Mr. Excitement Tries Hard to Stifle a Yawn

By J.A. Adande

Aug. 31, 2004 12 AM PT

College football’s back. Feel the excitement.

Karl Dorrell says he feels it, even at UCLA, where the trees are green and don’t plan to change colors anytime soon, where the Bruins were 2,500 miles away from the first kickoff of the season Saturday when USC played Virginia Tech outside Washington D.C.

“It was exciting to watch a little bit of the game,” the UCLA coach said.

Dorrell then used the word “excited” exactly 16 times in the next eight minutes.

As in, “We’re really excited about this opportunity this week,” when the Bruins start the season against Oklahoma State.

And, “We’re excited about watching him play,” referring to quarterback Drew Olson.

And, “We’re excited about where we’re at.”

By contrast, he said “football” only once. Normally coaches are obsessed with the word “football.” They love to talk about football players making football plays on the football field. It’s as if the more they say it, the more it emphasizes the sport’s importance.

Dorrell, on the other hand, seemed as if he were trying to convince us -- or even himself -- that the fun is back at UCLA.

Because we all know it transferred out last school year. The Bruins scored 14 points or fewer six times in 2003, Dorrell’s first year on the job. They failed to top 14 points only five times in the previous five years under Bob Toledo.

Not coincidentally, the average attendance of 56,636 at the Rose Bowl last season was about 10,000 per game lower than the average over the previous three years and was the lowest since 1999.

The UCLA fan base’s expectations for football aren’t outrageous. Be good. Get to the Rose Bowl now and then. Make a run at the national championship about once a decade. But if nothing else, keep ‘em entertained until basketball season comes around.

Toledo and his predecessor, Terry Donahue , seemed to have it down, whether through gadget plays or schmoozing with the media.

Dorrell arrived with considerable fanfare, as Bruindom celebrated the dynamic, outside-the-box combination of a young, African American former UCLA player. Then he went into a cone of silence until the recruiting season ended. And his offense looked more Midwest than West Coast.

Last season the Bruins won their first five home games and six of their first eight overall but couldn’t overcome what former athletic director Peter Dalis once called the “yawn effect.” Scores such as 6-3 will do that.

UCLA generated less buzz than a one-winged bee. And the blame fell on Dorrell, whose facial expressions ran the gamut from stoic to stone-faced.

So he was the focal point again Monday, in his first weekly news conference of the season. Somehow all of the questions kept coming back to him and his persona.

There’s no quarterback controversy to address, because Olson is the unquestioned starter. Dorrell replaced offensive coordinator Steve Axman with Tom Cable. Cable, who says the Bruins will be as aggressive as possible, will call the plays, so there wasn’t much for Dorrell to discuss in that regard. Which quickly led back to the topic of Dorrell.

“My style is my style,” Dorrell said. “I can’t change who I am. The difference you’ll see in me is a coach who’s going to be excited about these opportunities and about coaching. Those are going to be the differences you’ll see in me.

“I don’t think there are going to be tremendous differences in what my personality is. That’s the way God has built me. That’s who I am. Now I’m going to enjoy my coaching staff, I’m going to enjoy this team, and I’m going to enjoy the success that we have this year. But I don’t think you’re going to see any tremendous transformations this year.”

Now that he has a grasp of all the administrative duties that come with the head coach’s job, he doesn’t have to spend every minute trying to handle them, the main reason he can afford to smile a little more.

His demeanor seems to have upgraded from uptight to relaxed. He brought back the players’ “Bruin Walk” through the crowd before home games. Some players were testing flashy blue shoes at practice, and he’ll let the team wear them in games if he receives a full set.

And he let the media back in for full practices. “They brought lunch,” he explained.

See? Humor.

He also joked that he hasn’t heard a lot about Oklahoma State’s team because “they close their camp.”

And when he was reminded that he admittedly wasn’t sure where to stand on the sideline for his first game last year at Colorado, he said: “That was a tight sideline. It was about a six-yard sideline.”

He’ll be here all week.

But seriously, folks, if Dorrell can be a calming influence, if he can handle the pressure and his players sense it, then it bodes well for this young, undersized team.

“I think he’s kind of settled down, relaxed and gotten used to being a head coach,” said Olson, who said the team is “excited” about the season.

Supposedly, the temperature under Dorrell’s seat is rising, but since he was Athletic Director Dan Guerrero’s first big hire I doubt Guerrero will be in a rush to make him his first firing -- which would be an admission Guerrero blew it.

“We have a lot to prove and it begins with me,” Dorrell said. “And when you see us play and you see the different things that have happened over the course of this year, you’re going to see a team that’s excited about this opportunity and not be held back in any way. And the same thing with me: I’m going to be excited about my opportunity and not be held back in any way.”

Karl Dorrell ... unleashed.

Are you excited yet?

J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.