Time to Act: Cease All Financial Support to UCLA Athletics
by Menelaus on Oct 25, 2011 10:00 AM PDT
in UCLA Athletics
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It's been about 13 years since I slept on a sidewalk. In Pasadena, that is. And it was fantastic.
I was going to the Rose Bowl the next day, and didn't know yet that my Bruins would fall to Wisconsin in "the" Rose Bowl. Nestor and I sat in the stands, and those memories won't leave me soon, or ever.
It's been only slightly less long ago, it seems, that I last posted as a front-pager on BN. I think it was after that day of hope a few years ago that Ryan and I sat down with our newly hired coach Rick Neuheisel.
It's a funny thing, looking back. It's been 20 years (holy crap!) since I first stepped onto campus in Westwood as a freshman. It was only weeks later that I went to my first football game at the Rose Bowl. And that's when my second most significant love affair began. I wrote about it a bit, in one of my first posts on BN, here .
In case you are wondering, this isn't going to be a regular post, with news, insight or analysis. There'll be none of that. This is a story, some catharsis, and maybe a bit of a confession.
You see, while I used to, I do not support UCLA athletics financially anymore. Let me explain why I have reached this decision and why I think all other Bruin alums, students and season ticket holders should consider doing the same.
Let's walk it back.
In 1994, I graduated. That same year, I bought season tickets in the "young alumni" section.
In 1998, I finished graduate school (don't ask where ), got a good job, and started contributing in earnest to the athletic department.
In 2001, I started that most important love affair, and soon after made my wife-to-be an honorary Bruin.
In the years that followed, so much has happened. Until recently, I could have counted the games I missed at the Rose Bowl on one hand. Children learned to walk on the golf course. My donations (and number of season tickets) to UCLA grew and grew along with my career.
In early 2011, much of that stopped. For two decades, my support of UCLA hadn't waived. Yet, buffeted by so many of the disappointments with UCLA athletics so well chronicled here, I stopped. For me, it ended when Dan Guerrero decided that students shouldn't be first at Pauley . I cancelled my season tickets. I gave up my seating priority accrued through years of donations to the Wooden Fund. I stopped going to the Bruin Touchdown Club. I secretly felt remorse, and wondered what I'd do on those magical Saturdays.
And here's the confession part. In a lot of ways, I haven't missed it. Don't get me wrong, I have in ways. But, after so many years of heartbreak, through ups and mostly downs; through hurricanes, and Lavins, Dorrells and face-palmingly inexplicable events to date, I've had enough. And last Thursday was so cartoonishly over the top bad I can hardly express it.
As freesia said a few days ago, "to call that game embarrassing is embarrassing to the word embarrassing."
Here's where I put a fine point on it. I don't support UCLA athletic anymore with my pocketbook (sorry, Ben). I can, in not insignificant ways, support UCLA football. I just don't. And I won't again until Dan Guerrero and, secondarily, Rick Neuheisel, leave UCLA in the hands of people not mired in the decay of the Morgan Center who take those hallowed four letters seriously, and stop squandering the boundless opportunity to let UCLA flourish, if given only a bit of real attention and commitment.
I can't be alone. In fact, I know I'm not. I can't call some friends donors anymore, because, well, they aren't. And those that have pledged to things like the Pauley renovations are embarrassed to have done so, and have reconsidered.
Until there is a wholesale regime change at UCLA, I call on all of us to cease any and all financial support to the athletic department until Dan Guerrero resigns or is fired. I wish it hadn't come to this, but it has.
Keep emailing, calling, etc., but this is where my cynical side tells me that more is needed. If you have not signed the petition calling for Dan's removal sign it now. We've been patient. So very patient. We've supported the team, so long and so well. We will always support that athletes.
But, it's time. Time to act. Now.
Go Bruins.
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I wrote this last Friday morning
The only reason anything happens is because of physics or money.
And since gravity isn’t going to get Rick and Guerreror out, is has to be money.
The phone calls and lettters and email will get the University’s attention. Decreased attendance, decreased merchandise sales, and decreased donations will force the University to understand that we are not going to tolerate this anymore.
