Karl Dorrell: Biography from Answers.com

football coach

Personal Information

Born December 18, 1963, in Alameda, CA; married to Kim Dorrell; children: Chandler and Lauren
Education: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), BA, 1987.

Career

Dallas Cowboys, professional football player, 1987; UCLA, graduate assistant, 1988; University of Central Florida, receivers coach, 1989; University of Northern Arizona, offensive coordinator and receivers coach, 1990-91; University of Colorado, wide receivers coach, 1992-93; Arizona State University, receivers coach, 1994; University of Colorado, offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, 1995-98; University of Washington, offensive coordinator, 1999; Denver Broncos, National Football League (NFL), wide receivers coach, 2000-02; UCLA, head coach, 2002-.

Life's Work

One of just a few African-American head football coaches serving at Division I college programs in the mid-2000s, Karl Dorrell faced doubters on a variety of fronts when he took the helm for the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins in the fall of 2003. Dorrell was not yet 40 years old at the time, and the plum UCLA post was his first head coaching job. In his first two years, however, Dorrell made significant strides toward rebuilding UCLA's floundering football program. Just as importantly, he set his team on a path toward discipline, focus, and good behavior.

Dorrell's leadership skills were evident even when he was a child growing up in San Diego, California. A native of Alameda in the northern part of the state, Dorrell moved south with his family as his father John's career in the United States Navy required. Dorrell's skills in logistical thinking may have come from his father, who was chief petty officer on an aircraft carrier. By the time he was eight or nine, Dorrell was not only quarterbacking his neighborhood street football team but also putting together written playbooks. His motivational talents surfaced as he talked friends into completing the hilly sections of his newspaper delivery route for him, telling them that they would strengthen their leg muscles by climbing San Diego's hills.

Criticized Father's Study Habits

John Dorrell instilled a sense of discipline in his son--so much so that sometimes it was the son who did the disciplining. "I remember when I was retiring from the Navy and taking some math classes at Grossmont College," the elder Dorrell told Ed Graney of the San Diego Union-Tribune. "Karl sat down one night to help me with my homework and became very impatient with me. He knew I hadn't studied." At San Diego's Helix High School, Karl Dorrell was a standout in several sports. He led the football squad to a sectional title as a junior in 1980 and was named honorable mention All-America in 1981. Prior to graduating in 1982 he was courted by several colleges, including San Diego State University, but chose to attend UCLA.

Beginning his athletic career at UCLA in both football and basketball, Dorrell soon began to focus on football and to improve dramatically, playing at the position of wide receiver. As a sophomore in 1983 he caught 26 passes for 390 yards and six touchdowns, adding five catches and two touchdowns in UCLA's 45-9 Rose Bowl victory over Illinois. He had already played on the team's 1982 Rose Bowl-winning squad, and after a year lost to injuries he paced the Bruins to a Rose Bowl win once again in 1985. When he graduated in 1987, he ranked second in UCLA team history in pass receptions with 108, and fourth in total receiving yards gained with 1,517.

A computer enthusiast, Dorrell looked forward to a career with the IBM corporation after graduation. But UCLA coach Terry Donahue encouraged his detail-oriented star to think about a coaching career himself after a short stint with pro football's Dallas Cowboys ended with an injury. "He said, 'Karl, as a young minority coach, you'll climb the ladder so fast, you won't know what hit you,'" Dorrell recalled to Graney. Dorrell became a graduate assistant under Donahue and quickly moved on to a receivers coach slot at the University of Central Florida in 1989. There, he helped shape the skills of future National Football League (NFL) stalwart Shawn Jefferson.

Guided Careers of Future Pro Players

Donahue's prophecy came true as Dorrell quickly ascended to new coaching positions, generally gaining more responsibility or moving to a larger school. He became offensive coordinator at the University of Northern Arizona in 1990 and 1991, wide receivers coach at the University of Colorado in 1992 and 1993, wide receivers coach at Arizona State University in 1994, offensive coordinator at Colorado from 1995 through 1998, and offensive coordinator at the University of Washington in 1999. His rising career resulted not from his minority status, however, but from the stellar performances of his players on the field; over the course of his collegiate career prior to coming to UCLA, Dorrell coached six receivers who went on to play in the NFL. Three became first-round draft picks. Helping steer the Colorado Buffaloes to five postseason bowl appearances in the 1990s, he raised the total number of bowl games he participated in as a player or coach to 12.

After stints with the Denver Broncos training camp coaching staff under the auspices of the NFL's Minority Coaching Fellowship Program in 1993 and 1999, Dorrell joined the Broncos full time in 2000 as wide receivers coach. The players for whom he was responsible--receivers Ed McCaffrey and Rod Smith--turned in franchise-record performances during his first year. Thrust into the pro spotlight, Dorrell also dealt with personal tragedy: his sister Debra died of colon cancer at age 46, and he donated stem cells in the course of his brother Kent's battle against leukemia. The last words Dorrell's sister spoke to him, he told Graney, were "Your dream will come true. You're going to be a head coach."

That dream was realized on December 18, 2002, Dorrell's 39th birthday, when he was hired as UCLA's head coach to replace Bob Toledo. The appointment of Dorrell, who had never held a head coaching job, to one of the top jobs in the college football world was a surprise to many, but UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero pointed out Dorrell's UCLA roots to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Guerrero wanted a coach who "knows something about rivalries...and the importance of those kinds of things in a city like Los Angeles." Bruin fans, for example, were deeply disturbed by UCLA's four consecutive losses to the University of Southern California (USC) under Toledo.

