Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

(TBS = The Boxer's Son)

Nestor and I have agreed, for a while that our athletic department has been hampered by a less than stellar PR department. CRN is doing a great job of carrying his relentlessly positive approach to all things UCLA to the world. I hope his example rubs off on our PR department and they magnify his efforts.

The Biggest Losers — Couples Edition? TBS and pc.

TBS for all of the obvious reasons stated AND because it is now clear that he was a tool used by pc. pc pushed him to make a media statement; TBS had nothing to gain from that statement; why close the door on a place that might have given him an opportunity? pc used TBS and will, ultimately throw him away. To allow himself to be used in a situation like this shows that TBS is not the sharpest tool in the box. And, therein lies the ultimate damage to TBS - more and more it is becoming clear that head coaches have to be able to deal with the press -and TBS has shown that he can’t. This was a big loss for TBS. He closed the door on his Bruin family AND he looked like a fool in the press.

pc is the other big loser. Even Simers is seeing through his veneer. First, he looks scared — he can “poo poo” the “Monopoly Is Over” campaign, which was a bit premature — but he is clearly afraid of the battle we are waging on the recruiting front. Ask John McCain. Going negative does not work. And, second, he looks Machiavellian, not a good thing, manipulating a coach, pushing him out front to make a fool of himself, and trying to sit back and look like a humanitarian. Unfortunately, his manipulation was not good enough and he got caught.

The fallout? Nestor hit it on the head. At a time when there is no reason for UCLA to be in the press — in a positive way — at a time when sc should be dominating the news with its preparation for the Rose Bowl, CRN is looking great and pc and TBS are not. And, the tie to Pressley’s decision to come here is being seen as the clear reason for TBS’ outburst. This can only help us.

I think there may be a back story here — we must be getting close to turning some other sc commits and they must be getting scared.

One question on the recruiting front: How many of the kids they are going after are like Pressley, qualified to get into school here? My sense is that it is not too many. They will always hold a recruiting advantage over us — the one that stems from lower admission standards. Much of their pain must be from the appearance that we can take people away from them more than the reality — because even if we can convince some of their recruits to choose us, we may not be able to accept them.

One final random thought: I wonder where DW is in all of this. I take it this is a dead period and no actual recruiting is going on. But, I wonder if DW has said anything like “If I go, you can rest assured that CRN will put someone in the DC job who brings to it all the skill that Norm Chow brings as OC.” I think it important that as the recruits mull their choices they know that either DW will be here or he will be replaced by someone of quality.

And, that takes me back to TBS. I think it was clear to him that CRN would not make him a DC but, rather, would offer him a position coach job and a fancy title. There was simply too much resistance to TBS as a DC — some because they held against him his work at sc (I was not in that camp) and some because he’s not really qualified to be a DC(I was in this camp), yet. I think more than anything the fear of being “rejected” again by UCLA put him in a frame of mind where he was so easily used by pc. TBS is a grown up and used or not, this is all on him. As I said before, he needed us a lot more than we needed him. His loss, not ours.

sjh