This has to be a contender for worst hire of a major football program in the modern era. I thought Dan's incompetence could no longer surprise me. Wow, just wow. What is the selling point here? How does Dan stand in front of the media to explain this? It baffles me. Truly stunning.
This is such a bizarre hire that the only explanation that I can find that could possibly explain it is just far too conspiratorial to be real, and yet I can help but realize that it can actually make sense.
If earlier rumors had any ounce of truth, and I can see how they could be true, then major donors met with Chancellor Block to discuss the coaching search and Dan, without Dan being present. If that did happen it would be a major blow to Dan's credibility and influence among alums. That would be very hard for Dan to overcome. Unless ...
Unless Gene Block was completely honest about his lack of interest in UCLA athletics and in his praise for the job Dan is doing, which appears likely, and the donors realized this at the meeting. Could the donors have set Dan up to fail, knowing that Block would not see the light of day regarding the decline of our great tradition? Could the major donors put Mora jr. in Dan's ear directly or through a third party in an effort to influence him to make the abundantly clear wrong choice? Was Dan played for a fool, a giant tool in a high stakes game of saving the university from itself?
I certainly hope so. It is the only explanation that makes sense to me. It just cannot be that Dan Guerrero made this selection himself. It is almost genius in its stupidity, and Dan has proven time and time again that he is no genius.