Call Off the Dogs-- UCLA <i> Did</i> Finish 25-7

OK, enough’s enough. It’s time to get off Walt Hazzard’s back and his hoop program at UCLA, as most recently maligned by Times staffer Thomas Bonk (March 22).

Let’s be real. Hazzard is being pulled through the proverbial mud because he is an unconventional, scrappy, black man. Bob Knight at Indiana is easily twice as egocentric, obnoxious and arrogant as Hazzard and he has become a legend in his own time.

All Hazzard gets is a rash of you-know-what and a lot of negative press. So he’s not the symbol of court etiquette; he still is Pac-10 coach of the year, got into the NCAA tournament and went 25-7.

And in a town that prides itself on “Just win, baby,” that is the real bottom line.

TAYLOR L. MORTON

Altadena