Guerrero’s Hiring Viewed as Fresh Start for UCLA

The impetus for change was not prompted by crisis, instead merely by a lifelong administrator’s decision to retire.

Encumbered by limitations that bubbled below the surface of the job description, the three-month search for a replacement appeared as unremarkable as it was methodical, ending where it began.

Yet the way UCLA arrived on Dan Guerrero as its athletic director reveals plenty about the department.

Where it has been and where it is headed.

Who is in charge and who is in trouble.

The decision by Pete Dalis to step down after 19 years gave Chancellor Albert Carnesale and Vice Chancellor Pete Blackman reason to examine a department often characterized as a “sleeping giant.” And while soliciting opinions, reviewing resumes and conducting interviews, the senior administrators came to realize the time was right for a wake-up call.

“I don’t think anybody thought about revolutionary change,” Carnesale said. “We wanted the best possible athletic director. It was not as if we felt the need for an overhaul ... but it provided an opportunity to move forward.”

A leading national search firm and a six-person, in-house committee constructed a template of the ideal candidate. Dalis was neither consulted nor kept informed, which many interpreted as a signal there would be a departure from the status quo.

Carnesale takes a different view, pointing out that in UCLA’s recent search for an executive vice chancellor, the opinion of the person who formerly held the position was not sought.

“As a general rule, when I’m selecting a successor, the person currently in the position plays little to no role,” he said.

Neutrality was a central consideration in the choice of Guerrero, a 50-year-old former Bruin baseball player and the athletic director at UC Irvine. He brings everything the decision-makers desired, and, just as important, little else.

He is familiar with everyone--but beholden to no one.

He has ties to UCLA--but few that should tug him toward a particular faction within the department.

He is expected to bring change--but in a deliberate manner because he is respectful of the entrenched nature of the athletic hierarchy.

“The beauty of this situation is that it is a clean slate,” Guerrero said. “My understanding of the staff is that it is top notch. When I came to Irvine there were many individuals who had never worked anywhere else. I found their experience and commitment to the university a strength.

“What I brought was some creativity and enthusiasm. I lit a fire.”

The less-is-more standard narrowly separated Guerrero from the other finalists, Boise State Athletic Director Gene Bleymaier and UCLA associate athletic director Betsy Stephenson.

Before introducing Guerrero at a news conference, Carnesale spoke about the characteristics he sought.

“First and foremost, we focused on the qualities of the person,” he said. “For example, a person of unquestionable integrity, both real and perceived, both real and perceived.”

His emphasis was unmistakable, although his choice of the word “integrity” might have been unfortunate because he said in an interview this week that he did not intend to question the honor of Bleymaier or Stephenson.

“Nobody would have gotten to the end game if all members of our community did not believe they were people of integrity,” Carnesale said.

Substitute “objectivity” for “integrity” and the comment is telling. Among the finalists, Guerrero alone is not inextricably linked to the UCLA old guard.

Bleymaier, a former Bruin football player and administrator, is close to Dalis and influential football boosters. His record of transforming remote Boise State into a regional athletic power is impressive, but his perceived allegiance to football cost him.

The disappointment must have cut deep for Bleymaier, a childhood friend and UCLA classmate of Guerrero who grew up in the South Bay. His in-laws live in Los Angeles, and he and his wife spent a day house hunting while in town for one of his three interviews.

“My wife and I never reached a conclusion about what we would do if given the opportunity,” he said. “We know it would have been difficult to move back to L.A. after living in Boise.”

Stephenson, 41, has been Dalis’ top assistant for six years, assuming greater responsibility as her boss neared retirement. Her record of maintaining the unparalleled success of Bruin nonrevenue and Olympic sports is strong, but her perceived insider status cost her.

Often an inside candidate who is passed over feels compelled to depart. However, Stephenson e-mailed Guerrero this week to offer assistance in his transition and has emerged with her humor intact.

“I’m trying hard not to become the girl on the rebound,” she said.

Stephenson and Bleymaier both said the selection process was fair and thorough. It also was elliptical--the same three names mentioned the day Dalis announced he would retire eventually became the finalists despite a nationwide search that identified more than 40 candidates.

The outside firm Heidrick & Struggles cut the list to about 20 and the in-house committee chaired by Blackman whittled it to seven--athletic directors Rick Bay of San Diego State, Gary Cunningham of UC Santa Barbara and Gary Walters of Princeton, UCLA associate athletic director Rick Purdy and the three eventual finalists.

Carnesale met with each and beginning in April those told they would not get the job withdrew.

Bay, who had been athletic director at Minnesota, Ohio State and Oregon as well as chief operating officer of the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians, was eliminated first.

Next to go was Cunningham, a UCLA basketball player in the early 1960s and the Bruin coach from 1977-79. He had the support of John Wooden and others aligned with basketball, but as with Bleymaier, the lobbying of one segment of the athletic department worked against him.

Also, Cunningham and Blackman did not get along well as Bruin teammates and their relationship reportedly never warmed.

In one of the committee’s few missteps, Purdy, a 1968 UCLA graduate and associate athletic director in charge of fund-raising, learned he was no longer in the running through a newspaper story. Guerrero can expect support from Purdy, a loyal employee less than 10 years from retirement.

The withdrawal of Walters was surprising. He was considered the most viable candidate with no UCLA ties, and several coaches and longtime department employees nervously anticipated him getting the job and making wholesale changes.

There is speculation that the compensation of $235,000--low by Pacific 10 Conference standards--was insufficient to lure Walters from Princeton. Although Walters did not comment on his reason for withdrawing, another candidate said, “It had a lot to do with money; $235,000 in L.A. is not $235,000 in Collegetown, USA. Anyone from outside the area had to think twice about relocating.”

Carnesale, however, disputes the notion.

“Nobody withdrew for that reason,” he said. “We told [Heidrick & Struggles] from the outset to let us have the very best candidates and not to take into account the finances of this.

“Now, there were candidates who said they weren’t interested in moving out here, and I don’t know how finances fit into that. But I can tell you honestly that nobody [withdrew] because of the compensation level.”

It certainly wasn’t a consideration to Guerrero, whose salary will double.

Besides tying up loose ends at Irvine, he will spend the next two months continuing to familiarize himself with UCLA, planning ways to rouse the sleeping giant without provoking its ire.

“Between the summers of 2002 and 2003, it will be real interesting to see who is here and what’s changed,” one longtime mid-level Bruin administrator said. “Face it. People come and go when change occurs at the top.”

Guerrero is aware that security and comfort have nudged aside creativity and passion in some corners of the Morgan Center, in the offices of certain coaches as well as those of paper-shufflers.

That and other constraining factors--from the relatively low pay to the dearth of money and land for new or improved facilities--made this a more difficult position to fill than Carnesale expected. Because the search did not attract high-powered candidates and eventually came full circle to one of the first names that came to mind, some consider it a failure.

Only one person can ensure that Guerrero is a good hire--Guerrero. Integrity and objectivity he has in bundles. With those qualities as a cornerstone, can he flourish at the helm of a program expected to produce championship teams quickly and consistently?

“The biggest expectations should be from the athletic director,” he said. “There are certain absolutes. We are going to be about winning and winning without compromising integrity. We will win in a way that will make everyone who supports this program proud.”