Chuck Bullough Promoted To Defensive Coordinator; Carnell Lake Joins Staff

From the official site:

Chuck Bullough, who has been an integral component in UCLA's defensive success for the past three seasons and who also owns five years of coaching experience in the National Football League, has been promoted to defensive coordinator, head coach Rick Neuheisel announced today.

"Chuck is an outstanding coach and is certainly deserving of the opportunity to lead our defense," said Neuheisel. "He worked closely with DeWayne (Walker, now head coach at New Mexico State) in the development of schemes and game plans, so I know the defense will continue to flourish under his leadership.

"He has a dynamic, high-energy personality and can really get after it on the recruiting trail. He is very detail oriented when it comes to teaching fundamentals and he has earned the respect of our players for the job he has done while here at UCLA."

The whole story is here.

There is also word that Carnell Lake is the new linebackers coach, but nothing up on the official site yet. When it becomes official, we'll update.

UPDATE (A): Okay, Brian Dohn has a different version of the release on his blog and it confirms Lake's hiring, noting that Lake will coach DBs, not linebackers.

Carnell Lake, who earned All-America honors at UCLA and All-Pro acclaim in the National Football League, has been hired to coach the Bruin cornerbacks, head football coach Rick Neuheisel announced today.

"We are thrilled to bring Carnell back to UCLA," said Neuheisel. "He had a great playing career, both at UCLA and in the NFL, and was a real student of the game. We believe the qualities that made him a great player will translate to his coaching assignment.

"I also feel he will be a great asset in recruiting. He grew up in Los Angeles, went to school at UCLA, was a great student and played for a long time in the NFL. He is the prototype of the young men we are looking to recruit to UCLA."

Lake, 41, was a three-year (1986-88) starting outside linebacker (he was a key reserve as a true freshman) at UCLA and excelled both on the field and in the classroom.

UPDATE II (N): I most agree with rye who likes the Bullough hire:

While DW wasn’t the world’s greatest DC as some liked to claim, he was very good IMO and Bullough reportedly will do a lot of the same things and has a lot of the same ideas. Bullough also has recruiting ties to the area, something that made him a very good fit for the position since this is still a new staff with CRN getting back into the recruiting scene.

Regarding Lake, I have no idea if he’ll be a good coach. We’ve seen former great players be great coaches and some of them be terrible coaches. I don’t think any of us really know for sure which he’s going to be, but if you’re going to bring in a first time coach, he’s as good a pick as any. Worst case scenario is he’s not a very good coach, but you have a 5 time Pro-Bowler walking around the practice field which has got to look good to recruits.

I think the main advantage of promoting Bullough lies in contiuity of our existing defensive scheme that was put in place by Walker. With Bullough at the helm lot of our young players like Sloan, Ayers, Moore, Dye and others who were coming along towards the end of the this season can continue to develop under (presumably) the same scheme. My main concern with this move though is Bullough's lack of experience as a DC. I guess CRN feels confident in this move. We will see the data points on this hire in next three years. As far as Lake coming aboard I dig the idea of a former Bruin legend coming over as a position coach. I rather have someone like Lake going out recruiting and coaching at UCLA than a turncoat like Petey's poodle.

Once again congrats to Coach Bullough and welcome home Coach Lake. GO BRUINS.