Karl Dorrell

Infobox NFL PlayerCoach

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|Color=#005E6A
fontcolor=White
DateOfBirth= birth date and age|1963|12|18
Birthplace=Alameda, CA
College=UCLA
Position=Assistant Coach
coach=yes
coachingyears=2000-2002
2003-2007
2008-"present"
coachingteams=Denver Broncos (WR)
UCLA
Miami Dolphins (WR)
Record=
DatabaseFootballCoach=
PFRCoach=

Karl Dorrell (born December 18, 1963 in Alameda, California) is an American football assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League and a former college football head coach. He was the first African American head coach in the history of the UCLA Bruins college football team, a position he held from December 18, 2002 to December 3, 2007.

High School

Karl attended Helix High School in La Mesa, California, where he played football. He was a two-time all-league selection and an honorable mention All-American as a senior. He led Helix to the CIF San Diego Section title in 1980 and to second place in 1981. He and his wife Kim have two children, Chandler and Lauren.

Career as a player

Karl went on to play football at UCLA, earning four varsity letters in football. He was one of the most successful wide receivers at UCLA with 1,517 receiving yards on 108 receptions. He suffered a shoulder injury in 1984 and was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA. He played on a team that won the Rose Bowl in 1983, 1984, and 1986, and that won the Freedom Bowl in 1986.

During the 1983 season, he was a teammate of quarterback Rick Neuheisel, who would be his eventual successor as UCLA head coach. He caught touchdowns from Neuheisel during the season, including two in the 1984 Rose Bowl.

In the 1986 UCLA vs. USC game, Dorrell was on the receiving end of a play that the Los Angeles Times dubbed "Hail Mary, and in your face.." [Bill Dwyre. Hail Mary, and in Your Face; When UCLA's Karl Dorrell Pulls in the Jump Ball, USC Knows That It Is in the Wrong Game. Los Angeles Times. Nov 23, 1986 Quote: "Stevens called "Liz No Huddle Max Rebound," a play that would originate from USC's 39-yard line and would end up in the end zone, no time on the clock, the ball in Karl Dorrell's hands and various Trojans strewn about the field, contemplating suicide."] " On the last play of the first half, UCLA quarterback Matt Stevens faked a kneeldown, then pulled up and threw a Hail Mary pass, which was tipped into the hands of the flanker, Dorrell, to put the Bruins up 31-0 at the half. They would go on to win 45-20.

He had a brief career as a player in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1987 season, but he was placed on the injured reserve.

College assistant coaching career 1988-1999

Dorrell's first job as a coach was in 1988, as a graduate assistant for Terry Donahue at UCLA. That season the Bruins finished the season with a record of 10-2 losses and defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl.

In 1989, he became a wide receivers coach at Central Florida. In 1990 and 1991 he was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Northern Arizona. Under his tutelage, the NAU offense set a school record with 255 first downs in 1991, amassing the second-most total offense (4,539 yards) in a season.

From 1992 to 1993, Dorrell coached wide receivers at Colorado. In his first year with the Buffaloes, two of his receivers, Charles Johnson and Michael Westbrook, became just the fourth pair of receivers on the same team in NCAA history to each have over 1,000 receiving yards.

He then served as wide receivers coach at Arizona State in 1994 before returning to Colorado when they hired his former UCLA teammate, Rick Neuheisel, as their head coach. This time, he would serve as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998. When Neuheisel left Colorado for Washington, he brought four assistant coaches with him - including Dorrell, who served as the Huskies' offensive coordinator and receivers coach in 1999.

NFL assistant coaching career 2000-2002

In both 1993 and 1999, Dorrell was a recipient of Denver Broncos Minority Coaching Fellowships, which allowed him to spend time in the Broncos' training camp. He would return to the team in 2000 to serve as the receivers coach under head coach Mike Shanahan He held this position for three years, coaching players like Rod Smith, a two time selection to the NFL's Pro Bowl, and Ed McCaffrey, a one time Pro Bowl selection. With the help of Dorrell, Smith and McCaffrey became only the 2nd wide receiver duo to each catch 100 passes in a single season (2000).

UCLA Bruins head football coach 2003-2007

Karl Dorrell was hired as the head football coach at UCLA, replacing Bob Toledo, who was released at the end of the 2002 regular season. Between Toledo and Dorrell, Ed Kezirian, an athletic department official who oversees the academics for the football team, served as interim coach for the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl. Under Kezirian, the Bruins won the bowl game over New Mexico 27-13.

