In Reply to: When will the lesson be learned? posted by TJJ on September 08, 2025 at 20:55:30
couldn't agree more.
The best basketball coach in UCLA history - synonymous with UCLA - was a Purdue grad and All American named John Wooden. He wasn't a Bruin in background but he became a Bruin on the job.
The best football coach in UCLA history, the most successful anyway, was Henry R. Red Sanders - who came from the state of Tennessee iirc.
The PURPOSE of a coaching search is to hire the best coach you can land - and "best" includes motivated - willing to and capable of putting in the hard work required to achieve success (unlike our previous HC). It's not a time to restrict your searches just to alumni. It's not like the UCLA football program in the last almost 70 years now has produced such a strong and dominant legacy that there would be a ton of trained and experienced, potentially great coaches amongst whom to choose.