the university website). I think it was when I did my first hyperlink that a light went off in my head, and I thought to myself, "My gosh, this is what Nestor has been talking about."

by bruinbabe2000 on Jan 15, 2008 12:17 PM PST up 0 recs

It should be his last chance...

This was a great opportunity for him; he would have lined up to take over the DC position in about two years, and in my eyes he blew it. I wouldn't expect CRN to offer him again, and I expect CRN to be here for quite a while. Once Bushgate explodes, and petey is off to the NFL, Norton better hope that petey shows the same loyalty to him that he has showed to petey; if not, norton will be in the unemployment line. Whatever problems there were with dorrell, and norton, should not have affected his decision to come to his alma mater under a new coach, I am disappointed, and a little pist.

big dog

by Sc is full of scumbags on Jan 15, 2008 12:14 PM PST 0 recs

This time matters

It has been discussed a lot here lately, but personally, I didn't really blame KNJr for taking a job with $CJC, especially after how he was received by KD when he was looking for a job. Yeah, it hurt to see him go over to the dark side, but I understood.

But this time is different. He was pursued, and offered a (presumably well paid) position as an assistant head coach. And he said no, and chose $CJC over his alma mater.

This one, I WILL hold against him.

greg in denver

by gbruin on Jan 15, 2008 12:14 PM PST 0 recs

I understand the sentiment

Norton was reportedly offered a "substantial and competitive financial offer" by UCLA, so I'm not sure what his excuse will be down the line.

by Menelaus on Jan 15, 2008 12:46 PM PST up 0 recs

Always Nice to Welcome Home a Bruin,

but this time I have to say I am not disappointed. This may give RN the $$$$ to hire Chow. Having Chow on the staff would be a much bigger get than Norton.

by Bruin77 on Jan 15, 2008 1:05 PM PST 0 recs

Glad he's no longer a distraction

I'm not sure what he had to offer, but he's chosen SUC now, so let him go down with the ship.

BTW- I didn't see anywhere where he says he was offered a job, just that he spoke to people.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 15, 2008 1:41 PM PST 0 recs

The naive devil in me

says that Norton is staying at U$C so he can be CRN's spy and take down the evil empire from within! So I am delusional. So what.

by tasser10 on Jan 15, 2008 2:06 PM PST 0 recs

It reminds me of a Daily Bruin article

That ran when I was a student. The writer was talking about the Dodgers-Giants rivalry, saying that Brett Butler was basically a Giants spy when he was with the Dodgers (citing his stats as proof). He then said he hoped that Orel Hersheiser would turn out to be a Dodger spy (he signed with the Giants at the very end of his career).

by bruinbabe2000 on Jan 15, 2008 2:16 PM PST up 0 recs

Rot Norton

Hope he enjoys staying in south central with the rest of the scum. I always knew he was a scumbag at heart. We need to revoke his Bruin status.

You suck Norton.

by joeb on Jan 15, 2008 5:39 PM PST 0 recs

..ease up, dude.

The guy just made a job choice. As others have pointed out, he didn't turn down UCLA, he just preferred to stay at a place most of us dislike. Read the Times article; his statement was fairly gracious and gentlemanly.

As the wiseguys like to say, "It's not personal, it's just business."

by whp68 on Jan 15, 2008 6:39 PM PST up 0 recs

I Agree

It does not seem we offered him a "better job" or more pay.

I, for one, wished we would have canned Walker and his staff and brought Norton in for a real job. I wonder how many of the recruits Norton brings in are "soft" and drifting away.

Norton was very gracious in his remarks toward us.

I do think he made a bad mistake. Bushgate will hit that program hard, PC may flee, and what will be left? All that said, I think PC has probably told KN he will take him whereever he goes.

Finally, I value loyalty. Part of me thinks that PC took Norton when UCLA would not, and KN is being loyal to PC -- as he should be.

No hard feelings here.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Jan 15, 2008 8:08 PM PST up 0 recs

Agreed

But I like that Coach Neuheisel is building the bridges back with KNJ. He showed him love, which KD never did.

If DW leaves in 2 years, I am certain that RN will make moves toward bringing KNJ back to UCLA. Approaching him now lets KNJ know that he is coveted and always has the opportunity to come home.

Coach Neuheisel handled this well. As did KNJ. He didn't go out to embarrass RN or UCLA.

by Quickhands on Jan 15, 2008 8:46 PM PST up 0 recs

I'm glad CRN is making the decisions!!!!!

You would ditch a well respected and accomplished DC with 20 years of coaching experience for an unproven guy who has coached one position under one coach with questionable success?

