Nice Coaches Finish ...

The most pressing question surrounding UCLA has everything to do with Coach Bob Toledo, but nothing to do with his knowledge of Xs and O’s.

It’s not about rankings, predictions or bowl games.

It has nothing to do with whether the Bruins, in Toledo’s seventh season, finish first or last.

Rather, it’s this: Can a nice guy finish at all?

Are college football players so self-absorbed and untrustworthy that they will continue to brazenly take advantage of a good-natured, benevolent coach until he is fired because of their defiance?

The perpetually sunny Toledo seems as unthreatening as cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. His players profess to appreciate the absence of an iron fist, yet repeatedly cross him, engaging in off-the-field behavior that embarrasses UCLA and undermines the team’s ability to play to its potential.

The arrest last week of All-American candidate Ricky Manning Jr. on felony assault charges is merely the latest in a series of Bruin transgressions that includes NCAA violations, criminal acts and several vicious single-punch knockouts at bars and parties.

Toledo finally seems to realize he has been sucker punched once too often. The next blow might knock him into the unemployment line.

“The morning after Ricky’s arrest I let the team know I was very upset,” he said. “You might say I invoked the fear factor. I would be very surprised if anything else happens that embarrasses the program.”

Early in Toledo’s tenure his policy was to suspend a player if a police report indicated culpability in a fight. He decided to become more lenient after a 1998 incident in which he suspended running back Jermaine Lewis for one game for taking part in a fraternity fracas only to discover later that defensive back Eric Whitfield was actually the culprit.

“I acted hastily without knowing all the facts,” Toledo said. “We reevaluated the policy and decided to suspend a player when he is convicted of a misdemeanor and dismiss him when convicted of a felony.”

A rash of suspensions followed early in the 1999 season when 19 current and former players were convicted of fraudulently using handicapped-parking placards.

Back-to-back crises derailed a promising season a year ago. Heisman Trophy candidate DeShaun Foster broke NCAA rules by driving a car that didn’t belong to him and was suspended for four games. Quarterback Cory Paus did not inform Toledo of two convictions for driving under the influence, which came to light before the USC game and contributed to a 27-0 loss, one of the Bruins’ most pathetic performances in memory.

Less public are subtle slights to the coach’s leadership.

Tight end Bryan Fletcher, a model student and thoughtful leader last season, knew that Foster was jeopardizing his eligibility by driving the Ford Expedition provided to him by Hollywood director Eric Laneuville. Yet Fletcher gave Foster a lift to the Ford dealership to pick up the vehicle.

In July, offensive linemen John Ream and Collin Barker announced they were retiring for medical reasons without conferring with the coach, who knew the players had serious injuries but was unsure of their plans.

“That really ticked me off,” he said.

Barker, in fact, crossed paths with Toledo on campus a few days before team physician Gerald Fineman signed papers making the retirement official.

“How you feeling, Collin?”

“Fine, Coach, fine.”

No crime there, but where’s the respect?

No wonder an online search turned up 184 media references linking “Bob Toledo” and “hot seat.”

Despite getting torpedoed time after time, Toledo steadfastly backs his players, who apparently see nothing to fear behind his hair-trigger laugh and golly-gee mannerisms. They believe their coach is Dr. Jekyll without a trace of Mr. Hyde.

“Coach Toledo is someone you aren’t afraid to talk to about problems,” senior cornerback Joe Hunter said. “He believes in second chances and helps guys. Personally I appreciate that quality, but over the years some guys have taken advantage of it.”

Toledo’s forgiveness has bordered on the absurd. Paus was allowed to play against USC despite his deceit--a move that backfired when the quarterback threw for a career-low 45 yards and had two passes intercepted.

“When kids make a mistake you can’t hold it against them for the rest of their lives,” Toledo said. “They are like sons. They make mistakes. Sometimes you have to scold, sometimes you discipline them and sometimes you have to get rid of them.”

Manning is one of three players whom Toledo has unwaveringly supported in the face of serious charges stemming from fights.

Asi Faoa, a junior defensive lineman, punched a student so fiercely at a party two years ago that the victim suffered brain damage. Faoa was charged with a felony, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and lost a civil case, but has yet to serve his 180-day sentence. Toledo suspended him for one game in 2000 and he is expected to get substantial playing time this season.

C.J. Niusulu, a freshman defensive lineman, faces felony battery charges after allegedly punching a drive-in theater employee so hard the victim suffered a broken jaw and nose. Niusulu is practicing with the team and will not be suspended unless convicted.

