#VetoSeto: Did Rocky Seto Leak Information to USC the Night Before National Signing Day?
by Meriones on Feb 4, 2011 8:12 AM PST
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PrintAccording to a report in the OC Register yesterday, Coach Neuheisel is supposed to make a decision "this week" between former Miami head coach Randy Shannon and former USC assistant Rocky Seto. Obviously, it's Friday, so there's not a whole lot of "this week" left. According to published reports via the L.A. Times, however, there are legitimate questions as to the kind of decisions made earlier this week.
On the morning of National Signing Day (Feb. 2), at 7:09 a.m., Chris Foster of the Times posted the following on its regular sports blog (emphasis added):
The strange tale of Rocky Seto took a humorous turn late Tuesday night.
Seto, the front-runner for the UCLA defensive coordinator job, was hired by the Bruins, according to a Daily Trojan story posted online Tuesday night. The story included a text attributed to Seto, "[I] accepted the position tonight to coordinate at UCLA. Praise the Lord!"
Shortly after a text message was sent Seto by the Los Angeles Times, the quote in the Daily Trojan story mysteriously vanished. The story still reported Seto was hired, just without attribution.
A UCLA official said that no one has been hired as defensive coordinator.
Despite Mr. Foster’s jovial interpretation, this story raises two very sobering concerns about the apparent vaccuum of judgment surrounding this "decision."
First, it seems that CRN was set to hand over the defensive coaching reins to the untested MR. Seto, despite having spent several WEEKS interviewing other far more experienced and established candidates, including (according to mainstream media reports):
(A) Teryl Austin (19 years in coaching, ex-Florida Co-DC and secondary coach on 2 Super Bowl teams, new secondary coach for Baltimore Ravens);
(B) Mark Carrier (11 years in NFL, 6 years as secondary coach with Arizona State and Baltimore Ravens, current defensive line coach with NY Jets);
(C) Vic Fangio (24 years in coaching, ex-Stanford DC, new San Francisco 49ers DC);
(D) Chuck Heater (34 years coaching, new Temple DC);
(E) Thom Kaumeyer (20 years coaching, former SDSU DC, Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coach); and
(F) Randy Shannon (19 years, former Miami DC and Head Coach).
Of course, as Head Coach, CRN certainly has the right to choose which coordinators and assistants he hires to be on his staff. Obviously, we have questioned his judgment in offering the position to such an unproven candidate.
However, it appears that Mr. Seto displayed an equally alarming lapse of judgment after he was supposedly given the job. As documented by Mr. Foster on his Twitter account, and presented in actual chronological order (emphasis added):
Interesting twist in the Rocky Seto saga. Daily Trojan reported tonight that Seto is the new UCLA's D-coordinator, quoting a Seto text. 11:11 PM Feb 1st via web
After text message was fired off to Seto by LA Times, Seto's text quote was mysteriously removed from the Daily Trojan story. Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:12:58 PM via web
the missing quote: "[I] accepted the position tonight to coordinate at UCLA," Seto said via text message Tuesday night. "Praise the Lord!" Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:13:56 PM via web
Story still says that Seto will be hired...so why remove the quote??? Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:14:29 PM via web
For those slow on up take, on the surface, it would appear Seto called Daily Trojan to have it removed. Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:15:17 PM via web
All indications are, there is movement toward hiring Seto, but things mow v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y at UCLA. Ask Norm Chow. Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:16:27 PM via web
move* Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:17:17 PM via web
Coach Rick Neuheisel to speak to media at 4 p.m. tomorrow. Seto will probably be brought up. Tuesday, February 01, 2011 11:17:52 PM via web
In short, literally at the eleventh hour on the eve of National Signing Day, Mr. Seto allegedly displayed what is, at a minimum, an appalling lack of professional judgment.
If these reports are accurate, then it would appear that Mr. Seto...
