So it is clear after last two weeks that coaches will not hesitate to blame the players for covering up their own shortcomings during the game. Well this is not the first time players have been blamed for Dorrel's (lack of) leadership on the field.

Does anyone remember Vegas gate of 2004?

That was when stories about players (recruited by Toledo) who were showing up drunk during team-meetings before the game, and reportedly laughing off the loss off after the game, surfaced after a disgraceful, embarrassing loss against Wyoming:

Again as Odysseus pointed out in his post no doubt there were multiple sides to that story, "and Dorrell's recollection of the incident may differ from some of the players, and some players may have perceived the incident differently than others." However what that explosive controversy did was to sidestep the fact that Dorrell brought in a team to Vegas that was unprepared, unfocused, and ultimately underachieved against a program that didn't come with the same level of talent as UCLA. The incident still painted the picture of a coach who had no control over his team but it was glossed over by lot of Dorrell supporters who argued that it was really all those Toledo recruits who were responsible for Dorrell coached team's embarrassing performance on the field. Those stories made it easy for Dorrell supporters to argue that all that underachievement was really players (recruited by Toledo) fault.

Yes back then it was convenient for Dorrell supporters to blame all those fiascos on the field on the antics of players (recruited by Toledo) off the field. And the bootlicking press was all too willing to buy that spin and throw Toledo recruits under the bus. Check out this from the Daily Bootlicker during 2004 spring practice, which came after the debacle against Fresno State: Of course none of these guys pointed out the fact Dorrell achieved his miracle "10 win" season last year riding the backs MJD and two Toledo recruits: Drew Olson and Marcedes Lewis.

And does this passing the buck somewhere else remind you of someone else? Well here is a little blast from the past from SI's Seth Davis: Let me make something clear. I don't believe Dorrell is as dishonest and hateful of Bruin fans as Steve Lavin was during his reign of mediocrity in Westwood. I will take people at their word when they profess Dorrell is an honest, decent person, who truly loves our alma mater. I will give him that benefit of the doubt given his Bruin roots.

However, as we experience more games under Karl Dorrell as the head coach (we have had 40 now I think), the more we see the same disturbing tendencies that kept coming up during the Lavin era during which we accustomed to see ill prepared Bruin basketball teams losing against clearly inferior opponents or barely escaping with sloppy ugly wins. We saw how coaches were blaming players and how players were losing respect for the coaching staff. It was a total implosion.

After four years of Dorrell, we have now seen at least eight games in which a Dorrell coached Bruin team lost to clearly inferior opponents due to poor coaching, total lack of preparation, and in-game adjustments:

*Colorado (03)
*Stanford (03)
*Fresno State (03)
*Arizona State (04)
*Washington State (04)
*Wyoming (04)
*Arizona (05)
*Washington (06)

And yet here we are after four years of Dorrell, we continue to see he and his coaches blaming the players for underachieving performances due to their own lack of preparations, lack of in game/season adjustments, and total lack of leadership on the field.

It's a trend folks.

And as Dump Dorrell notes from the fall out from last couple weeks, the troubling signs are not encouraging for the Bruins Nation.

GO BRUINS.