RN made the right decision in keeping DW. If KN joined as a position coach, that would be fine, but he doesn't deserve a coordinator job until he gets more experience and proves himself.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 16, 2008 10:30 AM PST up 0 recs

You are misreading

If DW were gone, the rest of his staff would be gone too. That includes the LB coach and the DL coach. With those guys gone at least we could hire KN as a LB coach + assistant head coach. I don't think anyone is thinking to hire him as the DC. You are awful quick to come to DW's defense...

by tasser10 on Jan 16, 2008 11:13 AM PST up 0 recs

There are good reasons to defend Walker

After all, his numbers show that he won a whopping zero more games than he lost, and that he's the 35th or so best DC in the country. With numbers like that, can you say you're surprised that people would flock to his side? 35th out of 119 is high-mediocre at worst.

by Fox 71 on Jan 16, 2008 11:58 AM PST up 0 recs

I guess taking the 110th ranked defense

and improving it to 35th is not an accomplishment. I will remember that when RN takes our 100 something ranked offense and doesn't make it top 10 his first year. I am sure you will criticize him too.

And, as I displayed in a previous post, in games where our offense scored more than 7 points, our defense held opponents to 11 fewer points than their average this year.

Luckily, CRN recognizes that DW is a great DC and did a great job.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 16, 2008 12:58 PM PST up 0 recs

Beating a dead horse

It remains to be seen if DW is a "great" DC. He improved our defense in his first year, but it got worse in his second year. He's done a decent job but question marks remain. We'll see if the defense's woes were caused by the offense's ineptitude.

by tasser10 on Jan 16, 2008 2:12 PM PST up 0 recs

It's remarkable that we can look at

the same numbers and draw different conclusions. The facts are the numbers, and they stay the same no matter what. The conclusions I suppose depend on one's vantage point and on one's frame of reference. I have the good fortune of being able to remember some real defenses put on the field by Rocky Long. Rocky Long was great as a DC (but apparently not so great as a HC, but I digress.)

The numbers tell me there is a remarkable lack of consistency by our defense. Thankfully, we never see that sort of inconsistent defense by our b-ball players, and that's because Coach Howland is a great defensive coach. Coach Walker does not, to me, demonstrate the ability to get that sort of consistently great play out of the defense. They are very good at some things, and they are very good some of the time, but they are not consistently great.

Coach Walker has had two years to weave whatever magic spell his ostensible greatness could weave, and our team was 13-13. We were basically at the top of the second quartile in terms of performance. That, to me, is not great by any definition. It's not bad. It could be described as good. Compared to where we were before he showed up its a quantum leap forward. But to me his numbers don't mean he is anything more than an above average coach.

All that said, if Coach Neuheisel supports him, I support him. My preference would have been for Coach Neuheisel to have wanted someone else (i.e., a complete house-cleaning), but alas that was not to be.

We haven't had a major argument on the BN in a while (excluding the envious trOJans who occasionally stroll by to try to stir up trouble), and I would ordinarily invite something that would start a brouhaha. But we're still in post-hiring euphoria, and it would probably be counter productive to make that go away too soon. Let's just leave it that we disagree for now.

by Fox 71 on Jan 16, 2008 5:47 PM PST up 0 recs

I posted this before

Walker vs Long

Walkers First Year 19.9 points per game

Long's First Year 28.9 points per game

Walkers second year 22.8 points per game

Long's second year 20.6 points per game

I think its weird that people remember how great Long was (and he was really good, and really innovative and creative) but when they see Walker, who has better numbers, they don't think he's very good.

I'm really not sure why this is.

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 17, 2008 4:18 PM PST up 0 recs

Did you ever see the Rocky Long defense?

I've seen both. Rocky's defense didn't look like the defense we had last year. And it seems to me that you're ignoring a trend or two, but I won't bog you down with facts. You cannot be convinced that Walker did not invent football, and that's your prerogative. I hope that Walker's defensive numbers move in the proper direction this year. I hope there are no more Utah or WSU debacles. I hope no other team intimates that we are soft. I want no receiver to go over the middle, or no QB to go back to pass or no running back to go into the line without feeling abject terror.

Coach Neuheisel thinks Coach Walker is the man to do this - to take us back to Coach Long's second year (not to put too fine a point on it.) If Coach Neuheisel thinks Coach Walker is the man, I am behind both of them and pulling for success for each.

But you'll never be convinced to abandon your fundamental premise, so you'll understand why I'm bowing out of the debate. If you want the last word, you've got it. Or the last ten words.

by Fox 71 on Jan 17, 2008 6:31 PM PST up 0 recs

Points per game are meaningless

If you give up 40 points in each of 6 games, then 0 points in each of 6 games, you average 20 pts/game. But you're very likely 6-6. The key word here is CONSISTENCY. Rocky Long had it. DeWayne Walker does not. At least not yet.

When teams played against Rocky Long's defenses, they had no idea what the defense would do. The linebackers would shift in and out, it was very confusing. When teams play Walker, they know they won't be able to run. So they pass. Really no mystery there, it's just a dare, and he got caught at it quite a few times.

by tasser10 on Jan 18, 2008 10:46 AM PST up 0 recs