UCLA football parents shut out of Pro Day

Harold Edison, father of UCLA defensive tackle Justin Edison, sat in his pickup truck awaiting one of those special days as a parent.

“Justin played in the NFLPA game and there was a buzz about him,” Edison said.

The buzz Harold Edison was getting Tuesday was different.

Moments later two employees of the UCLA football program told Edison he could not watch his son, even from the parking structure outside Spaulding Field.

“They’re saying we can’t watch for this reason or that reason,” Edison said. But all Edison felt was, “This is a big day for my son and they are not going to let me watch?”

One of the football employees guarding the parking structure said anyone watching from the parking structure would be considered “loitering” and that if parents refused to leave, “and it escalates,” campus police would be called.

UCLA closed Pro Day to media and the public to prevent “distractions” during the workouts, though UCLAbruins.com was covering the event.

The ban also extended to parents of players working out. Football program employees, working in pairs, were on roving patrols in the parking structures, which are well away from the field.

“I think this is all unnecessary,” said Mark Dye, whose son Tony Dye was a safety for the Bruins the last four seasons. “If they have a legitimate reason for keeping parents out, I haven’t heard it yet.”

Dye said that he was told this was like “a job interview.” But Dye said, “As a parent of a player who has been here four years, I want to see my son play his last bit of football at UCLA.”

As for the job interview explanation, Dye said, “I get that I wouldn’t go on a job interview with my son. But watching him play football this far away?”

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