UCLA coaching update
Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian denied that he has been contacted by UCLA about its head coaching vacancy on Friday, but sources confirm there has been interest put forth by UCLA.
Sources also confirm that there has been little contact in recent days with Jim L. Mora, thought to be the leading candidate for the position after early attempts at Boise State's Chris Petersen, Houston's Kevin Sumlin and Miami's Al Golden were rebuffed.
Sarkisian, who has led the Huskies to a 19-18 record in three years and back-to-back bowl games, would not speculate on his interest in the position with reporters in Washington.
"The point of it is, and I've said before, I'm not going to engage in speculation and rumors," Sarkisian said. "Hopefully, as we continue to get better here, and we win even more games, those speculation and rumors are going to grow in numbers, and I don't feel like I should have to come and talk about speculation and rumors every time they come up."
Eleven days into the coaching search, UCLA fans are starting to get antsy, as several coaching positions have been opened and subsequently filled across the country. Lofty talk by athletic director Dan Guerrero that the Bruins would have more money to offer the new head coach and assistants has whet fans' appetite for a quick hire, but UCLA has appeared to be acting deliberately in the process.
Sarkisian signed a new five-year contract with the Huskies that escalates every year through 2015, when it reaches $2.85 million.
Washington athletic director Steve Woodward echoed Sarkisian's comments that the former USC assistant coach had been contacted by UCLA.
"You are always concerned. You are always worried when you have a good coach that other people will want to talk to him, which is a good problem to have. But Steve is very happy at the University of Washington, in a great situation, and I think everything is fine going forward. I think at the end of the day, Steve will be the coach at the University of Washington.''
The interest in Mora, meanwhile, appears to be cooling off.
Mora went 31-33 in four seasons with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks but has minimal collegiate coaching experience, with only one year as a graduate assistant for Washington in 1984.
You know up until know I've been a supporter of Dan Guerrero but jeez when a grown man, who's pullin' down major coin, can't decide on whom to hire... what the heck! Does he need to break out a Ouija board or something? Does he need to wander the streets and ask everyone's opinion. I'd think that an AD would have a ready list of MANY possible replacements updated at all times! I mean, that is his job isn't it? Or at least part of it. I know he has to go to all those cocktail parties. There's some serious systemic problems there at the Morgan Center if we can't get this done. Does DG have no balls or no sense?
Sark ain't no good.
Just flew into town. Did a little tour of Westwood. Passed a couple of nice tat parlors. Shared a full glass of wine with Dan G. Checked out the new all white jerseys. Would be a good look with my style fashion. Maybe I'll put some of the new gear up for sale. Think I'll stick around.
Is BruinPain one of Nestor's persons of hench?
Thank god the mora talk is cooling off. Hey Jon, see if you can get an interview with Dan G!!! See if he'll throw some names out there.
Sarkisian has denied being contacted (according to ESPN), but his refusal to flatly deny interest suggests something is afoot. Whether it will lead to anything who knows, but something seems to be going on.
From Sark's perspective, even though he has a great job at UW and they are doing everything to improve their program with facility upgrades etc., in the North you have Oregon (program that will remain at the elite level for the foreseeable future), Stanford (likely to remain strong), Cal (off year this year but strong recruiting class, major facility upgrades to draw future recruits, and very good coach in Tedford), and WSU with its impending rise resulting from a shrewd hire in Leach and commitment to jump start its program. In other words there is STRONG competition in the north that is likely to remain strong.
On the other hand, the South has USC and basically at this moment that's it. Sure Arizona hired Rich Rod, and ASU has a lot of potential, but if I were Sark I would be thinking "I have a much better chance of going to the Rose Bowl from the South!" He also probably knows that UCLA is down at the moment but never far away from awakening from its slumber as a sleeping giant. He just needs to push the right buttons and suddenly Blue and Gold is right back there contending annually for the Rose Bowl.
Personally I haven't formed an opinion yet on Sark, but he has turned around Washington after their losing stretch under Willingham. Plus TJ Simers is recommending him so he must be good, right? (Insert buzzing of sarcasm detector)
Mother of god. Jay Gruden? SMH. Are you serious?
