Today at a packed Morgan Center, Karl Dorrell looked nervous. But not for long.
He laughed and joked. But not for long.
His eyes were wide. But not for long.
Karl Dorrell, UCLA’s 15th head football coach, will have his doubters.
But if you ask me, those doubts, like his nervousness, won’t last long. Because more than anything else – beyond the Xs, the Os, the Mike Rileys and the TJ Simerses – Karl Dorrell is a gutsy, profound, emphatic step in the right direction for UCLA.
“Karl did everything he needed to do to come back home,” UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said. “He met the qualities we were looking for, qualities like being the right fit, and what’s important in terms of having the right kind of character and convictions.”
UCLA took a gamble, sure. They did the same thing 26 years ago with a 32-year old named Terry Donahue, and all he did was become the winningest coach in Pac-10 history.
Now. All I did is hear Karl Dorrell talk for about a half hour. We don’t know how many games he’s going to win, and we know even less about him than we would have known about Riley, a onetime NFL head coach with gobs more experience.
So don’t think I’m going to call out “All Aboard the Good Ship Dorrell!” though I sincerely hope you’re all picturing me with a captain’s hat and little dingy boat right now.
Come on, it’s funny! Right! Right?
Anyways, I’m hesitant to give my pair of pennies on what kind of offense Dorrell will run, or if this hiring means the Bruins will beat USC next year, or whether or not he could beat up Pete Carroll (for what it’s worth, my money would be on Dorrell). Today’s press conference is the first of many impressions Dorrell will convey.
On national signing day, we’ll know if he was able to keep those who wanted to come here under Bob Toledo and woo over those who didn’t.
At summer practice, we’ll know what kind of plays they’ll run, and who will start at quarterback.
In the police reports, we’ll know that he’s doing his job, cleaning up his alma mater’s program, returning a sense of dignity, if no UCLA players show up on the blotter.
And in the season opener Sept. ??, we’ll see just how this team responds to a man coaching his first game as the boss, a world of expectations and a city’s captivation on his mind.
We’ll know so much more in a year.
But for now, all we know is that Karl Dorrell is by all accounts a good man, an accomplished coach who has paid his professional dues.
And most of all, he is a Bruin.
All one needed to do was look around at the Morgan Center to see what kind of support exists for Dorrell and everything his hiring stands for. Former teammates circled around a pack of writers eager to decipher an angle on the 39-year-old former Bruin receiver.
But sometimes, the best explanation, the best analysis, is right in front of you. As Dorrell and Guerrero answered questions, I couldn’t help but look at the UCLA logo behind them and think, “these guys know what it means to be a UCLA student and a Bruin fan.”
UCLA is not just a two or three-year stopoff for Dorrell while he eyes something bigger. This place is important to him, and that should be important to anyone who cares about UCLA.
The danger in seeing so much support from alumni is that Dorrell must make sure the team is his alone. It’s a lot like those who feared John F. Kennedy’s election as the first Catholic president meant the Pope would be running the United States government.
But after listening to Dorrell speak to what he saw as the alumni’s place, I think we can be safe in assuming Donahue won’t be phoning in playcalling tips from San Francisco while the Bruins play on Saturdays.
“By no means will they be a distraction as far as what we’re doing,” Dorrell said.
Many will say – or have already said – that the color of Dorrell’s skin played a large part in his hiring. To say that it played no part would probably be a little naïve.
But UCLA addressed the issue even before the barrage of reporters’ questions. Thing is, it wasn’t Guerrero who brought it up.
It was Dorrell himself.
“This opportunity is something UCLA has always been a cornerstone of, making decisions like this,” Dorrell said. “But by no means is that the reason I received this job. I got this job because of hard work, integrity and the commitment I have given to my players.
“I have a lot to prove. We’re a family here, and we’re gonna find a way to get it done.”
A year from now, I’ll be a crusty old (21-year-old) alumni on the other side of the country, hoping to catch a glance of some Bruin football from a sports bar here or SportsCenter highlight there.
And I’ll be honest. I had my worries, about the wins and losses and the USC games to come. But most of all, I worried about the image of UCLA and how important it was that the next coach run a respectable program, understanding UCLA can again be something special.
I had those worries. But not for long.