Dorrell's hiring as head coach was announced on December 19, 2002 by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero. Ed Kezirian remained on the football staff. Bruin fan bloggers had mixed reactions to the announcement www.bruinsnation.com, www.bruinzone.com, www.dumpdorrell.com, firekarldorrell.blogspot.com] . The most common criticism was that Dorrell's head coaching ability was unproven and it was believed that he was not the right person for the job. Dorrell was brought in at UCLA to clean up a program marred by off-the-field problems in the final years of Bob Toledo's tenure. [ [http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20021209-032803-5774r UCLA fires football coach Bob Toledo] UPI, Dec. 9, 2002] In that regard, even his harshest critics concurred that he had achieved that goal.

2003-2004 seasons

The UCLA Bruins football team under Dorrell recorded a mark of 6 wins, 7 losses in his first season as head coach in 2003, with an appearance in the Silicon Valley Bowl, and a loss to Fresno State.

In 2004, his second season, the team finished with a record of 6 wins, 6 losses and an appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl, with a loss to Wyoming.

Across town, the archrival USC Trojans won back-to-back college football national championships, which included two wins over UCLA.

2005 season

In 2005, his third season as head football coach, Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent, No. 21 Oklahoma, featuring Adrian Peterson.

On October 1, 2005, head coach Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies came to the Rose Bowl for a Pacific-10 Conference game to play UCLA. This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac-10 conference game. At the time, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State University was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program. Dorrell achieved his first win against a top-ten opponent with a 47-40 upset win over No. 10-ranked Cal.

Three Bruin wins in the 2005 season set new school records for biggest comebacks. They came thanks largely to the heroics of quarterback Drew Olson and tailback Maurice Jones-Drew. In the regular season the Bruins came from down 21 points to win in overtime against both Washington State and Stanford. In the Stanford comeback, the Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7:04 of the fourth quarter. [ [http://www.pac-10.org/sports/m-footbl/recaps/102905aal.html No. 8 UCLA Rallies Past Stanford In Overtime, 30-27] Associated Press. October 29, 2005] . In the Sun Bowl, the Bruins set the record again by coming back from 22 points down.

The Bruins were ranked No. 7 in the nation until a 52-14 blowout loss to a 3-8 Arizona team. The Bruins came into the UCLA-USC rivalry last regular season game ranked No. 11. They suffered a 66-19 defeat, to the No. 1 2005 USC Trojans football team. This was the largest margin of defeat since the series began in 1929 with a 76-0 defeat. The Bruins finished 3rd in the Pac-10 standings.

On December 30, 2005 his Bruins defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in the Sun Bowl 50-38, finishing the season with a 10-2 record. At the end of the 2005 season, Dorrell and fellow UCLA coach Ben Howland received pay bonuses for coaching successful seasons. Karl was named Pac-10 co-coach of the year along with USC head coach Pete Carroll.

2006 season

In 2006, the fourth season, Dorrell guided the Bruins to a 7-6 season (5-4 PAC-10) and a fourth-place Pac-10 finish.

UCLA played its first game at the University of Notre Dame since the 1960s and was leading 17-13, but the Irish scored a touchdown in the final minute to win. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/recap?gid=200610210104 Recap of the UCLA Bruins-Notre Dame Fighting Irish game on Saturday October 21, 2006 - NCAA Football] TOM COYNE, AP Sports Writer October 21, 2006]

The most notable victory of his coaching career at UCLA was a 13-9 defeat of No. 2-ranked and Bowl Championship Series title-game-bound USC on December 2nd, 2006. The win kept the Trojans out of the title game and broke a 7-game UCLA losing streak to the Trojans (thereby preserving the Bruins' 8-game win streak in the rivalry from 1991-1998 as the longest run in the history of the rivalry). The victory also clinched a winning season for UCLA.

The Bruins played in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco against a Bobby Bowden coached Florida State University Seminoles team on December 27, 2006 and lost 44-27.

2007 season

In Dorrell's fifth season at UCLA, with 20 returning starters and a team of his own recruits, hopes were high for the Bruins in 2007. After starting the season with a couple of wins over Stanford and BYU, and achieving a No. 11 Associated Press ranking, however, UCLA stumbled against an injured, winless, and unranked Utah Utes team, 44-6. [ [http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272580254 Grady throws three touchdowns in Utes' upset of Bruins] Associated Press (ESPN web site). September 15, 2007 ] Four weeks later, Dorrell's Bruins fell again; this time 20-6 to an unranked, winless Notre Dame team. [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=272790026 Notre Dame takes advantage of UCLA walk-on QB to win first game] Associated Press (ESPN web site). October 6, 2007] The Bruins did, however, post wins against seemingly more difficult PAC-10 opponents, including a No. 10 Cal team. However; the bad taste of losses to teams the Bruins were favored to beat (including an embarrassing 27-7 loss to Washington State) raised questions about Dorrell's play-calling and ability to motivate his players.

