clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Abu Gonzalez Defense

If you think we are the only one skeptical about the spin coming out of Morgan Center think again. From Cal Poly Bruin (who arguably is not as cynical about Dorrell's leadership as us) Bruin Roar (emphasis mine):

Maybe I'm biased with my middle-class suburban background, but I don't think the cops would just arrest someone and charge them with felony burglary because they happened to be milling around in front of someones house. At the very least it would be trespassing. They must have taken something out of the house, right?

It was also brought to light that Scott has had four prior arrests from 1994 and 2005 and he pleaded guilt on two of those charges, both misdemeanors. One was a concealed weapons charge and the other was for disturbing the peace. The gun charges originally started out as felonies but his lawyer got them reduced to a misdemeanor after he challenged the legality of the search the cops performed.

Brian Dohn also reported that UCLA may not have know about all the prior arrests. That's probably true considering they were misdemeanors and you typically only have to report felonies on a job application. Still, makes you wonder if Guerrero or Dorrell do background searches on candidates they are hiring. It always amazes me how the press can dig this information up in just a few hours, but it catches the employer off guard.
CPB's last point is even more poignant given that Dorrell has already gone on the record admitting that he hired Scott knowing some of his past.

So what exactly did Dorrell know when he brought in Scott? And given what he knew wasn't it his responsibility to make sure that his staff, the Morgan Center, and may be a 3rd party would do a thorough vetting that would dig up all the information concerning Coach Scott.

As for the Morgan Center assertion they were surprised by all this, check this out from the comment thread:
There is no way...

the Morgan Center did not know about his priors. I mean when I got hired for basketball camp they made us get fingerprinted. Its beyond me that no one saw these convictions.
If that is indeed the standard operating procedure was Scott finger printed? And if he was finger printed how is it possible that his prior record did not surface up during the hiring process?

Again over the years we have heard the arguments in various message boards about how Dorrell is that "CEO" type of coach who manages a program. He doesn't seem to know much about defense. He hasn't shown the ability to take over an offense. He looks disengaged on the field. And now this story makes him looks like a disengaged Albert Gonzalez who seems to have no idea what is going on in various parts of his program.

It's never his fault. The buck always stops at someone else's desk. It is always someone else who screwed up.

He has been able to get away with scape-goating one assistant after another. And once again it seems like he is trying to get away by pleading "I had no idea" defense trying to blame it all on the system or bureaucracy within the Morgan Center. It is a joke.

GO BRUINS.