UPDATE NO. 3:  Hold the phone ladies and gents.  It looks like this story just got more interesting. As reported by Dump Dorrell, a "second, well-placed source (an NCAA football coach that knows Svoboda well)" has confirmed that Svoboda was fired by text message.

Obviously, this changes things.  Is it possible that Svoboda's earlier denial of this story isn't accurate?   Any member of the small coaching fraternity understandably has an incentive to not trash his former boss.   That might be what I like to call a "career limiting event."   But, it's still takes moxie to explicitly deny something, as Svoboda did earlier, if the facts don't bare that out, and a number of family members and colleagues know it.

Also, though I didn't pick up on it at the time (and credit goes to Dump Dorrell for doing so), Svoboda did not respond to my inquiries regarding his mother-in-law, despite the opportunity to do so.

So, there you go.  Jim Svoboda may well have been let go via text message.  Developing.

-Menelaus

UPDATE NO. 2:  I thought I'd look into this one a bit more.  And there's no one better to ask than Jim Svoboda himself, who is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Montana State University Bobcats.

Jim was gracious enough to respond to my emails and made clear that is there is "no truth to the rumor" that he was let go via text message.  He was also quick to add that he was "grateful for my time at UCLA" and the he held "no ill feelings" toward UCLA or KD.

So, there you go.  Jim Svoboda was not let go via text message.  Many thanks go out to Coach Svoboda for helping us clear this up.

-Menelaus

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Marc Dellins, UCLA SID, after speaking with him regarding the Svoboda firing AND Scott's hiring. He was professional in answering all my questions and knew he was speaking to an editor of DumpDorrell.com:

1. Dellins disputes Svoboda's mother in law's story and says IT DID NOT HAPPEN. Svoboda first learned he was being fired in a face to face meeting with Dorrell, according to Dellins. No word yet from the mother in law.
2. Interestingly, Eric Scott DID NOT FILL OUT ANY APPLICATION at all. He said no coaches do (which is contrary to what UCLA HR told us). FWIW. We seem to remember Brian Dohn being told that Scott filled out a different application (if anyone finds the link let us know so that we can add it).
3. Dellins could not say if Eric Scott was EVER asked about his arrest and conviction record, whether in interviews or otherwise, due to privacy laws.
4. Dellins could not say what the results of the UCLA PD background check were due to privacy laws.
5. Dellins says Dorrell never contradicted himself in statements to the press regarding the Scott hiring. He said Dorrell only knew of Scott's hard life background NOT his arrests or convictions. That contradicts the LAT's report. I told him that and he said, Dorrell never knew and that report was incorrect. I have an email into Chris Foster who co-wrote the report in which he reported Dorrell said he knew of Scotts priors.

From the diaries. If this is (again we are talking strictly about the part of firing an assistant via text message) true it's beyond classless on the part of Dorrell. Then again I wouldn't call a program very classy which has no problem reinstating an individual with 5 arrests and 3 convictions back into the fold, even though there hasn't been any explanation whatsoever about how he got hired into the program. The season hasn't even started. But already Dorrell is turning into as big of an embarrassment as Steve Lavin. GO BRUINS. -N

cross-posted from DumpDorrell.com Jim Svoboda is our son-in-law and we are proud of him. Seems like he should have been given a chance but - chances are not what Dump Dorrell hands out.Jim is hard working dedicated and reliable and gives 100% of himself even when he is not appreciated. Too bad he wasted his time at UCLA because he certainly will make a come back - and he hasnt fallen - he was pushed! Too bad for Dorrell because it seems that he is a racist - Jim is not black - and evidently that is a no no where Dorrell is concerned. Thank goodness he is somewhere where he is valued - eventually I guess Dorrell has done him a favor - although he did not intend to. Jim deserved more than a TEXT MESSAGE TO let him know he was out. We have more guts than that in Texas - we can look a man in the eye. Fairness is not something Dorrell is long on - this coming season I hope the team does well - at least they dont have to worry about job security. Good luck UCLA you are going to need it. Elizabeth

This comment was left this morning on (DumpDorrell.com) by someone posting as Elizabeth Merworth on our Dec. 8 post last year that discussed the expected firing of Jim Svoboda.  We did not edit this comment, except to add bold highlights.  The one point about this comment that we would like to comment on is the way "Elizabeth Merworth" says Svoboda was told he was fired ... by text message.  We obviously have to question the comments of someone who claims Dorrell is racist which we will take as absurd, but the firing by text message seems to us to be a simple case of being either factually correct or not.

If this is the way Dorrell handled the firing of Svoboda it is shameful and beneath Dorrell and UCLA football.  Moreover, it was absolutely unnecessary.  The image of the program and the University is quite possibly going to take another hit on this news.  Dorrell hyped Svoboda like he did every one of the 25 assistants he has hired in just 4 1/2 years.  Svoboda may have been ill-suited for the job, and we certainly gave him a licking here, but he put his best effort forth and no one, including us, ever quarreled with that.  To not give Svoboda the decency of a meeting or at least a phone call is disgraceful.   Jim Svoboda and the UCLA community deserve better. We want to know if this is the way Dorrell is conducting himself in the name of UCLA and UCLA football. At the very least, could Dorrell conduct himself with a little more class. Obviously, Jim Svoboda did by not telling anyone about this.  Make your calls and send your emails to Morgan Center and to reporters to get answers and voice your disapproval.