Answers, Part III

It seems that WLB projects as a short-term position of need. Based on what you've seen from Glenn Love in practice, could he be a candidate for a positional change?
I don't think Love has the strength and body mass to play there, and its penchant for always being dinged up is another issue.

Have you ever run into Rutgers 2nd most famous alum (next to BD of course) Tony Soprano aka James Gandolfini and is he a candidate for the dc position at ucla?
I have not run into him. He is very private, and from what I understand, has not been attending a lot of games lately. And when he does attend games, Rutgers folks usually leave him and his family alone. As for the DC position at UCLA, I'm not going to say anything bad about Tony Soprano. He could still be out there. Who knows what happened after that fade to black scene.

Any chance Neu goes after Mark Carrier as the DC?
I think there is some validity to that, but don't expect to hear anything until after the Baltimore Ravens are done with the playoffs.

are you surprised at the success of the recruiting? Do you think with the 2008 and 2009 classes, the talent level in the program is rising pretty rapidly?
I'm not surprised by the success. Whenever a coach takes over a program, his first full recruiting class is usually pretty good because he is selling the vision of his program, giving energy to the program, and some kids buy into that and want to change things around. I think the talent level is rising, but it still has a long ways to go.

Do you see Norm Chow taking the 49ers OC job if offered?
No, not since Mike Holmgren will not be the coach.

Has the signings of Tyler Honeycutt and Mike Moser impacted the recruitment of Anthony Brown? Have you had any indication where UCLA currently stands in the pecking order for Brown?
He's a 2010 kid, so I don't think that has made a major impact. But I do not know the pecking order right now.

Is there any interest that you are aware of inside the UCLA or Pac-10 hierarchy in pursuing structural changes to the conference, e.g. adding two schools & splitting into two divisions? If so, any thoughts on who might get invited to join?
I don't think it will happen because what two schools will be added. A while back, at least a decade ago, there was talk about Colorado and Texas, but the formation of the Big 12 crushed that. I know some folks think about Utah and BYU, and others say San Diego State and Fresno State, but none of all those programs don't seem to mesh with what the Pac-10 desires. Plus, other than San Diego, none offer an attractive media outlet.

Did that Locke kid that was a punter/kicker red-shirt this year, his freshman season? If so, what does the coaching staff think of his leg? In your opinion do we need to target another special teams player soon?
Locke did red-shirt and I saw market improvement with his punting from training camp to the end of the season. The next special teams player needed will be to replace Kai Forbath, who has two years of eligibility remaining. So I think UCLA will want to bring in a placekicker in the 2010 class so he can red-shirt for a year behind Forbath.