Bruin Bites: No Rest Until Chianti Dan is Fired Edition

Jim Mora is our coach. I'm not sure what more I can say that hasn't been said: that Mora is woefully unqualified, a man with a losing record in the NFL, and zero experience coaching college football, a game which while the same in name, is worlds apart from the professional game. He's a coach who has already managed to misstep and he hasn't even made it Westwood yet. And of course, after suffering under Chianti Dan's Reign of Error for the past decade, it is absolutely no surprise that he managed to completely bungle this coaching search. He's an incompetent buffoon, a man not fit to lead operations at a first grader's lemonade stand, let alone a multimillion dollar athletic department in a BCS conference in the second largest media market in the United States.

All-in-all, this has been exactly par for the course for Chianti Dan and UCLA: rather than heed the frustrated calls from their worn-down, tired fan base, donors, and alums, Chianti Dan and Gene Block after blowing smoke up the collective behinds of the wider Bruin Nation about "hiring an experienced head coach" and "financially committing to football" they give us a big fat symbolic middle finger, hiring another guy with zero college coaching experience, who himself admits he will be learning on the job.

We tried that before, a head coach who was going to learn on the job. His name was Karl Dorrell. That worked out so well for us, didn't it?

Calling this disaster a half-ass effort would be generous. So while UCLA fans basically throw up their hands in frustration and walk away from their alma mater, Chianti Dan is too busy kicking back, sipping chianti and collecting the plaudits from his clueless, inept boss, Gene Block: by the time these two morons (well, I guess Morans would be better now) realize how many millions of dollars they have cost UCLA by their gross incompetence and complete failure management style, it may sadly be too late.

People often criticized BN for calling for wholesale regime change in Westwood. Some people were content to replace Neuheisel. I hope everyone sees now what we have known and advocated for: that Westwood must be purged of the culture of mediocrity that permeates UCLA athletics, that we must sever ties to the diseased Donahue coaching tree, that losers like Bob Field and Terry Donahue be put out the pasture, and most importantly, that Dan Guerrero be fired.

You should already know what to do to make your voice heard:

Starting Monday at 8:30 am PST began calling the Chancellor's office at 1-310-825-2151. You can start calling now Bruins, just for practice. Someone will be answering Monday morning. There is only one message: Fire Dan Guerrero now.

With that, let's turn to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse after the jump.

• Starting with football, Peter Yoon at ESPN has some general thoughts on the Mora hire, making sure to take note of his complete lack of college football experience and his mediocre (and that's being generous) record in the NFL. Yoon has some of the key quotes from Chianti Dan and Mora about "relentless passion" and "being high-energy." You have to just LOL at that empty garbage talk. Hey Jim, maybe you can explain how you plan on stopping the high powered spread and air raid offenses we're going to face when we meet up against Oregon, Washington State, and Arizona in the coming years, because unlike Chianti Dan who is only interested in how sharp you look in a suit and how "high-energy" you are during your interview, we'd like to know the Xs and Os of what you plan on doing.
• Speaking of football, Bruins soft verbal commit Morgan Breslin, a JC transfer DE from Diablo Valley College in the Bay Area went on a visit to Jon Embree's program in Colorado, reportedly enjoying his trip to Boulder. With Rick out and Mora in, one would think a defensive player would be inclined to stick around, but it's no surprise recruits are looking around because it's not like Jim Mora is the kind of name that inspires these young kids. I mean, damn, the closest fellow NFL retread Herm Edwards got to a football field was a Coors Light commercial (if the mountains turn blue, Herm Edwards sucks!). In comparison, the closest Jim L. Mora can get to a football field is to say that his dad was on a Coors Light commercial. Facepalm.
• Turning to another floundering men's program, Ben Howland's dumpster fire program will open up Pauley Pavilion next year against another of Coach's former teams, playing the Indiana State Sycamores (also the alma mater of Larry Bird) the inaugural game in the renovated Pauley Pavilion, assuming of course that Chianti Dan doesn't manage to completely f**k it up and end up pushing the re-opening back until 2015 (which with Chianti Dan, is certainly a real possibility).
• While on the topic of the men's basketball program, after striking out with other high-profile recruits, Ben Howland is scrambling, making offers to a pair of power forwards (I suppose we have the room with Reeves gone, but seriously, are we going to make a legitimate push to get a PG or let another God damn year pass by without addressing our biggest weakness). Ben has now made a formal offer to Zena Edosomwan, a 6'8" PF from Harvard-Westlake, and Devin Williams, a 6'7" PF from Withrow (Cincinnati).
• Finally, with our men's soccer season at an earlier end than we'd prefer (falling to UNC in penalty kicks in the national semi-final), there is some positive news for our Bruin student athletes on the pitch: seniors Eder Arreola, Andy Rose, Shawn Singh, and Brian Rowe were all invited to Major League Soccer's annual pre-draft player combine this upcoming January. Two other Bruins, junior Chandler Hoffman (who has been sensational in front of goal for the blue-and-gold this year) and sophomore Kelyn Rowe, have also been invited should they decide to forgo the balance of their college careers and sign youth contracts (what they call "Generation Adidas" contracts in MLS). For UCLA's sake, let's hope we can keep Hoffman and the younger Rowe, but in any event, congrats to all six guys and best of luck.

Alright folks, that is your Bruin Bites round-up for the end of the weekend. Ten years later, and Chianti Dan has gone full circle, once again bringing in a young face that interviews well (and probably looks sharp in a suit) but has absolutely zero college coaching experience. Never mind that this is Chianti Dan's third football hire in just one decade (which is unheard of at any self-respecting program).

Just an all-around complete failure. You know what to do. Make yourself heard.

Fire away with your thoughts, comments, additions, etc. in the thread.

GO BRUINS