After the Washington State loss, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero addressed UCLA's inconsistent football performances for the first time, stating "I will be very interested to see how we finish the season. And you can use that." Many took this as a hint that Dorrell's job may be in serious jeopardy. [ [http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-ucla30oct30,1,6767340.story?coll=la-headlines-sports Guerrero Turns Up the Pressure on Dorrell] Chris Foster (Los Angeles Times). October 30, 2007] . The Bruins would go on to lose to Arizona and Arizona State by a combined score of 58-47, but surprisingly shut out an Oregon Ducks team that a week earlier lost starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy Candidate Dennis Dixon to a knee injury. Heading into the final game of the regular season against crosstown-rival USC, the Bruins still had an outside chance at a Rose Bowl berth that might have saved Dorrell's job; with a victory over USC and some help from Arizona (with a win over ASU), the Bruins could have been the first-ever five-loss team to play in the Rose Bowl. It wasn't to be, however, and the Bruins finished the 2007 Regular season with a miserable offensive performance in a 24-7 loss to USC and a record of 6-6.

On December 3, 2007, Los Angeles papers and the Associated Press reported that Karl Dorrell was fired during a meeting with athletic director Dan Guerrero. [Brian Dohn. [http://www.dailynews.com/sports/ci_7624423 UCLA fires coach Dorrell.] Los Angeles Daily News. 12/03/2007 11:18:47 AM PST. Quote: "During his tenure, UCLA's off-the-field image, which took a beating under coach Bob Toledo, was cleaned up. But on the field too many inconsistent performances did in Dorrell, who was 1-4 against USC, including Saturday's 24-7 loss at the Coliseum."] Dorrell was offered the choice, but decided not to coach in the Las Vegas Bowl. Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker served as interim coach for the game, where UCLA lost to BYU. [Associated Press. Fired Dorrell won't coach UCLA in Las Vegas Bowl. December 4, 2007. Quote: "Ousted UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell has decided not to coach the Bruins when they play BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl."] UCLA selected a former teammate, Rick Neuheisel, as his successor.

NFL assistant coaching career 2008-present

Dorrell interviewed at Duke University and was a finalist along with eventual hire David Cutcliffe for the head coaching position vacated by Ted Roof. [Dave Hooker - [http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/13/cutcliffe-offered-duke-job-expected-accept-positio/ Cutcliffe offered Duke job, expected to accept position] . Knoxville News Sentinel & knoxnews.com. December 13, 2007. Quote:"there were concerns with Dorrell, who has spent most of his career in the NFL and on the West Coast coaching college football. Dorrell would have to assemble a coaching staff willing to move and prove that he would have adequate recruiting connections along the Eastern seaboard."] He was also dealt as a candidate for the vacant offensive coordinator position for the Houston Texans. [ [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5407371.html "Houston Texans:" Ex-UCLA coach on Texans' offensive coordinator list] ] Former Texans offensive coordinator Mike Sherman left for Texas A&M University in November 2007. That position, however, eventually went to Kyle Shanahan.

After rumors that he was a candidate to succeed Mike Heimerdinger as Denver Broncos assistant head coach, [ [http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_8003058 "Denver Post:" Broncos lose Heimerdinger to Titans] ] Dorrell eventually was hired as wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins, after having also interviewed with the Kansas City Chiefs. [ [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-0122dolphins,0,5843471.story "Sun-Sentinel:" Dolphins hire two assistant coaches] ]

Coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Start
type = coach
team =
conf =
bowl =
poll = bothCFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = UCLA
conf = Pacific-10 Conference
startyear = 2003
endyear = 2007CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2003
name = UCLA
overall = 6–7
conference = 4–4
confstanding = T–5th
ranking = —
ranking2 = —
bowlname = Silicon Valley
bowloutcome = L
bcsbowl =CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2004
name = UCLA
overall = 6–6
conference = 4–4
confstanding = T–5th
ranking = —
ranking2 = —
bowlname = Las Vegas
bowloutcome = L
bcsbowl =CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2005
name = UCLA
overall = 10–2
conference = 6–2
confstanding = 3rd
ranking = 13
ranking2 = 16
bowlname = Sun
bowloutcome = W
bcsbowl =CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2006
name = UCLA
overall = 7–6
conference = 5–4
confstanding = 4th
ranking = —
ranking2 = —
bowlname = Emerald
bowloutcome = L
bcsbowl =CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 2007*
name = UCLA
overall = 6–6
conference = 5–4
confstanding = T–4th
ranking = —
ranking2 = —
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = UCLA
overall = 35–27
confrecord = 24–18*Dorrell left before the bowl game.CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 35–27
bcs = no
poll = two

External links

* [http://uclabruins.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/dorrell_karl00.html Karl Dorrell's biography at the UCLA Bruins website]

Footnotes

Bibliography

* UCLA Bruins Football Media Guide 2007 (PDF edition available at [http://www.uclabruins.com uclabruins.com] )