Steered Players Away from Trouble

With off-the-field player behavior said to be part of the reason for Toledo's firing, Dorrell set clear boundaries from the start. His first words at his first UCLA team meeting, according to Matt Hayes of The Sporting News, were "Don't jeopardize your integrity." The approach paid off, even as crimes by players for other teams were making headlines around the country. "We've had one transgression among over 100 players since the time Karl came in here last spring," Guerrero told USA Today in the fall of 2003. "The word is out in terms of what the expectation is for the student-athletes and what we want as a program overall."

On the field, Dorrell's results weren't so immediate. After an opening-game loss to Colorado and a 1-2 start, however, UCLA won four straight games. They were in contention for a bowl slot in the stretch run but finished with a 6-7 record after a string of five late-season losses including one to arch-rival USC. Dorrell, dissatisfied with his own performance, declined a one-year contract extension, telling Lonnie White of the Los Angeles Times that "In my mind, we did not accomplish enough of our goals."

Several players on the Bruins' offense made strong showings, however, and Dorrell's second season brought promising signs of improvement. After a discouraging loss to Oklahoma State in the season opener, UCLA once again put together a streak of four straight victories. They finished 6-5 overall and, despite being picked to finish eighth in the Pacific 10 Conference, finished fifth with a 4-4 league record. Most encouraging was a close 29-24 loss to a powerhouse USC squad. UCLA went to the Las Vegas Bowl on December 23, losing a 24-21 heartbreaker to Wyoming. After having turned down a contract extension the previous year, Dorrell now agreed to a two-year addition running through the year 2010. "It takes a great deal of patience and perseverance before you start seeing the fruits of your labor," Dorrell told White. "We're starting to get ourselves out of the clouds and we're starting to see the reason why we do things a certain way."

Awards

Selected: NFL Minority Coaches Fellowship Program, participant, 1993 and 1999.

Karl Dorrell

Date of birth	December 18, 1963 (1963-12-18) (age 46)
Place of birth	Alameda, CA
Position(s)	Assistant Coach
College	UCLA
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1989 1990-91 1992-93 1994 1995-98 1999 2000-02 2003-07 2008-present	UCF - WR Northern Arizona - OC Colorado - WR Arizona State - WR Colorado - OC Washington - OC Denver Broncos - WR UCLA - Head coach Miami Dolphins - WR

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.

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.."^[1] " 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 coach - 1988-99

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 Classic.

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 coach - 2000-02

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 coach - 2003-07

Karl Dorrell was hired as the head 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. 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.^[2]

2003-04 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.

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 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.^[3]. 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

Emerald Bowl, UCLA vs FSU, 2006

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.^[4]

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 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.^[5] Four weeks later, Dorrell's Bruins fell again; this time 20-6 to an unranked, winless Notre Dame team.^[6] 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 might be in serious jeopardy.^[7]. 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.^[8] 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. ^[9] UCLA selected a former teammate, Rick Neuheisel, as his successor.

NFL assistant coach - 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.^[10] He was also dealt as a candidate for the vacant offensive coordinator position for the Houston Texans.^[11] 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,^[12] Dorrell eventually was hired as wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins, after having also interviewed with the Kansas City Chiefs.^[13]

Coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Coaches^#	AP^°
UCLA (Pacific-10 Conference) (2003–2007)
2003	UCLA	6–7	4–4	T–5th	L Silicon Valley	—	—
2004	UCLA	6–6	4–4	T–5th	L Las Vegas	—	—
2005	UCLA	10–2	6–2	3rd	W Sun	13	16
2006	UCLA	7–6	5–4	4th	L Emerald	—	—
2007*	UCLA	6–6	5–4	T–4th		—	—
UCLA:		35–27	24–18	*Dorrell left before the bowl game.
Total:		35–27
National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title
^#Rankings from final Coaches Poll. ^°Rankings from final AP Poll.

External links

Karl Dorrell's biography at the UCLA Bruins website

Footnotes

^ 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."
^ UCLA fires football coach Bob Toledo UPI, Dec. 9, 2002
^ No. 8 UCLA Rallies Past Stanford In Overtime, 30-27 Associated Press. October 29, 2005
^ 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
^ Grady throws three touchdowns in Utes' upset of Bruins Associated Press (ESPN web site). September 15, 2007
^ Notre Dame takes advantage of UCLA walk-on QB to win first game Associated Press (ESPN web site). October 6, 2007
^ Guerrero Turns Up the Pressure on Dorrell Chris Foster (Los Angeles Times). October 30, 2007
^ Brian Dohn. 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.
^ 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.
^ Dave Hooker - 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.
^ Houston Texans: Ex-UCLA coach on Texans' offensive coordinator list
^ Denver Post: Broncos lose Heimerdinger to Titans
^ Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins hire two assistant coaches

Bibliography

UCLA Bruins Football Media Guide 2007 (PDF edition available at uclabruins.com)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Bob Toledo and Ed Kezirian (interim)	UCLA Head Football Coach 2003–2007	Succeeded by DeWayne Walker (interim) and Rick Neuheisel

v • d • e UCLA Bruins head football coaches

Cozens • Trotter • Cline • Spaulding • Horrell • LaBrucherie • Sanders • Dickerson • Barnes • Prothro • Rodgers • Vermeil • Donahue • Toledo • Kezirian (Interim) • Dorrell • Walker (Interim) • Neuheisel

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