... leaked sensitive information of his hiring before his own boss (CRN) could annoucne it at a pre-scheduled press conference
... distributed this sensitive information in a manner providing irrefutable, easily-transmittable proof of its accuracy in that the message came from his own phone;
... confirmed this sensitive information with a student-run media organization; AND
... provided this sensitive information to a student-run media organization at a school in direct competition with UCLA for MULTIPLE highly-ranked recruits.
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A harbinger of things to come
What would we expect from a Petie disciple? As they say, the acorn does not fall far from the tree.
I thought that it was a little strange
How this whole Seto story started before any word from CRN or even someone from within CRN’s camp. If Seto really was hired at that time, what is he doing telling the Trogan times? What was he trying to accomplish??
I really hope Rick has another rabbit in his hat to pull out
Is it that much worse?
They hawk U$C in equal amounts.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Did Seto really send the original text message?
If Seto sent the message, that would have been a disturbing blunder. On the other hand, the report came from the Daily Trojan and, in turn, Chris Foster, two sources with little credibility. We can’t count on Foster to look into the facts, so let’s consider the Daily Trojan. Does that rag have proof that Seto sent the message? Or did the Daily Trojan make up the story of the text message or misrepresent a more innocuous statement by Seto?
I’m fed up with the way the DC hiring process has gone, but in fairness to Seto, it’d be helpful to have confirmation from reliable sources as a starting point for this discussion. If Seto indeed sent that text message, maybe that action will give UCLA plenty of reason to consider other options for DC.
The question is, whether it was text or not, how did a competing school get wind of the story before UCLA could formally announce it?
Remember, this is the same student media entity that was upset when we found old NY Times articles on then-running backs coach Todd McNair’s convictions for animal cruelty in connection with possible dogfighting.
Presumably, if Mr. Seto were offered the DC job and accepted it, the only people who would know are the folks at Morgan Center and Mr. Seto himself. Given that Mr. Seto was a 10-year employee of USC, it is far more likely that he gave the information to either (a) someone at the Daily Trojan, or (b) someone who knew someone at the Daily Trojan, than it is that someone at UCLA would have given them this information.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
If your speculation is correct
That alone would be reason enough to terminate any existing verbal agreement to hire Seto as DC. The whole issue is appalling. Hopefully we are all wrong and Morgan Center will announce an experienced, qualified DC. We can all dream…
i agree!
I dont trust Foster and i hate that the scum bag gets so much run here at BN.
"Success is never final, Failure is never fatal. It's Courage that count's" - John Wooden.
I have completely boycotted the Trogan Times.
I suggest everyone do the same.
A couple of thoughts
It would make sense for the daily trOJan to make up a story to hurt our recruiting. But in that case, it would have made sense for tt (that trogan) to have made a lot of noise in the press that he had not sent the message.
It would make sense for tt to rush to his closest family and closest friends (the trogans) to tell them he was hired by UCLA.
It would make sense for tt to report to his handler that he had infiltrated successfully, and was now set up as the in-house mole.
It would make sense that he would report any of these things via an insecure means which could generate evidence against him if he is exceptionally stupid.
Lots of other things mentioned in the article would make sense if he were exceptionally stupid.
Nothing mentioned in the article suggests anything that would make me confortable hiriing this guy. If it makes CTSS comfortable or if it makes Al Davis South confortable, then they need to go be confortable somewhere else. They’re starting to steal their pay, in my opinion.
UCLA Football --- get in front of this and have Randy Shannon on a plane
It would be one thing if Seto was just hired as a Secondary Coach. You’d expect some missteps based on lack of experience. But the DC is like one of the two V.P.s of the football team, who has to make judgment calls all the time. He’s not an individual contributor like other assistants.
How can Seto be seen in a Veep role after seemingly showing such shockingly poor judgment prior to having an “official” go ahead.
Although not in the sports world, I have accepted professional positions and was asked not to make my hiring public until an official press release was transmitted from my new employer. If Seto was indeed hired, I’m sure that the UCLA powers that be would have laid out the same path.
