FanPost

Doughnut- not a consensus All-American, not an individual with stellar credentials

I decided to fan post my reply from another comment thread. A prior comment in that same thread mentioned that Doughnut was a consensus All-American baseball player at UCLA, same vintage as Bill Walton. And the prior comment suggested that despite the timely firing of Lavin and the quality hiring of Howland, "despite his stellar credentials with UCLA, his heart is not with it whatsoever, as we are all pained to realize."

I appreciate the sentiment that the comment embodies- the pain we are suffering thanks to Doughnut. And this commenter is knowledgeable. So I wanted to throw my two cents in again, as to why the problem runs deeper than a matter of heart.

My basic issue here is that Doughnut is an emperor without any clothes (as disgusting as this image is, in this instance). If his heart was with it, would all our problems be solved? I don't think so. Following is my comment from the thread.

I looked up the All American baseball teams from 1971-1974. In 1974, the All American 2nd baseman was Jim Hacker from Texas A&M (actually an appropriate nickname for our AD, but I digress). In 1973, the All American 2nd baseman was Phil Turner from TCU. In 1972, the All American 2nd baseman was Bobby Jack from Oklahoma. In 1971, the All American 2nd baseman was Bobby Waits from Washington State. These are from the American Baseball Coaches Association, which at the time was the only all-american team recognized by the NCAA. So where does "consensus All American baseball player" come from? If it is from his biography, it is just one more instance of ridiculous resume-padding. We have already seen how his stats were cherry picked/manipulated. I guess consensus all american is just moving the dishonesty meter a little further to the right.

And what are his stellar credentials? According to his official bio, Doughnut during his 5 years at Cal State Dominguez Hills from 1988 through 1992 "led that program to national prominence." Really? Guess I must have blinked, or they backslid tremendously without his "leadership".

He then went on to UC Irvine for 10 years. His crowning achievement there was being named the 1-AA West Region Athletic Director of the Year in 2002 (his last year there). 10 years to finally attain the lofty peak of 1-AA (not Division 1) West Region (not National) Director of the Year? That constitutes stellar credentials? Really?

If we are talking about his stellar credentials while at UCLA, that is also bogus. If we measure it by national championships, we have already documented how the vast majority of these championships were won by coaches who were already on the scene when he arrived. If we measure it by financial stewardship, we have already documented how he was only able to make ends meet by getting subsidies from student fees. If we measure it by quality of coaching hires, we have already documented how his incompetence extends beyond the obvious Dorrellian fiascos in our revenue sports, and extends to the deterioration of non-revenue sports across the board (with some notable exceptions, for which we give him credit where due).

I don’t think the problem is one of heart, although that could be an issue. I think the problem is one of basic competence, and the bureaucratic mindset he so glaringly highlighted when he said that his main job is "managing expectations".

I am pained, but it not because his heart is absent. I am pained because the rest of his body is still here, taking up space in Morgan Center.


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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