Fix it, Chancellor Block. If you want to survive, change. Get us a new AD, let him restore the football and athletic programs, and then watch your support in all areas of the University return.
greg in denver, U.C.L.A. guy for life - BruinsNation.com
+1
I was thinking of the student athletes, in all the sports at UCLA. What are their thoughts and reactions to all the fiasco that AD Dan has put them through? Does AD Dan even think about the athletes or students than try so hard to compete and make UCLA a top notch university?
I was there
at the Rose Bowl when Wisconsin ran over us. I also remember feeling alone because my wife and I were surrounded by Wisconsin fans at the ROSE BOWL!. Maybe we were fat then and flush with success and maybe it just doesn’t matter if we have a good or bad team. Fan turnout it seems has always been an issue.
Prediction:
It’s a well-known fact that the uproar over the Pauley seating fiasco had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to restore students’ sideline seats. We know this, because the MC told us it was so. Nope, it was because of some more student polling and magnanimous open-mindedness on MC’s part.
So, when the inevitable regime change occurs, hopefully including the AD, it won’t be because of any uproars or outside campaigns. Nope, it will be because of [INSERT PLATITUDES HERE].
But, I do encourage folks to continue writing, calling, e-mailing, and witholding, so that we can be sure not to be heard.
Although I share your frustration,
I’m unwilling to abandon our student athletes. They need our support. I hope that we can bring about the necessary changes to the athletic department to restore excellence in UCLA athletics without sacrificing our direct support for the young men and women who wear the four letters.
by ScottishBruin on Oct 25, 2011 11:11 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Right there with you....unfortunately
I called guerreros office to call for the ouster of R. Then called bLocks for the ouster of Guerrero.
This season I was an inch from canceling but: (1) didn’t want to blow it for my donor group; and, (2) have a really hard time giving up 39 yard line tickets, 20 rows up. But when I called and said I was ceasing my donation until Guerrero and RN were. O longer there and replaced by serious succesors I meant every word. Disgusted with what the athletic face of UCLA has become. I can’t support this degeneration of our university that is excellent in every single other aspect.
What would block do if our poli sci dept head let that dept degenerate to the level Guerrero haset our athletics dept get to? Lexus gauntlet loss for something like four years and running
by Scotucla03 on Oct 25, 2011 11:11 AM PDT via mobile reply actions
sorry about the gorilla thumbs on the mobile phone
compounded by spell check. Yikes.
I love the reference to Thurs being "cartoonish"
It was like the film, “Bad News Bears”, but w/o the happy ending. …YET.
The games are neither interesting nor fun
If I were still in town, I wouldn’t waste my money. I have started going to high school football again. It is far more watchable than what UCLA puts out.
I agree with the economic boycott.
I'm Done
I have been a long time Bruin supporter, and season ticket holder. I have not missed a home football game since 2006, and usually go to one road game a year. I also go to a few baketball, and baseball games a year. After last Thursdays debacle, I can no longer support them. I can’t handle the misery anymore
My 9 year old son who also bleeds blue and gold, and has probably been to more UCLA events than any 9 year old in history said he doesn’t want to wear his UCLA gear to shool anymore because the kids make fun of him, and my wife said. Why do you put yourself through the pain? Is it worth it?
I make a decent living, but am not a millionaire, so until there is a regime change, there are many other places I would rather spend my $2000+ for season tickets, and who knows how much more on other games, parking, merchandise, and so on. Although I love tailgaiting with friends, and family. The pain, and suffering during, and days after the game, just flat out is not worth it. So I"M DONE!!
A Tale of Two Institutions.........
I am a lifelong Bruin fan, having fallen in love with my Bruins watching them snake out of a huddle on black and white TV. It’s been 44 years since I flipped my tassle in Pauley Pavillion and became a graduate of the finest university in the world. For 20 years I was a season ticket holder in section 28. My kids grew up watching Ucla football.
My wife grew up in Junction City, Ks in the shadows of K-State. She is a lifetime member of their Alumni and a hugh Wildcat fan.
K-State let go of their football coach about the same time that Dorrell was terminated. I have had the chance to watch the evolution of both schools as they reserected their football programs. It has been a study in contrast.