And then, like a frat boy going back to his ‘brothers,’ it seems that Seto or one of his posse passed on the info (his wish) to an amateur media outlet, who spouts factless nonsense about it’s ‘blood’ enemy - his new employer!!!
This is all so surreal.
Get Shannon back from Bristol and into LAX so he can make a Westwood press conferene TODAY, to put this mockery to rest.
Not a good sign
I agree with Meriones. The way this whole DC thing has been handled is poor and reflects on how the Rickster handles business. He certainly has not proven himself to be a good coach. Next season is looking like a season of last ditch experiments. We will have a new OC with some hybrid offense. We still don’t know what style of defense we’ll have because we don’t have a DC. Rick is going to coach the QBs himself and share playcalling too. He is going to be under a lot of pressure to win games and he will have to lose his conservative skin (like snakes do). Yes, I really am a Bruin fan but they guy should have been fired a long time ago.
Frankly I thought...
…that the Manchurian Candidate stuff yesterday was a little “over the top” but now to read this…crap!
Seems like his only “error” in judgment was reporting home to his handlers before things were finalized.
Hey Rick…did you get “pwned” ?
If he was hired would Seto be tweeting the defensive plays
to his buddies at U$C, too, on game day? Or simply calling bad plays so that his favored team would win?
He’s proven (a) he can’t keep a secret, (b) where his true loyalties are and © that he lacks professonalism. His hire would be a disaster.
Dumb and Dumber
Leaks Cannot Hurt A Program That Makes Decisions In Broad Daylight!
Were it not for the leak, Seto would be our DC and we would have had no time to protest.
The fact that a leak on signing day may have hurt our recruiting is another clear “reward” of the clusterfuck secret hiring process run by CRN and DG.
By keeping the world in the dark, on a decision that did not require secrecy, they left themselves open to the “leak” and concomitant shock and revulsion.
Perhaps, had the process been more open, had we known who the candidates were and the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each, and had we had a chance for input, they would not have made the decision that unleashed our fury.
If Seto were a real candidate, would it not have been better to let us know? Why did they have to keep the secret until the very last moment?
Was Seto wise to send the text? Probably not. But, I don’t think he expected the explosion of opposition and criticism that followed it. I think he thought it was a done deal to be announced the next day. He probably didn’t see any thing wrong with sending it.
And, so, he told his closest friends. And, it is telling who they are.
Yes, it was bad judgment.
But, not as bad as the judgment used by CRN and DG in hiring him.
And, not as bad as the lack of judgment they’ve shown by running a closed door, secret process — one in which the fanbase/customers, donors, alums and supporters are needlessly kept in the dark.
Seto — dumb. CRN and DG — Dumber.
sjh
by Class of 66 on Feb 4, 2011 9:07 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
"Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?"
Of course, you nailed the issue without me having to put it in the original post.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
I Googled Seto and UCLA Yesterday
and came up with the “text” story.
At the time, I thought it ironic that his very own text was the spark that lit the flame of protest.
But, I didn’t pull it together the way that you did. Seen in the bright light, no one looks good. It’s just a matter of which of the three looks worst.
So, we still are being treated like mushrooms — being kept in the dark with loads of shit heaped on us.
Wouldn’t you think that now would be the time for DG to open up, let the sun in, and have a meaningful discussion. After all, we’ve waited past the signing day — there really is no damage that can occur if we take a few days to talk this out and make sure we hire the right person.
sjh
This is outrageous
How we still do not have this resolved. Will we even have a DC by August at this rate?
It's just been announced
CRN is hiring Darren Collison. What? He has a lot of experience at being DC.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
by tasser10 on Feb 4, 2011 9:43 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Allegiances
It’s incredible that he gets this job offer and then texts the daily trogan.
Not the LAT. Not ESPN. Not The Daily Bruin. Not anything affiliated with his new school.
