UCLA Assigns Two Assistants

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell took another step Sunday in reshaping his staff when he promoted assistant Dino Babers from receivers to running backs coach and recruiting coordinator, the same duties handled by Eric Bieniemy, who left the Bruins a week ago to work for the Minnesota Vikings.

Dorrell also hired D.J. McCarthy, who coached at Central Florida the last two seasons, to handle receivers, but the Bruins still are without a defensive coordinator since Dorrell fired Larry Kerr on Tuesday.

Babers has worked with receivers at UCLA since 2004 but coached running backs at Pittsburgh in 2003 and Arizona in 1997.

“I am confident that we will continue to have an outstanding running game with Dino coaching our backs,” Dorrell said in a statement. “He has great versatility in his background, and I know this will be a smooth transition. Dino is also a great recruiter and will do a fine job of following the philosophy we have established in recruiting.”

McCarthy, a former receiver at Washington and Long Beach City College, coached two All-Conference USA receivers last season in Brandon Marshall (74 catches for 1,195 yards and 11 touchdowns) and Mike Walker (64, 855, nine).

“I think D.J. is a great fit for our staff,” Dorrell said. “He has a great track record of developing productive receivers and he is an outstanding, energetic recruiter. He is very familiar with Florida and the surrounding states, and I think that will be a big plus for our recruiting efforts.”

McCarthy, who attended high school in Florida, coached at Nevada for four seasons (2000-03) and helped develop Nate Burleson, who led the nation in receptions in 2002 with 138 and now plays for the Vikings.

“I had a chance to watch UCLA play a couple of times, including [a Sun Bowl victory over Northwestern] and they have a very talented group of receivers who want to be the best,” McCarthy, 34, said. “I’m very excited about working with them.”

Dorrell could hire Kerr’s replacement this week.

“I’ve received a very positive response from a number of people