Bumped. -BN Eds. 

Dear friends and fellow sufferers.

While I have not been posting much since our 'win' against Washington State I have been reading with great interest all the uproar caused by poor play in football.

I have noticed not only an increase in posts by new members, I have noticed a distinct increase in fan posts by new members. I particularly must give proper respects to Soccerboy and his call to inundate Chancellor Gene Block with calls, emails and letters.

In the spirit of activism and thanks in large part to the encouragement of friends, family and fellow posters, I have created an online petition to 1) Fire Dan Guerrero and 2) Fire Rick Neuheisel. I hope you will support me in this, and lend me your signature. I will include the letter to Gene Block after the jump.

Sign the petition now.

Dear Chancellor Gene Block,

We the students, alumni, fans and supporters of UCLA Athletics have become overwhelmingly embarrassed, disillusioned, and disenfranchised by the performance of our football team.

We rightfully take great pride in the ‘First to 100’ campaign extolling the over 100 NCAA Championships, and yet it has been over 12 years since UCLA Football has won a Pac 10/12 championship and 57 years since our last National Championship. A casual observer of sports news can tell you we have fallen from a perennial conference power and force on the national stage to an irrelevant program of former glories.

For these reasons and so many others, we hereby petition you to take the following corrective action.

Release Dan Guerrero immediately; do not allow him to hire another football coach.

• For hiring the worst football coach in the modern era then replacing him with the worst football coach in the modern era. (Dorrell and Neuheisel)
• For his duplicitous and malevolent handling of the student-seating debacle resulting in student, alumni, and fan outrage, an online petition and a student referendum.
• For his wrongful misuse of $23 Million in student fees discovered during a state audit released August 2011 (http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/audit-finds-ucla-wrongfully-designated-23m-student-fees-11813)
• For allowing Women’s Basketball Coach Nikki Caldwell escape without an aggressive effort to retain the highly regarded coach.
• For a complete lack of business acumen when renegotiating the Adidas sporting apparel contract; including allowing Adidas to diminish the historic ‘UCLA stripes’ established by legendary Coach Red Sanders.
• For a complete lack of marketing ability; over seeing the recent and alarming drop in attendance at UCLA Men’s Basketball and UCLA Football games; the two revenue generating programs that in turn finance all other UCLA Athletic programs.

Release Rick Neuheisel immediately; do not promote a coordinator, or otherwise take a chance on a candidate without an established winning record or national prominence as a Head Coach.

• For the worst winning percentage of any UCLA football coach since 1939-44 Edwin Horrell.
• For placing 8th, 8th and 9th in the Pac 10; we are currently 7th out of 12.
• For his 3-11 record against Ranked teams; his 6-16 record in away games; and his mediocre 12-10 record at home.
• With an 8 – 19 record Rick Neuheisel would have to go 16 wins and -1 loss just tie Karl Dorrell, who was fired for poor performance. In fact, Karl Dorrell coached teams made it to a bowl game ever single year, while Rick Neuheisel has only managed to get us to one bowl game.

Until these changes are made, we the Students, Alumni, Fans and Supporters of UCLA Athletics pledge to stop all donations, ticket purchases, and apparel purchases which directly and indirectly support UCLA sports and academic programs.

[UPDATE:] Please keep in mind that if we really want to see change we can believe in, it is best if you do not rely on signin the petition alone. Please send your thought by Email, Phone, or Snail Mail to Chancellor Gene Block as suggested by SoccerBoy.

[UPDATE II:] The petition has now reached over 750 signatures in less than 24 hours of existence! Thanks to everyone who has signed, but you can do more! Reach out to your Bruin friends and family and encourage them to sign the petition, message Chancellor Gene Block directly, and finally to reach out their own circle of Bruin friends and family.

[UPDATE III:] We have reached 1,250 signatures by the end of our second full day of existence. Make sure you keep the drum beat going. Check in with your friends, family and former classmates. Ask if they have signed. If they don't care about these kind of things, ask them to do it because you care about sports and UCLA sports in particular.