That tells you everything you need to know about this guy’s maturity and priorities and loyalty.
greg in denver, UCLA guy for life - BruinsNation.com
by gbruin on Feb 4, 2011 9:48 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
On the eve of National Signing Day, no less
The more I think about this, the angrier I become. Not disappointed, ANGRY. That is a huge difference.
was it done intentionally by a u$c hack?
trying to sway recruits one way or another? it almost worked…
Given the outcry on BN against Seto, I thought the nightmare was over.
It appears now to just be beginning.
Fosters last tweet
“Rocky Seto has been offered, but nothing is finalized. Randy Shannon is still in the background. "
11 hours ago.
If he gets hired,
after all of us check out of rehab, he’d better become the biggest Bruin any of us has ever known. One phone call to a Trogan, one text, one look, and he should be gone. They will come at him with the full court press to try to get information, about recruits, game planning, etc. The man isn’t just any Trogan, he played football there for crying out loud, and not that long ago!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
If he gets hired
it’s on DG and CRN.
They should feel our full fury.
sjh
by Class of 66 on Feb 4, 2011 10:29 AM PST up reply actions 1 recs
+1
Los Angeles Rams and the UCLA Bruins!!!!!
by Minnesota Bruinfan on Feb 4, 2011 10:39 AM PST up reply actions
Seto becomes a Bruin
I’ll see right throught that as disingenuous. Quite frankly, he is such a trogan it’s hard for me to imagine why he even wants the job, outside of wanting a raise and perhaps something to beef up his resume for down the line.
And should Seto get hired, I won’t be needing rehab. I’ll just be needing something else to do with my fall Saturdays.
How can the decision
be between Seto and Shannon, this should be a no brainer.
Despite the denials I suspect it comes down to money. Shannon wants more and they're too cheap to pay it.
Also, Shannon poses a threat to CRN if CRN gets fired. Shannon has HC experience and could step right in.
So there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye.
CRN should be assermbling the best team he can or he can kiss his dream job goodbye. Seto is wrong on so many levels, that if he is seriously being considered CRN has completely lost the plot.
by BrendonBruin on Feb 4, 2011 10:50 AM PST up reply actions
If CRN feels threatened
Then he should just quit, because he doesn’t have what it takes to be a head coach if he’s constantly worried about someone taking his job instead of doing his job.
Why would he feel threatened?
He’s the one who went after him. If anything, it was his selling point: if I’m gone, you might be next in line.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
With this scenario?
CRN wants Shannon because he is the most qualified. DG wants Seto because he is the cheapest. Has anyone noticed that DG looks like the pointy haried boss (Dilbert reference).
by Gen2Bruin1987 on Feb 4, 2011 10:55 AM PST up reply actions
I don't mean to fan the flames here
But a poster on BG is claiming to have a source that saw Shannon at LAX. This sort of stuff is dreadfully unreliable taken at face value, so please don’t kill me if this turns out to be totally BS. It seems on par to the “Greg Robinson at the basketball game with DG” but hey, I have to hold on to anything I can….. Seto is just frightening. Here’s the link.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Try the link again, if it's not subscription only info? Thanks.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
Yikes. I suck at this linking stuff.
http://www.bruingold.com/forums/index.phpaz=show_mesg&forum=108&topic_id=136486&mesg_id=136486
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Disregard that link.
If you feel like reading it, its on bruingold’s football forum. Out of an abundance of caution, give it no more credence than the greg robinson stuff.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
I once saw Bill Cowher
at the Chicago airport. Somehow, he didn’t become the next coach…anywhere.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
The Gallows Humor
around here for the last few days has kept a very bad situation from becoming unbearable.
sjh
I don't know why I'm feeling confident
that we’re going to end up with Shannon. As the self-proclaimed negative nancy around here, I think that says a lot. After following this story closely the last few days, here is my completely uninformed, no take-home value, absolute guess as to how this has, and will, go down:
Sometime late last week, negotiations with Shannon hit some sort of snag. Enter Rocky Seto.
