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Jim Flagg's avatar

First, a statement up front: I believe Chip Kelly did a poor coaching job this year, and could easily have been fired; had it not been for the victory over a clown-show SC team, they would have finished with four losses in which they appeared woefully unprepared and unmotivated.

But are the recent events in coaching changes and the portal symptoms of a total disaster ? Let’s look a little closer….

…Lynn was always moving on, and going to a school who could dramatically raise his salary plus buy better players was a no-brainer. Guarantee that the fact it was crosstown rival SC didn’t play into it at all; money and exposure are far more important to a young coach on the rise.

Gunderson was the QB coach, who has one job; and the Bruins highest-ranked recruit in years left the program whining that he needed someone to “develop me”….Chip gets some blame here as the de facto OC, but again….Gunderson had one job.

As far as Faris goes, it’s generally considered a good thing when someone (even a small school) recruits one of your assistants to be a head coach, especially a first time head coach.

Now, the portal entries:

Dante Moore - well, you could write all day about his saga, and I understand that he had some personal problems that may have affected him as well. But I’ll simply say this: DTR came to UCLA with one year of HS experience at QB, and it really showed at times with some absolute WTF moments, and he got beat up pretty good behind some spotty OL play….but at no point in his five seasons in Westwood did he ever look as overwhelmed and intimidated as Moore looked last season; in that final game against Cal, I was literally afraid for his safety as he froze in the pocket and got crushed. Best to move on, and hopefully he’ll find the right coach and program to develop him. Wonderful arm talent, but virtually everything else desperately needs that ‘ol development. Maybe he’ll look at Oregon State….

Keegan Jones - thought we’d see more of him this year; always held my breath when he ran into traffic, and he had some trouble holding on to the ball. Was definitely not the next Demetric Felton, but a useful player.

Kam Brown - like all Bruin WRs, hurt by the inability of the OL to pass block for longer patterns and Bruin QBs to hit them; was here several years but never carved out regular playing time.

Carson Ryan - good player but had to share time in a deep position group. Maybe he’ll find a team that will feature him more prominently…or not.

Jake Wiley - if you couldn’t secure a job with this group…..

Kamari Ramsey - the biggest loss from this group, the rare Bruin DB who could actually tackle. Makes sense that he’ll follow Lynn to SC.

Nimmo and Humphrey - both members in good standing in the UCLA DB Never Look For The Ball Club. Like many seniors, looking for greener pastures.

So, a few good players, some useful pieces, a few reserves, a failed big-time recruit (where have you gone, Soso Jamabo ?) a couple of coaches promoted to better jobs elsewhere….not ideal, and the mood around the program is a little grim, but…..the “rats off a sinking ship” thing sounds a little Fox News-ish. But yeah, Chip needs to step it up…having the team actually ready to play in the LA Bowl would be a good start, since West Coast teams have a tendency to mail it in when playing mid-level bowl games….

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DBruin's avatar

It's unfortunate that Jarmond has decided to waste another year hoping that Kelly is going to somehow have a marginally acceptable season. Our recruiting has gone from bad to worse and it's going to be a long season next year. Not sure what Jarmond was hired to do; so far he's done nothing.

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