The problem of all these Bruinsnation whiners is that finding a GREAT COACH is actually a very difficult job.
Thus is is good for Guerrero to look as far and wide as he can and make a thoughtful decision. This takes a lot of time.
CURRENT GREAT COACHES are already highly paid. They are already strongly bound to their current university. Their programs are highly vested in them and are actively improving their facilities.
Thus, prying an already great coach from an existing program is going to be NEAR IMPOSSIBLE.
This leaves Guerrero with the tough job of finding a coach who can be predicted to become a great coach - a great coach in the making.
This is an even more difficult job than finding an existing already great coach.
Thus, the best thing to do is to be patient. The process will take time.
Nothing will please the whiners. But then they can stay on Bruinsnation and keep bleating there like sheep.
I would rather have Guerrero take his time and do the best job he can than to simply jump the gun and make a bad decision that will drown UCLA for the next five years.
And I would like Guerrero to make it known to the UCLA supporters that it will take $5million a year to get a great coach. Great coaches do not come cheap.
Come on BruinPain, you've been a DG supporter until NOW? We've watched two ADs in our own conference sign marquee names (Leach and Rich Rod) while DG hasn't gotten anything accomplished. What's the point in making the search private instead of public? Look at what Moos did. He said Leach was at the top of his list, showed his interest, and went out and signed him. Jon would know better than I do but I heard that it wasn't DG reaching out to Sark, rather it was a booster (hinted at by SportsByBrooks). If Guerrero can't make a splash with this he needs to be gone, period. We need an AD who has some balls and some true passion for UCLA sports rather than a politician like DG. It's time for UCLA to get back on the map for football and basketball and I don't think DG is the one to get us there.
I would rather have Mike Johnson continue as the interim coach next year than to see Guerrero impulsively hire a coach that turns out to be mediocre, who will keep UCLA a loser for years to come.
Guerrero needs to take his time to make a right decision. There is no hurry to find the next coach.
We already have Mike Johnson - who was a good coach with the San Francisco 49ers. He is capable of holding the fort until a great coach can be found.
I'm with you on this, Brock. JAY GRUDEN? You've got to be kidding me. Mora, Sark, Jones, almost everybody else I've heard mentioned make much more sense.
I'm scratching my head wondering why we are even considering him. If it was Jon Gruden, OK, but brother Jay?
@Anonymous!
Oh give me a break! Linking me to that sociopath over at BruinsNation whom I've been on record here many times of stating my opinion about that snake pit.
But look around at how many programs have fired and hired and new coaches while coaches are sited like UFOs and rumors are a dime a dozen. It appears that there are many cooks in the kitchen but I'm hungry to eat. Who will be our coach? I'd be happy with a number of choices and there are still a number out there that could do a good job. I just wish DG would work at finding a new coach as Mitch Kupchak has in trying to bring Chris Paul to the Lakers. From the outside, there doesn't appear to be any sense of urgency. And as I say, an AD just like a GM in professional sports should always be looking for possible replacements and have an updated list available. That's how it's done but I'm not sure that DG does it that way. I don't see why anything I posted could be construed as being associated with one of Nestor's minions.
@GingerBruin
I have difficulty comprehending you. Seriously. Didn't you just read what I wrote. I was willing to give DG a chance and now I'm fed up. That's my frustrations in a nutshell. I've lost confidence in the man. You capitalize NOW as if I should have given up on him like the BruinNation group years ago. Well, I was happy that he hired Neuheisel and don't blame him for that hire. CRN didn't work out. I just don't like his passive approach. BTW, I don't need a minute by minute update as to who we may hire. There are so many names out there it makes my head swim.