Both schools turned to heros of the past to lead their programs. K-State brought back a beloved coach, Bill Snyder and we brought Rick. That’s where the similarities end.
Snyder came back to K-state with the support of the Alumni, Administration and the Athletic Department. The Wild Cats realized that their football program was an intergral part of the school and also a revenue generator. K-State Alumni contributions to their school are one of the highest in the nation based on size of their Alumni base.
Rick came back to Westwood with the support of students and Alumni but never with the wholehearted support of the Athletic Department. In the grand scheme of things, football has a low priority in the eyes of the Morgan Center and the Administration. As a result, our team sucks the big one.
Two coaches in the same time, have different results. Bill Snyder has the Wild Cats 7-0 and in the top 20 in just 3 short years. Rick doesn’t have us in the top 100. Both programs were mired in the deepest of depths before new coaches arrived on the scene. Both cupboards were bare of players. K-State lost their QB to the Tampa Bay Bucs prior to Snyder’s arrival. We lost our QB’s to broken legs, feet, jaws and concussions.
K-Stae has risen like a Phoenix because they had the support of students, Alumni, AD and their administration who put a peiority on rebuilding their illustrious football program. We are mired in the ashes because our administration and athletic department have not made it a priority to have a winning football program.
As a kid growing up in the O.C. I can remember the great athletes we had at UCLA. The great Olympians from all sports. Players who went on to the NFL, NBA, Baseball and the Olympics. In football we use to send droves of players every year to the NFL. Now we send a trickle.
It’s time to have a regime change and to reserect the gloy that was UCLA sports.!
by Twothphry on Oct 25, 2011 11:38 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I understand, but...
Seems like cutting off the nose to spite the face. There are a lot of student athletes outside of football that benefit greatly from the money that football helps bring in. Maybe it’s possible to continue to give, albeit in a more targeted way? I certainly understand the frustration, but I feel badly that kids (and coaches) who are doing a great job in our Olympic sports would have to suffer.
Of course, one can always just give to UCLA (the academic institution as a whole, or whichever departments/programs you like), which – these days – needs the money more than ever.
As soon as the Chancellor does the obvious, right thing
The money will come back, only even greater. You cannot support incompetence or the consequences are on you.
Do not think like this
We cannot forever be held hostage by this type of blackmail. Revenue from Football holds up all the other sports. If the administration really, truly cares about all of its programs, it would start treating football accordingly. A million more spent on a good coach turns easily into millions more in revenue. It’s that simple.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
The thing is
those non-revenue sports are supported, as you pointed out, by the football and basketball programs. In my mind, if UCLA will not support their football team, they are indirectly showing that they don’t care that much about the sports that depend on football’s revenue.
And if UCLA doesn’t care to support football, then I won’t support UCLA (financially). Even though it was the Arizona game that really pushed everybody over the edge (or those who weren’t already), this is not a reaction just one game.
It's UCLAs fault for not fixing it
If they want the money, fix the athletic department
by silverlakebruin on Oct 25, 2011 2:02 PM PDT up reply actions
+1
Fairly basic, reward good behavior not bad, Let talk to Pavlov about this.
If the foundation holding up the entire structure is rotten, the foundation needs to be fixed.
If you contribute to the institution, and it fritters away your money on things that don’t fix the foundation, that’s when you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. Some part, I don’t know how much, but some part of every dollar donated ultimately contributed to salary increases for those in Morgan Center.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that if the football program succeeds, then the amount of money going into the athletic department coffers will be substantially greater. But the football program, the foundation, has got to succeed or eventually parts of the structure are going to have to be cut.
There is only one purpose for withholding money to the athletic department or to the school, and that is to create enough of a revenue decrease to cause attention to be focused on the head coach and, more importantly, the athletic director.
I don’t think it’s cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. (Which is a particularly silly old saying, but I digress.) It’s more like forcing the child to take medicine that doesn’t taste good because the long term effects will cure the disease.
Oh come on now, the athletic department does not live from paycheck to paycheck
Decreased donations is not going to reduce scholarships or cancel the basketball program. When the department realizes that donations has significantly decreased, they will see that the trend cannot be continued in the long term. This should signal to them that imminent change is needed.
