The Destructive Egoism of Karl Dorrell

Bruin Blue expands on the point of Dorrell being nothing but a selfish and shameless jerk. GO BRUINS. -N

Dorrell knows exactly what he is doing . He is desperately trying to keep his high-paying, prestigious job.  He doesn't care what he has to do to keep it, or what damage he might do to UCLA, its prestige, and its alumni base, if he ends up being fired.  It's all about Dorrell, and it has always been.

I have always believed, and still believe, that Dorrell actually thinks he has done a very good job as coach.  You can call this denial, you can call it arrogance, or you can call it stupidity.  I happen to think that it is all three.  But in all the comments he has made over the five seasons, you can see this thread running through them--that he has done the job, that it is other people who are failing.  He's scapegoated a whole bunch of assistant coaches.  He's blamed the players, basically saying that it's not his fault if they don't do what he has prepared them to do, and that he is sleeping well at night.  And now he is essentially blaming society, or UCLA fans, or maybe the administration, for forcing him to play on a playing field that is not fair to him.  It is really just more of the same, except that now he is indicting more than just his own players and assistants.

I am surprised that more people did not comment about what I think was an extraodinary meeting that Dorrell apparently arranged with his current recruit prospects.  Was that nothing more than his effort to use them as a wedge against an administration which might think twice about firing him if the recruits were more loyal to him than to UCLA?  Yes, he apparently told them that they are playing for UCLA, etc.; but I have never heard of a beleaguered coach doing such a thing, and the goal is completely obvious, to me, at least.  Again, Dorrell will do anything he can to save this job, which he must somewhere realize is the best one he will ever have.

What angers me so much is that UCLA football is not about Karl Dorrell, who never, ever should have been hired as head coach.  It is about all the students, alumni and fans who follow the team so closely; who go to the games if they can, or watch them if they can't; who at least figuratively live and die with the program, and who have been cheated out of five more years of enjoying it.   And I absolutely guarantee you that Dorrell does not care one whit for any of them who are not his personal friends; he cares for himself, and a few of his assistant buddies, and that's about it.  Just because someone is soft-spoken and seemingly polite, does not make him a great guy, as some think.  He has lied to certain players; he has unfairly castigated some; he has callously fired assistants whose failings were easily as much his fault as theirs; he has acted as if all of us should be completely happy and satisfied with the pathetic product which he has given us over the last five years.  There has never been one iota from Dorrell about how UCLA football should be accomplishing so much more--oh, yes; except for when he was hired, and he talked about winning the conference in the first season.

So now, even this endgame will be tainted by Dorrell's manifestations of utter self-interest.  UCLA may end up being afraid to fire him if he can win one of the last two games.  Or, as other schools have done, they may feel pressured to hire another African-American to replace him, to prove that there is not a taint of racism here.  That of course would be DeWayne Walker, who would then de facto be our second affirmative action hire, as his credentials are as flimsy as Dorrell's.  Or Dorrell's comments could help create a firestorm which would turn off potential top coaching prospects, and even lose us some recruits for now and in the future.

Let's see how strong-willed and brave Dan Guerrero and the rest of the athletic administration can be in the next few weeks.  Let's find out if there is even one person in the L.A. mainstream media who will write what should be written--that Dorrell is incompetent and should be fired--and thus give even a little cover to our administration if and when they do.  Let's see exactly what kind of coaching search we go through if Dorrell actually does not save his job.  I will say one thing--that the very fact that there is still this countersurge in support of Dorrell is simply more evidence of how incredibly far we have to go to change the mindset in Westwood--a mindset which Dorrell has played for all it is worth from the very first day he was even considered for the job.

-Bruin Blue