@BruinGold
Hiring a coach isn't the most difficult thing to do. As I say, you should always have a list of possible coaches who are already vetted. You look around at all these other programs and they don't anguish before hiring another coach. How long did it take Washington State before they hired Mike Leach or Arizona to hire Rich Rodriguez? Dan Guerrero couldn't figure out if he wanted cream or sugar in his coffee in that amount of time. The man is indecisive and slow. If he were working on my house, I'd pay him on the job definitely not by the hour! You contact your top three candidates or so, interview them, and make a decision. Come to a dollar amount, sign the contract, have the presser and voila, you've hired your new coach! Jesus Christ, this is his JOB!!! He gets paid what 700,000 dollars a year or more so I think he can get someone to coach football at UCLA and play the games on Saturday in the Rose Bowl!
I mean I'll take jay gruden over mora any day of the week. But I'm just super gungho on the spread idea. Call me crazy.
no story from the Westlake/Oaks Christian game Jon?
BruinPain, my entire post wasn't directed at you. I was just surprised that it had taken you this long to be fed up with DG.
I do agree with BruinGold though that it would be better to play it safe for now than to panic since our first few options haven't worked out and overpay for a mediocre coach. I think that finding a "great" coach isn't actually that easy, especially with the state of our program being so bad. We'd be in a different situation if DG had acted more quickly. Unfortunately he didn't and now it appears we're between a rock and a hard place. Thanks Dan!
reports just came out saying gene block held a conference without dan gurerro.. speculation that he will be fired now begins.
I'm not a fan of DG AT ALL but any sane rational human being should be able to look at this scenario and realize that it's a perfect storm of bad shit all happening at once that has led to the current situation and not all of it is UCLA/DG's fault.
1) We've been a bad program with a bad reputation for over 15 years. The job's become unsexy and appears too difficult for an established coach to gamble on. Especially with a psychopathic fan base like Bruinsnation (seriously who wants to try and build a program while dealing with that bullshit?) 2) Most of our targets signed extensions before we ever had a shot at them 3) There's more big programs looking for coaches all at the same time then I've ever seen in my life. 4) Shittier programs in the Pac 12 now have money to go after the same guys we would because of the new TV contract. 5) Administrators know they can't F@#$ this up again and have become gun shy. The knee jerk hysterics on a certain internet sports blog is not helping.
Dan Guerrero, whether doing the right or prudent thing or not, simply is not looking good publicly while performing this search. A position such as his carries many responsibilities, including potraying a strong image publicly.
I feel that he does not perform that aspect of the job very well. Everyone will have different opinions about the choices being discussed and Dan's handling of the situation. I'd say that, in my opinion, he has not performed well at all, and this coaching search may end up costing him his job. Of course, he may already be lobbying for a job with the NCAA as has been subject of speculation for a long time.
Those bruinsnation hacks are getting worse and their egos grow with each day and mention of their website by a reporter. Idiocracy right before our eyes.
If you go to LA Times right now, there's a banner that says "Breaking News: UCLA to hire Jim Mora Jr. as football coach"
Won't let you click on it, though, to get the details...hmmmm
http://www.latimes.com/sports/
Jim Mora Jr is a done deal. Look for Mike Johnson to stay on as OC.
Mora is our next head coach.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-ucla-jim-mora-20111210,0,3170928.story
I hope this works out, but I'm skeptical.
Come on BruinPain, you've been a DG supporter until NOW? We've watched two ADs in our own conference sign marquee names (Leach and Rich Rod) while DG hasn't gotten anything accomplished. What's the point in making the search private instead of public? Look at what Moos did. He said Leach was at the top of his list, showed his interest, and went out and signed him. Jon would know better than I do but I heard that it wasn't DG reaching out to Sark, rather it was a booster (hinted at by SportsByBrooks). If Guerrero can't make a splash with this he needs to be gone, period. We need an AD who has some balls and some true passion for UCLA sports rather than a politician like DG. It's time for UCLA to get back on the map for football and basketball and I don't think DG is the one to get us there.
Finally we have a coach!
Meanwhile GingerBruin continues to post riddles. GB, you're lecturing me on things on which I've already posted. I don't understand. Do you read this blog in a mirror or parallel universe or something? I truly don't get you and this is the last time I'll even attempt to respond. I'm confounded. At least we have Jim Mora, Jr. as coach now. No more speculation about that.