Chow time
Here is a story I wrote on new offensive coordinator Norm Chow for today's paper.
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
Dohn writes:
"But much of UCLA's offensive personnel is mentally battered by the constant change of coordinators, the complexity of former coach Karl Dorrell's offense and the consistent ineptitude in the past five years on the field."
So what is it Brian? Was Dorrell's 'consistent inepitude in the past five years on the field' still good enough to warrant him staying on for another 5 years? You can't have it both ways. You keep saying that Dorrell deserved to stay on as HC, but then write columns like this where you point out the obvious facts that he was an absolutely horrendous HC with very little foresight to prevent this atrocious situation we are facing with our O-Line and depth issues across the board this coming year.
This would have been Dorrell's 6th year as HC, and you're telling me that this is what we should expect as Bruin fans?
Neuheisel has done more to reinvigorate the Bruin faithful during this offseason than Dorrell did to inspire the Bruin fanbase during his entire 5 years of cryptic confusing and utterly uninspiring 'leadership'.
Just like Howland's first year, this coming year will be nasty for sure. But under this Neu-regime, UCLA football will be back to the days of winning 8 straight against USC and being the #1 ranked team in the first BCS poll back in 1998. Yes, a long time ago for sure, but change is Bruin'!
Once and for all Brian, just admit that you were wrong about Dorrell when you kept harping for him to stay on as HC and say that he deserved to get canned. Or do you think another 5 years of ineptitude on the field is what we Bruin fans expect out of our program? Sorry, but time to raise the expectation levels for our Bruin football program with Neuheisel/Chow/Walker at the helm! Yes, this dream team may not last forever, but just as Carroll has continued to succeed after Chow and Walker left him, Neuheisel will do the same here at UCLA once the engine gets going. GO BRUINS!
In a nutshell, my issue with firing Dorrell when it happened was this:
If he was going to be fired, he should have been fired after the 2006 season. In 2007, he did some of his best coaching the last six weeks of the season, and recruiting was also the best it had been since he was at UCLA (regardless of DeWayne Walker and Eric Scott being behind it, since Dorrell hired both of them).
I don't believe I have ever heard a football coach use the phrase 'pull a rabbit out of a hat.' Somehow, this does not inspire confidence in the team he has. And Chow admitted as much, stating he had some good players, but needed more. And even the great Chow will need more material to work with before he can resume his collegiate magic act.