If you continue to donate, it’s like you think they’re doing a perfectly fine job and little or no change will be implemented. Let’s face it, when you donate, they don’t know exactly “WHY” you’re donating. It’s not like there’s a little note that says, “Okay Dirty Dan, here’s $1,000, but only because I love the gymnastics team, alright?” All they know is you are donating because, in general, you support UCLA Athletics.
Over time, this will have an effect. Take a look at the Dodgers. It took about a year, but Dodger ticket prices are finally being slashed by 50% and security has beefed up. Do you think something like that would’ve happened if hundreds of thousands of people continued going to Dodger games and buying season tickets like there was no tomorrow? Doubt it.
by notaznguy on Oct 25, 2011 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
And stop justifying this through the student athletes
Not buying season tickets or not donating your annual whatever amount for a year or two is not going to stop little Jimmy from going to college.
Do you honestly think the athletic department is going to announce: “Sorry little Brett Hundley, but we have to pull your scholarship because we are dead broke and because the alumni have stopped donating. We will have to ship you back first thing to Arizona in the morning. There are some shelters in Tucson and we can provide you with a blanket. I’m sorry there’s nothing we can do. Blame the alumni.”
Give mea break.
All that I'm saying is...
… if the core of someone’s frustration has to do with football, then don’t give in a way that supports football. Don’t buy football season tickets (and make whatever accompanying donations are required for that.)
However, if you do still care about UCLA athletics (like I do) and care about all of the other student-athletes who are going out there and winning, and who have coaches that are doing UCLA proud, then by all means, donate! It can be done: http://www.woodenathleticfund.com/pages/giving_opportunities/individual_sport_giving.html
Of course, for some folks, the issue is broader and is about the athletic department as a whole. Personally, I agree that it’s time to replace Dan Guerrero given his failures with respect to football and women’s basketball, as well as a variety of other smaller things. But for the most part, UCLA athletics is a clean and solid program – either due to DG or in spite of him (probably the latter) – and I’d sooner limit my support to one or two specific teams that I care about rather than just abandoning the department as a whole.
Heck, if you really hate the athletic department entirely and can’t stand to support it, but still love UCLA (as I think most of us do), then just give to the academic side of things. Give to your undergrad department. Give to one of the research centers on campus. Give to the library. UCLA is much bigger than just its athletic department and there is a huge variety in the ways that you can give back to the University beyond just giving to athletics and donations mean a lot to the departments that get them. I received handwritten thank you’s from both the Library and the Division of Humanities for past (fairly small) donations.
by JoeBruin9900 on Oct 25, 2011 4:08 PM PDT up reply actions
But what if....
What if Block’s announcement about the termination of Guerrerror and Neuheisel started this way. “Friends, I am sad to announce the termination of Guerrero and Neuheisel, great Bruins, blah, blah, blah. I was about to congratulate them for anohter job well done, but I got notes from the Library and from the Division on Humanities who said that Joe Bruin 9900 had not contributed this year, and said it was because of the situation in the athletic department. So I checked into it and found that Joe was right, and the diseased tissue has not been removed.”
That scenario is unlikely. It will probably never happen. But it absolutely will not happen if everyone continues to donate. I reiterate my call for tough love. If your child is sick to his stomach because he ate too much chocolate. but is crying for more, then you have to withhold the chocolate in the best interest of your child’s overall health.
Anyway, that’s my sermon. There will be a luncheon after the service, and we remind everyone about the Youth Meeting on Wednesday night.
After more than a decade...
of buying wormy apples…I am through as well.
I can't stand
that when commentators on TV mention my school, they laugh. I can’t stand that I was in the stands for Texas this year and before I finished my hot dog we were down three scores. I can’t stand that we get bullied by Stanford!?? I remember when I has season tickets..then a mini-plan, then two games a year and now? We were planning a huge gathering for the Cal game but something made me wait until Arizona was played.
I’ve seen enough, I’m voting with my feet. I’ll be shocked if there are 35,000 at homecoming. Mr Chancellor, do your duty! If not you’ll get no more support from me.
I’m with you mate.
