In my opinion, it will be years before any Pac 12 team is competitive in the Big 10. Is it fixable? I guess. I'm 66 and it ain't happening in my lifetime.
Your comments regarding Kelly completely vindicated my view towards this arrogant, con artist of a coach. When UCLA prevailed over Florida in their bidding war over Kelly, I genuinely believed it was the dawning of a new football era in Westwood. Since I also reside in the vicinity of Rose Bowl, I told myself to brace for the jubilant, festive atmosphere synonymous with the Donahue era to revive itself again in our community during home game Saturdays. Simply put, I could not wait for yesterday once more.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Kelly was anything but who we thought he was. Sadly, the emperor has no clothes. Even more sickening was Kelly's apologists. They ridiculed people critical of Kelly, vehemently defended him to the pitiful end. Facts, reality proved us right. A skunk is a skunk is a skunk. No amount of sugar coating can hide it.
DeShawn Foster is a good hire in my mind. He will fight, fight and fight. He will survive the blustery wind, the hostile midwestern football landscape this fall and the next. His team will earn the respect of the Big Ten fans, their offensive tackles on the field because he will show them that our running backs, our wide receivers are no sissies. Catch them if you can, dude. In a sense, I am bullish of our team's prospect and I can't wait for the fall season to unfold.
Henry, I agree with every thing you stated! Well done my friend 💙💛
Coach Fos has done a remarkable job so far - could not ask for more from a Coach, especially the way he has recruited, brought back tradition, enthusiasm and support! UCLA is once again a place high school kids want to play. I say Bravo!
We did get three new big and pretty talented offensive linemen in the portal so we now have depth in the O line and I do believe we will be improved.
Yes, we have a great group of receivers and running backs, and with QB Garbers, I think we will be able to move the ball. We also filled the holes on defense, so overall I think our defense will be pretty good.
I also can't wait for kickoff, and I am hopeful! Go Bruins! 💙💛
Never was on the Chip bandwagon. I thought he was a retread, like Mora, and wanted a younger coach who had success with a smaller program, similar to the Cronin hire. I don’t share the optimism on Foster as a coach. I hope I’m wrong. At the end of last season it was a great opportunity to pick up Jonathan Smith. But, correctly stated, it was about saving a few extra bucks. After we got left holding the Chip bag, there was slim pickings. I was pushing for Tommy Rees, who at least had success at a major program. This season, 6 wins and a bowl game would be huge. Reality might be more like 4 wins, maybe 3. It could be a long 5 years.
So far, Coach Fos has done an outstanding job. He has done everything he could and beyond to fix the mess Chipster Alfraud left. He filled the holes with good players. He is doing an outstanding job recruiting high schoolers. He has brought discipline, enthusiasm and respect - his pillars of success. He has brought back tradition and engaged the donors, students, alums and general fans! He hired outstanding coaches. Obviously we shall see how the season progresses, and this year may be a challenge. But I believe Coach Fos will he very successful.
Cronin is a good Coach who recruited very well this past cycle but he also throws his players under the bus publicly. I don't like him as a person. But this next season in terms of wins and losses should be heavy on the wins side with a deep run given the talent and depth he has on this team.
It sounds like (based on what insiders are saying) the athletic department is encouraging donors to give to Men of Westwood now and also CDF has met with donors communicating the importance of NIL and how paramount that is for the football team’s success going forward. Reports are that Jarmond has communicated that with admin as well.
The blame needs to be laid at the administration —specifically, Gene Block — for the utter antipathy shown towards football, and to lesser extent basketball, despite the fact that they pay the freight for the entire athletic department.
The fact that that Berkeley’s administration gave their athletic department interest free loans and support from central campus despite having less cash while, despite swimming in cash, UCLA gives the AD interest bearing loans AND charges the department to use Pauley Pavilion, is unconscionable.
Something else I think has contributed to the lack of fan support, besides the reasons you listed in your article, is the admitting of more out-of-state and international students. Nothing wrong with either group, and it’s certainly raised the profile (and coffers) of UCLA, but the goal of a state university should be to serve the needs of the state population first and foremost. As a born and raised Southland kid, I was a pretty good, well-rounded student when I was accepted into UCLA, and I doubt I could even be accepted today.
This has a knock-off effect of steering Southland and California natives to that school across town, to Berkeley, to our ex-Pac-12 compatriots. Not only do they have the chance of staying in-state where they graduated, but even if they do come home they’re cheering for different colors. Meanwhile, our out-of-staters, particularly the international students who likely weren’t even that interested in American football int he first place, aren’t going out of their way to come back to Pasadena or Westwood and fill the stands.
