Berry Tramel over at Oklahoma Sports Blog has a funny update on the ongoing Coach's Tour in the Middle East. Berry shared an email from Rob Shahan, a friend of his who is currently working as a private contractor in Baghdad. Rob emailed the following thoughts on meeting each coach who are currently on the tour:

"Mack Brown: Just as charismatic as ever, he wanted to call in to James Hale’s show from Iraq but couldn’t for security reasons. My buddy asked if I wanted a pic with Mack, I replied: ‘Are you kidding me? Heck no!, haha…’

"Tommy Tuberville: very cordial and friendly. I think he got the raw deal at Auburn.

"Houston Nutt: He and I talked about Midwest City, he and his wife are Okie State alums. [...]

"Rick Neuheisel: best tan of them all, haha…nice guy with a super personality, all the female troops naturally gravitated toward him and his young assistant. We talked surfing and playing the guitar.

"Jim Tressel: very polite and friendly, has that professor type appearance on TVand also in person. Very knowledgeable about most subjects but doesn’t come across as smarter than you. He recognized my AdvoCare shirt (health and wellness products) and said: ‘Drew Brees and AdvoCare!’ He and I are both fans of the AdvoCare line.

Funny stuff. In all seriousness though Rob made sure to include the following thought on the significance of this trip:

"All coaches gave us some swag, mainly hats and tee shirts. All of them signed autographs and took pictures with the troops. The coaches didn’t have to be here in Iraq today, they could have been on a beach or on a golf course. But they all appreciate the sacrifices and hard work our soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen do on a daily basis.

You can read rest of the post here.

Back here in the US, it looks like Aundre Dean has found a school to transfer (HT Puffdaddy at Bruinzone):

Aundrae Dean, a 4 star signee with UCLA in 2008, has decided to transfer to TCU. The Katy, Texas native suffered a sprained ankle during his freshman season and only had 10 carries. He was the 6th rated RB in the country in 2008 after rushing for 2,164 yards and 23 scores his senior season. He will be required to sit out 2009 and have 3 years of eligibility remaining.

Good luck to Aundre. Hopefully TCU is a good fit for him where he will be able to get some immediate PT (after he becomes eligible).

Lastly, we have some TV scheduling notes for this upcoming football season courtesy of the official site:

Three of UCLA's football games have been selected for television. Fox Sports Net has selected two games and one has been tabbed by ESPN.

FSN will televise the Bruins' game against Kansas State at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 19, beginning at 7:15 pm. FSN will also televise the regular-season finale against USC at the Coliseum on Nov. 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm.

In addition, ESPN will televise UCLA's game against Tennessee in Knoxville on Sept. 12. Game time has yet to be determined.

UCLA's Sept. 5 opener against San Diego State at the Rose Bowl will be televised locally by either FS West or Prime Ticket at a time to be determined.

I am not surprised that the UCLA-U$C* game has been moved over to FSN given the way our program has been mediocre for last few years. I have no doubt that the game will be back in limelight soon enough when we are back up to speed. However, the question becomes what happens if NCAA imposes penalties on U$C*'s tv appearances for the mountain of allegations that have piled up against that stained program from last few years.

GO BRUINS.