The Dump Dorrell movement continues to gain traction in the traditional media. OC Register's Steve Bisheff is the latest columnist to notice all the discontent around Dorrell in Westwood (via DD):
The man (mad?) boosters should really be angry at is Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, who hired Dorrell, although officials above him at the university also influenced the decision.
Considering the timing, when USC's program under Pete Carroll already had taken off, bringing in a young, inexperienced head coach was a major gamble. A gamble Guerrero and his bosses now seem to have lost.
The pressure, with a "Dump Dorrell" campaign heating up on the Internet, continues to build. It's beginning to appear the only way this decent, well-meaning coach can save his job is to beat USC on Dec.2.
Impossible?
No, but like the original decision to hire Dorrell, it's not a gamble you'd want to take.
Again it is easy to blame DG for Dorrell hire because he was the public face of UCLA administration during that Dorrell hiring press conference. But as I have said before I believe DG's hands were tied as it was folks above his pay grade who influenced his decision to bring Dorrell into Westwood. Also I think this important note from DD is worth repeating again:
Considering the timing, when USC's program under Pete Carroll already had taken off, bringing in a young, inexperienced head coach was a major gamble. A gamble Guerrero and his bosses now seem to have lost.
The pressure, with a "Dump Dorrell" campaign heating up on the Internet, continues to build. It's beginning to appear the only way this decent, well-meaning coach can save his job is to beat USC on Dec.2.
Impossible?
No, but like the original decision to hire Dorrell, it's not a gamble you'd want to take.
Let us reiterate loud and clear. No one but Dan Guerrero knows what is going though his mind about KD and the football program. He has given no indication either way what he will do. It's his program and his legacy on the line. The Athletic Department is his and not the domain of all the Morgan Center carpet bureaucrats, holdovers from the Dalis/Donohue days. So if you hear differently on the internet, don't believe it.
One thing that is become increasingly clear that Dorrell has lost his support from the Bruin community:
Yes that picture is from a Daily Bruin article, which tried really hard to put together one of those he said/she said article about the controversy around Karl Dorrell by meshing in quotes from some so called Dorrell supporters seemed to have no clue about college football. Again we saw lot of these types of articles from Lavin days when reporters could always scrounge up a student, alumni or two who had no clue about the game to say something in support of an incompetent coach. Luckily as evidenced by the students here on BN there are people on campus with some perspective based on reality:
"I do not think they're going to win another game this season," fourth-year psychology student Antonio Vallejo said. "At the end of last season the players had more to look forward to, which is clearly not the case this season. The team is simply lacking motivation."
He went on to argue that motivation and morale of the team is lower this season because the players do not have a key figure to look to as they did last season.
Faith, or lack of it, is also evident in the decline of attendance. Fewer Bruins are going out to the Rose Bowl to support their team.
It is going to be an interesting Saturday at the Rose Bowl this weekend. Will the student section and rest of the crowd go through the motions just like the players seemed to be doing on Saturdays. You can sense from the daily roundups in the LA Times and the Daily News that there is absolutely no sense of excitement and life in Dorrell football in this season of discontent. Once again you get to the read the same type of quote from players that we have been seeing for last 9 weekends:
He went on to argue that motivation and morale of the team is lower this season because the players do not have a key figure to look to as they did last season.
Faith, or lack of it, is also evident in the decline of attendance. Fewer Bruins are going out to the Rose Bowl to support their team.
"We've got to have the mindset of perfect execution. We've known the whole time that we're a good football team," center Robert Chai said. "We're making little mistakes. A lot of times, 10guys will do something right and one doesn't and that ruins the whole play. On defense, if one person messes up, you've got 10 other guys who can help. Everyone has to do their assignment for the offense to work."
Chai is a great kid who is trying his best to put on a brave face in what looks like a horrible situation. He and his team-mates and UCLA alums, students, and fans deserve better than that. Let's hope DG is paying attention to all this discontent which has generated so much activism to save our program. 600 signatures are in calling for Dorrell's removal in less than a week. Let's keep getting the message out. We all deserve better than go through this Dorrell hell every season.GO BRUINS.