Why will they not fire UCLA Coach Carl Dorrell? Is it because he is black?

Question

Out of the 117 Division 1-A teams, only 4 head coaches are black: not in any order:
1) UCLA- Carl Dorrell
2) Notre Dame: Tyrone Willingham
3) San Jose State: Fitzgerald Hill
4) New Mexico State: Tony Samuel
This year, UCLA was blown out by the Utah Utes: 44-6, currently 4th place in the Mountain West Conference, they lost to Notre Dame (so far, Notre Dames' only win this year, currently at 1-7 in the Independents Conference (FBS), and lost today to Washington State, who was at the bottom of the Pac-10 (tied with Washington for 9th place) with an 0-4 conference record and 2-5 overall.
Sure, they upset Cal with a shocking win, but then again, UCLA plays to the level of their opponent. It was a given that they would lose today, because their opponent was lousy and they got owned 27-7.
So, my theory is that Carl Dorrell is not being fired because he is not only black, but he is the only black coach on a high-profile team, such as UCLA. If it isn't race, then what is it?

I am not a racist by any accounts, my wife is Asian and I am white, but don't you think that there is pressure to keep someone of any race if they are so underrepresented in the league?

Okay, my sources were old, sorry. Are they waiting for Dorrell to improve? His history at UCLA:
2003-04 6-7 (tied for 5th) Lost Silicon Valley Bowl
2004-05 6-6 (tied for 5th) Lost Las Vegas Bowl
2005-06 10-2 (3rd Place) Won Sun Bowl
06-07 7-6 (4th Place) Lost Emerald Bowl

this year, 5-3, all 3 losses to unranked opponents

Answer 1

Tyrone Willingham doesn't coach at ND anymore. He coaches at Washington.

As for your question... since when has a university cared more about publicity than winning? If UCLA decides Dorrell isn't the coach for them, they'll fire him. The reason he's still around is because he beat heavily favored USC last year, the favored Cal this year, and a few others too. They're hoping for a little consistency now.

Answer 2

Have you not been around for a while? Samuel isn't at New Mexico State any more, Willingham is at Washington not Notre Dame, Hill is not longer at San Jose State, and there are other schools that have black head coaches (Turner Gill at Buffalo, Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State). There are also 120 Division I-A schools, not 117.

Dorrell hasn't been fired yet because UCLA isn't exactly what you want to call a powerhouse program, and hasn't been for years. Dorrell is 34-24 at UCLA, which is only slightly worse than the coaches who proceeded him (Toledo, Donohue, Vermeil). They also didn't have to compete with an extremely dominant USC.

A lot depends on how Dorrell finishes the season out. The Wazoo loss won't help, but UCLA still has to play Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, and USC. Dorrell probably needs to win at least 2 of those to keep his job.

Answer 3

It's time for Dorrell to go. He loses against every team we should beat by 30. He epitomizes inconsistency. We were far better off with Bob Toledo.....UCLA football was exciting with Bobby as coach. You cannot say our football is exciting with Dorrell....perhaps bumbling, perhaps haphazard, perhaps lucky at times....but absolutely not exciting.

edit: BTW, I don't think your question is racist. It's a very valid question. My personal opinion is that Dorrell was originally tapped with the idea that a Black coach would make elite Black athletes choose UCLA over USC. That hasn't been the case. UCLA used to create coaches that would become great NFL coaches.....Dorrell has proven that that isn't him.

Answer 4

It has nothing to do with his race, he may lose his job at the end of the season, but he has turned around a very lethargic UCLA program to make them competitive again.

Carl Dorell beat USC last year and had his team in bowl games the last 3 seasons.

They beat California last week, which was a major upset.
They have a new Quarterback playing this season due to Drew Olson's injury.

Answer 5

When they fire him, and they will, they won't care that he's black. They lose to many games they should win.