Toledo dismissed senior Audie Attar from the team during the summer only after giving the linebacker numerous chances. The last straw was Attar breaking the nose of former UCLA quarterback Scott McEwan’s younger brother during a barroom fight.

In 1999 Attar punched Bruin baseball player Charles Merricks at a Westwood restaurant and had been involved in other altercations.

Yet some players were privately indignant Attar was dismissed, saying Toledo did so only because McEwan was a favorite of his. And Foster was upset that Toledo publicly expressed disappointment in the running back after the NCAA levied its suspension.

As many parents know, avoiding responsibility for transgressions is a common response of children, especially when excuses are accepted for misbehavior and consequences are lacking. A child comes to believe that anything goes. And when the parent finally lays down the law, the child feels unjustly persecuted.

Toledo, however, did not experience these problems raising his three daughters, who view him as tough but fair.

“We knew what my dad expected of us, and out of respect and love for him, we knew we couldn’t disappoint him, and we behaved,” said his daughter Christa Long, who lives with her husband and two children near her parents in Thousand Oaks.

“We didn’t want the wrath of dad. He expected a lot and had old-fashioned standards.”

His daughter Alissa recalls a three-hour drive the family took from College Station, Texas, to San Antonio to visit the Alamo when she was in high school and Christa was home from college. The girls were bickering in the back seat of the car.

“My dad said, ‘One more word and we are turning around,’ ” Alissa said. “We made it all the way to the front of the Alamo and one of us wanted to get in one last jab and said something. He pulled a U-turn and drove back three hours without a word, dropped us off and took my mom out to dinner.”

Toledo’s daughters watch in dismay as his surrogate children--his players--repeatedly defy him.

“My dad has a passion for coaching football because he believes college players are still coachable and teachable,” Christa said. “He likes to be a father figure. But obviously it can come back to bite you when they stray.

“No matter how strong the father figure is, there are kids who do things their own way even though direction and rules have been set. That’s obviously the case here. It hurts them and hurts my dad.”

Are college football players simply unruly children in bigger bodies? Do they require a hard-nosed coach who motivates through fear to keep them from lying, cheating and using their fists as lethal weapons? Can a coach of Toledo’s temperament succeed?

The man who ultimately must decide, new UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, wants to believe he can.

“There are nice guys all over this profession,” he said. “Clearly, you don’t have to be off the charts in terms of laying down the hammer. Coaches get it done with a variety of styles. There is no right or wrong way.

“The most important thing is to establish principles, don’t compromise them and teach student-athletes what it takes to be successful on and off the field.”

The spate of problems has damaged Bruin efforts on the field. They are 17-19 since opening the 1998 season 10-0 and seldom have been able to focus solely on football.

And perhaps another potentially embarrassing problem has already occurred and eventually will become public. Toledo refused to comment on speculation that players besides Manning have been involved in incidents that might result in arrests.

“I’m not going to tell everyone any time something happens,” he said. “It’s always a possibility.”

He is, however, reevaluating the policy he softened in 1998. Perhaps the punishment should be as lethal as the punch, with a suspension resulting long before the slow wheels of the criminal justice system grind out a verdict.

Perhaps Toledo realizes it’s time to save his own skin.

Then he reflects on why he supports Manning and has second thoughts.

“The poor kid was trying to defend himself,” he said. “People are picking on our guys because they realize that I was suspending guys and kicking them off the team. And because of their makeup they don’t walk away.”

Toledo was an assistant at Oregon and Texas A&M; before coming to UCLA as offensive coordinator in 1994, and he finds himself longing for the small-town atmosphere of Eugene, Ore., and College Station, Texas.

“L.A. isn’t like Oregon or Texas A&M;, where the players pulled up to the practice field in their pickup trucks,” he said. “Here everybody is spread out and they all go their own way at the end of the day.”

So it comes back to the players, who might live to regret their insubordination if it causes Toledo to be replaced by an unyielding taskmaster.

Toledo’s son-in-law, Brent Long, is a graduate of the Air Force Academy. He recalls studying a commencement speech delivered by Civil War Gen. John M. Scofield at West Point more than 100 years ago: “The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment.”

If true, then players must be accountable for their actions when the coach has his back turned. The new Bruin advisory council made up of nine players voted on by the team is a firm step in that direction.

“If we had this last year, maybe Fletcher would have come to us rather than thinking he only had a choice of being loyal to DeShaun or running to Coach Toledo,” one council member said.

Maybe the Bruins will recognize that a coach who backs them even in the face of repeated betrayal and intense public scrutiny deserves their respect.

“He doesn’t run off kids and he has shown he is there for you in tough times,” Hunter said. “He watches our backs. I think it’s time we did the same for him.”