Sometime on Feb. 1st, Seto agreed in principal to become our next DC. He was not our 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd or 4th choice. CRN was set to announce him the following day.
Sometime on Feb. 2nd, CRN had second thoughts and the agreement was put on hold. At his pressor on the 2nd, CRN’s demeanor when asked about the DC situation was that of someone conflicted.
Sometime on Feb. 3rd: Re-enter Shannon. The fact that Foster tweeted that he was still in the background despite the Seto offer I can only interpret as an ominous sign for Seto.
Sometime in the next few hours: CRN will announce that Shannon has agreed in principle to become our DC.
I’m about 80/20 confident in this. We’ll see.
Me too.
I think in the end it will be Shannon, and will always have been Shannon.
Not the case
We are getting good information that Rick actually wanted to Seto but he and UCLA have been taken aback by the blowback they have been receiving online and from boosters.
That makes the case for turning the heat up. The longer it takes for them to make announcement for Rocky the more difficult it will get for this Trojan.
How could they miscalculate so badly?
If this is true, I despair. Neither CRN nor DG understand the landscape upon which they are farming our land.
If they really thought that Seto would please us, they have to go. To be surprised by the uprising?
If they are that out of touch — I really don’t want them around here.
Of course, one reason they are so out of touch is that they did not deem it important to run a transparent process that included us — their ultimate bosses.
sjh
Amen.
It shows a fundamental disconnect that a decision like this can be made in such blackout conditions, and yet have our admins (and apparently rick) be surprised by the backlash. Absolutely irresponsible and terrible way to go about things.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
From your lips to God's ears.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
When will the radio silence end?
Blue talks about an announcement in the next few hours. Has anything been scheduled?
sjh
Wish we'd get just a heads-up on when the announcement will be made
I feel like I’m waiting for a last minute reprieve from the governor. I’m just hoping to not get on this site or any other and all of a sudden read bad news on this front.
This is too stressful. This announcement has me hunched over the computer like Gollum, reading through all your comments and trying to find a link with some news on even the possible announcement of a hire.
Oh UCLA football, you’ve gone and ruined me again
Dreaming of Westwood while in permanent exile in Virginia
If Seto leaked
his hiring as DC on the eve of National Signing day – when we are competing with SUC for serveral recruits – this alone makes it obvious why he should never have even been considered for the job. Let’s just apply some good ol’ common sense here: In my case, I’m a UCLA alum, married to an alum, have two kids who are currently UCLA students, have dogs named Royce (after Royce Hall) and Rosie (after the Rose Bowl), and I would sooner shoot myself before EVER putting on mustard and ketchup to cheer for the dark side. After all we’ve read about this Seto chump (SC alum, wife is an alum, kid named Troy, follows Cheat Carroll around to carry his jock strap, etc) it’s obvious he’s as big a SCum fan as I am a Bruin fan. Does anyone REALLY think that he’d be inclined to devise a defensive scheme to shove Matt Barkley’s mug into the turf prior to next year’s game? I don’t care who’s signing my paycheck, I could NEVER work towards helping Sanctioned Cheaters beat my alma mater – and I think the same has to be applied to Seto – it just makes sense. RICK, PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!!
No need to knock Seto just because he allegedly mentioned praising God in his text.
The real issue is why on earth Seto let sensitive information of his hiring leak out the night before National Signing Day, and to our most direct competition for local recruits.
Eyes on the prize, people.
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
Because he's sc
He can’t help it if he does something stupid. It’s how he was taught.
It wasn't a leak unless he was told to keep it secret
and, BRO had that same information the same night — ostensibly from UCLA sources.
Keep your eyes on the inept process and totally stupid decision to hire a petey disciple who had never been a DC.
People want to look at the text.
Look at the incredibly stupid job offer that gave him something to text about.
sjh
I'm not sure if it's a good thing
that I’m a Cubs fan and that I’m just used to the hopelessness of UCLA football…not sure which prepares me for the other.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
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