Thats a huge fail on this administration’s part as well as the UC Regents as a whole, and shows just how out of touch they are with the needs of the state they’re supposed to be serving.
I really hope that Chancellor Frenk, who by first glance seems to understand the importance of a united community and the power of athletic tradition, finds a way to tap into that at UCLA and gets everyone moving forward in the same direction.
UCLA charges the athletic department a fee to use Pauley Pavilion? Is this true? For games or for just for practices? Men's basketball or all sports that use Pauley? Can you please provide a source? Joe, I smell a public records request coming . . .
“UCLA’s athletic department revenue is also restricted by an agreement that requires it to pay a usage fee for games at Pauley Pavilion while receiving just a small percentage of concession and merchandise sales. The Bruins also do not receive any sponsorship sales at the Rose Bowl while getting just a trickle of the sales from parking, concessions, merchandise and premium seating revenue generated by football games at the stadium.”
Dimitri: Do you have any expectation that if/when the next step of an approx 64 team super league happens in football, that we will rejoin the Pac 12 schools as a division/conf of that league? Under that scenario, what happens to the other sports. No point in playing Big 10 baseball if football is no longer affiliated with the Big 10.
My honest belief right now is that it depends on what the next step looks like. I do think a Super League of some kind is coming, and that UCLA is likely to be included in that just due to geography. That said, it ultimately depends on who gets invited along as to what division UCLA ultimately joins. Like, you could rightly assume UCLA/Southern Cal/Oregon/Washington will get invites, but who else gets invited? If they go with 64 teams, you are more likely to get the Arizonas and Bay Area teams; cut it down to 32 teams, and suddenly there are a lot more questions.
If you go with the proposed 80-team model that is being shopped around, I could see the Pac-12 being reconstituted under this new umbrella pretty easily. The problem is that the conferences are against the whole idea at the moment, and the real catalyst is going to be when the Big Ten and SEC look at each other and decide to cannibalize the sport even further. UCLA is in a good spot either way, but I think we're likely stuck playing in the midwest for a bunch of sports for the foreseeable future.
In my opinion, it will be years before any Pac 12 team is competitive in the Big 10. Is it fixable? I guess. I'm 66 and it ain't happening in my lifetime.
Your comments regarding Kelly completely vindicated my view towards this arrogant, con artist of a coach. When UCLA prevailed over Florida in their bidding war over Kelly, I genuinely believed it was the dawning of a new football era in Westwood. Since I also reside in the vicinity of Rose Bowl, I told myself to brace for the jubilant, festive atmosphere synonymous with the Donahue era to revive itself again in our community during home game Saturdays. Simply put, I could not wait for yesterday once more.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Kelly was anything but who we thought he was. Sadly, the emperor has no clothes. Even more sickening was Kelly's apologists. They ridiculed people critical of Kelly, vehemently defended him to the pitiful end. Facts, reality proved us right. A skunk is a skunk is a skunk. No amount of sugar coating can hide it.
DeShawn Foster is a good hire in my mind. He will fight, fight and fight. He will survive the blustery wind, the hostile midwestern football landscape this fall and the next. His team will earn the respect of the Big Ten fans, their offensive tackles on the field because he will show them that our running backs, our wide receivers are no sissies. Catch them if you can, dude. In a sense, I am bullish of our team's prospect and I can't wait for the fall season to unfold.
Henry, I agree with every thing you stated! Well done my friend 💙💛
Coach Fos has done a remarkable job so far - could not ask for more from a Coach, especially the way he has recruited, brought back tradition, enthusiasm and support! UCLA is once again a place high school kids want to play. I say Bravo!
We did get three new big and pretty talented offensive linemen in the portal so we now have depth in the O line and I do believe we will be improved.
Yes, we have a great group of receivers and running backs, and with QB Garbers, I think we will be able to move the ball. We also filled the holes on defense, so overall I think our defense will be pretty good.
I also can't wait for kickoff, and I am hopeful! Go Bruins! 💙💛
Never was on the Chip bandwagon. I thought he was a retread, like Mora, and wanted a younger coach who had success with a smaller program, similar to the Cronin hire. I don’t share the optimism on Foster as a coach. I hope I’m wrong. At the end of last season it was a great opportunity to pick up Jonathan Smith. But, correctly stated, it was about saving a few extra bucks. After we got left holding the Chip bag, there was slim pickings. I was pushing for Tommy Rees, who at least had success at a major program. This season, 6 wins and a bowl game would be huge. Reality might be more like 4 wins, maybe 3. It could be a long 5 years.