No more subsidizing ineptitude
I have no problem voting with my wallet. We’ve already hit rock bottom with the fb program, let’s see how much it takes for dan and co. to get out of denial
well
I’ve already paid for this years season tickets and parking + $C game tickets. I’ll continue going to the games this year and will not renew my season tickets next year unless we see the change required to turn our football program around.
GO BRUINS!
I am with you guys...10 years and I am out.
My son and daughter made references last year that the games were not fun! I’ll just buy Ebay tickets to the Nebraska game next year and meet you all then. I’ll just ride out the games this year until each halftime when it gets too painful to finish.
May I suggest that since you've already sunk the cost, that you go, and then leave earlier than half time.
Go, have fun, then leave before the kickoff. And encourage everyone around you to do the same.
UCLA: Invest in our football program!
Ask University of Texas if the investment is worth it
rot at the top
We have to go higher than sleepwalker DG and nervous RN, because the big C doesn’t care so much about sports. I think academic and sports excellence are both important and both make me proud to be a Bruin. I sat in the front most seat I could find to watch Gail Goodrich and Walt Hazzard and I have wound up in recent years watching the likes of, better not name names, quarterbacks attuned to the skill of the interception, a multitude of pass droppers, matador defensive backs, bricklayers and sloths. DG et al think that over 100 NCAA titles is their security blanket and they can mail in their performance and probably expect a raise.
I'm not a fan of Block
I’ll just say that up front. Now…
I don’t think it’s time yet to go after him. I don’t think he’s shown much care for sports, I agree, but I don’t think he really has to. What he needs to do is make sure our AD DOES care (and is good). That said, now is the time for him to do it. If he won’t, then we have a problem with him too.
I agree that it's not essential
for Block to be a sports fan in order for UCLA to have a first-class sports program, in all sports. As you say, that’s the AD’s job. But, having the encouragement and backing of the Chancellor sure doesn’t hurt, and can be of great help.
The Chancellor in my years was one Franklin Murphy. I think that Murphy was a bit of a sports fan, but more importantly, he took great pride in the insitution and the four letters that symbolize it. Among his many accomplishments, Murphy put J. D. Morgan in charge of UCLA’s troubled sports program precisely because he was a sports guy who also had business acumen.
As UCLA’s new director of intercollegiate athletics, Morgan – previously the associate university business manager and men’s tennis coach – would soon revitalize the sports program, catapult Bruin teams into the national spotlight, and ultimately redefine UCLA athletics as a model looked to by universities across the country.
But, Murphy did more.
He [Murphy] played important roles in the realization of Pauley Pavilion, the establishment of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, and the passage of the 1962, 1964, and 1966 bond issues which provided UCLA with $95,000,000 in construction funds.
Murphy’s best contribution, though, may have been his attitude. When he gave up being Dean of the Kansas University Medical School and Chancellor of University of Kansas in order to become UCLA’s Chancellor, he did it whole hog. UCLA was not a stepping stone, nor a final hurrah. He threw himself into being Chancellor, wielding tremendous pride in the four letters, and he expected everyone “underneath” him to do the same. To further show this pride, I offer one final excerpt from the book The Culture Broker: Franklin D. Murphy and the Transformation of Los Angeles.
It infuriated Murphy every time he called his office and heard the operator announce, “University of California, Los Angeles Branch.” In short order, he instructed the campus operators to say instead, “Thank you for calling UCLA.” “From now on out,” Murphy told his staff, “everything around here is UCLA. We will make those four letters just as visible and indelible as MIT.” When a Berkely administrator complained, Murphy snapped, “I authorized it. And make it quite clear to everybody up there that if I can’t authorize the telephone operators to identify the institution, I sure as hell shouldn’t stay at UCLA because it would be my belief that my authority is zero.” Almost overnight, statiounery, signs, and campus vehicles were inscribed with a new insignia: the four block letters “UCLA.”
No, having the ardent support of a Chancellor isn’t absolutely crucial. But, boy, wouldn’t someone like Murphy be a good fit now?
Yeah
I’m down, as they say. Hopefully I’ll get to a game again next year. Only if DG and RN are not there.
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