Dorrell stays upbeat after perhaps last day on job

The day over, most folks figuring it was probably the final game he would ever coach for UCLA, Karl Dorrell was the last man to leave the locker room, dead man walking up the Coliseum ramp to join his team, which was still waiting for him on the Bruins buses.

A few folks standing outside the Coliseum gates yelled, “Good luck” and waved goodbye, the good news to report so far -- one of them wasn’t UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero.

Guerrero did everything but offer Dorrell a blindfold a month ago when he set him up for failure, telling the media he would be watching how the Bruins finished the season, knowing they were injured on offense and slated to play three top-10 opponents.

And I thought Dwyre was a monster as a boss.

The Bruins played hard to the very end Saturday, disappointing the bettors in Las Vegas who wagered USC would beat UCLA by more than 20 points.

Guerrero might’ve quit on Dorrell, but Dorrell’s players never quit on him.

Dorrell said he met with Guerrero on Thursday to discuss Saturday’s game. But he said he was told nothing about his future employment with the school, although several national media outlets already have Texas Tech’s Mike Leach and Boise State’s Chris Petersen as the most likely coaches to replace Dorrell.

One insider at the Coliseum said Petersen will be the Bruins’ new coach and DeWayne Walker will remain on staff as defensive coordinator. If it’s true that Guerrero has already contacted replacements before speaking to Dorrell, I’m beginning to think Dwyre wasn’t really that big of an ogre after all.

There’s already a report the money needed to buy out the remaining years of Dorrell’s contract has been pledged by a Bruins booster, if Guerrero should need it.

“I haven’t paid any attention to the speculation,” said Dorrell, who apparently opted for the blindfold.

“I believe I will be coaching at UCLA next season,” he said. “I’m not in any holding pattern. I’ve still got a lot of energy in my tank, and I have recruiting to do.

“I told the coaches I would see them Monday morning, and I told the team we would have a meeting Monday night at 5.”

Guerrero says he will meet with Dorrell on Monday for evaluations, but when asked if he had already made up his mind on what he will do with Dorrell, he lost his cool.

“That’s all I’ve got to say to you,” he snapped, and let’s hope he at least keeps Dorrell around long enough to learn a little something about keeping your poise during stressful times.

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IT HAS been a brutal ride at times for Dorrell, who was given little chance to be successful at UCLA from the day he was hired by Guerrero without having the benefit of any previous head-coaching experience.

From the start here, he was Karl Dullard, a good 2-day-old cup of Starbucks needed to make it through one of his news conferences or one of his bowl games.

But the guy learned on the job, made changes, and became a first-class representative for UCLA.

He found himself matched against arguably the best college coach in football, and consistently the most successful program, and yet by the third year his team had compiled a 10-2 record.

If 10-2 doesn’t cut it anymore, USC’s Pete Carroll might want to keep a closer eye on those annual NFL openings.

In year four, USC needed only one win to advance to the Bowl Championship Series title game, and Carroll’s team could not beat Dorrell’s team, and that still wasn’t enough for some people.

This season, the Bruins collectively fell on their facemasks against Utah, a shocking upset unlike any other until USC played Stanford. Then came the injuries, and the criticism, and the ground swell for a change.

OK, so maybe his problems began this season when he blindsided Guerrero with the hiring of wide receiver coach Eric Scott, who had a criminal record. Strike one.

He also took another hit when a Times’ columnist mentioned race and Dorrell in the same sentence, feeding those in a frenzy to get rid of him although none of it was really Dorrell’s doing.

A few days ago, Carroll praised Dorrell for the job he has done in keeping the Bruins competitive when most programs would’ve been devastated by such injuries. Some critics then used that as further evidence to fire Dorrell because the cross-town coach was praising him.

Check out a website called DumpDorrell.com. It’s loaded with such garbage, the kind of one-sided thinking that if accurate in reflecting how people really think today, we’ve all lost it.

It has become a no-win situation for Dorrell in some cases, but maybe it’s not so much his fault as those sports fans who always need a change in this age of short-attention spans to enliven their lives.

The next guy always looks better, but is there a coach in America who could have fared better than 6-6 with the number of injuries that bedeviled UCLA this season?

If UCLA doesn’t pay its assistant coaches more, and change its academic standards, is there a coach in America who could do better?

If there is someone out there, what makes anyone think Guerrero can find him? Guerrero hired Dorrell.

“I have no regrets,” said Dorrell in maintaining his poise. “I’ve done everything I could this season. It has been a tremendous challenge, but it’s also been tremendously rewarding, because these guys reached deep to give everything they have to the end.

“And I want to tell you, I still have a lot of fight in me. This program is ready to make another big jump with our returning players and the recruits we have coming in here.”

As upbeat as he might sound, given all the criticism, why isn’t he just miserable?

“They’ve definitely tried to make me feel that way,” he said with a laugh. “But you know what, my faith keeps me grounded. And tonight, I look forward to going home and seeing my kids.”

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T.J. Simers can be reached at [email protected].

To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.