So far, Coach Fos has done an outstanding job. He has done everything he could and beyond to fix the mess Chipster Alfraud left. He filled the holes with good players. He is doing an outstanding job recruiting high schoolers. He has brought discipline, enthusiasm and respect - his pillars of success. He has brought back tradition and engaged the donors, students, alums and general fans! He hired outstanding coaches. Obviously we shall see how the season progresses, and this year may be a challenge. But I believe Coach Fos will he very successful.
Cronin is a good Coach who recruited very well this past cycle but he also throws his players under the bus publicly. I don't like him as a person. But this next season in terms of wins and losses should be heavy on the wins side with a deep run given the talent and depth he has on this team.
Good write up Dimitri.
It sounds like (based on what insiders are saying) the athletic department is encouraging donors to give to Men of Westwood now and also CDF has met with donors communicating the importance of NIL and how paramount that is for the football team’s success going forward. Reports are that Jarmond has communicated that with admin as well.
The blame needs to be laid at the administration —specifically, Gene Block — for the utter antipathy shown towards football, and to lesser extent basketball, despite the fact that they pay the freight for the entire athletic department.
The fact that that Berkeley’s administration gave their athletic department interest free loans and support from central campus despite having less cash while, despite swimming in cash, UCLA gives the AD interest bearing loans AND charges the department to use Pauley Pavilion, is unconscionable.
Something else I think has contributed to the lack of fan support, besides the reasons you listed in your article, is the admitting of more out-of-state and international students. Nothing wrong with either group, and it’s certainly raised the profile (and coffers) of UCLA, but the goal of a state university should be to serve the needs of the state population first and foremost. As a born and raised Southland kid, I was a pretty good, well-rounded student when I was accepted into UCLA, and I doubt I could even be accepted today.
This has a knock-off effect of steering Southland and California natives to that school across town, to Berkeley, to our ex-Pac-12 compatriots. Not only do they have the chance of staying in-state where they graduated, but even if they do come home they’re cheering for different colors. Meanwhile, our out-of-staters, particularly the international students who likely weren’t even that interested in American football int he first place, aren’t going out of their way to come back to Pasadena or Westwood and fill the stands.
Thats a huge fail on this administration’s part as well as the UC Regents as a whole, and shows just how out of touch they are with the needs of the state they’re supposed to be serving.
I really hope that Chancellor Frenk, who by first glance seems to understand the importance of a united community and the power of athletic tradition, finds a way to tap into that at UCLA and gets everyone moving forward in the same direction.
UCLA charges the athletic department a fee to use Pauley Pavilion? Is this true? For games or for just for practices? Men's basketball or all sports that use Pauley? Can you please provide a source? Joe, I smell a public records request coming . . .
https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2023-01-26/ucla-athletics-budget-lower-deficit-big-ten-conference
“UCLA’s athletic department revenue is also restricted by an agreement that requires it to pay a usage fee for games at Pauley Pavilion while receiving just a small percentage of concession and merchandise sales. The Bruins also do not receive any sponsorship sales at the Rose Bowl while getting just a trickle of the sales from parking, concessions, merchandise and premium seating revenue generated by football games at the stadium.”
Dimitri: Do you have any expectation that if/when the next step of an approx 64 team super league happens in football, that we will rejoin the Pac 12 schools as a division/conf of that league? Under that scenario, what happens to the other sports. No point in playing Big 10 baseball if football is no longer affiliated with the Big 10.
Ooo, I like this question.
My honest belief right now is that it depends on what the next step looks like. I do think a Super League of some kind is coming, and that UCLA is likely to be included in that just due to geography. That said, it ultimately depends on who gets invited along as to what division UCLA ultimately joins. Like, you could rightly assume UCLA/Southern Cal/Oregon/Washington will get invites, but who else gets invited? If they go with 64 teams, you are more likely to get the Arizonas and Bay Area teams; cut it down to 32 teams, and suddenly there are a lot more questions.
If you go with the proposed 80-team model that is being shopped around, I could see the Pac-12 being reconstituted under this new umbrella pretty easily. The problem is that the conferences are against the whole idea at the moment, and the real catalyst is going to be when the Big Ten and SEC look at each other and decide to cannibalize the sport even further. UCLA is in a good spot either way, but I think we're likely stuck playing in the midwest for a bunch of sports for the foreseeable future.