Guerrero seems to be in over his head again

The way I hear it, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero is on the road again, looking for somebody, anybody, willing to take the football job, talking now to Steve Kragthorpe, who can boast about Louisville’s 6-6 record with the best NFL quarterback prospect in the land.

Guerrero wouldn’t return a call, but the news is really good, because it’s not Albert Carnesale out there looking for the next UCLA coach, as the story goes the former chancellor taking a list of names from Guerrero the last time around and picking Karl Dorrell.

When the university chancellor hires a head coach rather than the athletic director, it suggests the AD is a lightweight, and right now it’s hard to argue.

Guerrero didn’t get it right last time, lacking the juice to sell the candidate of his choice to Carnesale, or maybe it really was Dorrell, and we know how that turned out.

Five years later, and he’s still in over his head, word coming in Tuesday it might be Rick Neuheisel to save UCLA’s desperate AD. The former athletic directors at Washington and Colorado will probably get a kick out of that.

IT’S GOING to take time to complete a sullied background check on Neuheisel, so in the meantime the amateur hour continues.

What kind of athletic director needs to hire a search firm to assemble a list of potential coaching candidates?

If there’s a chance you’re going to fire your football coach, and most everyone in Southern California knew that was a possibility, don’t you already have a good idea whom you’re going to hire?

Steve Kragthorpe? Well, I guess at this point you go where the dart lands.

The best thing Guerrero has going for him is Ben Howland, and Howland essentially hired himself as basketball coach, lobbying for the job months before Steve Lavin got the boot.

Guerrero came from UC Irvine, which doesn’t have a football program, and now here he is charged for the second time with making the most important hire an AD can make when it comes to balancing the athletic budget at the end of the year.

And he’s clueless.

He interviews Norm Chow, as if you have to talk to Norm Chow to know he can’t talk, and as if you have to see for yourself why he’s never gotten a shot at being a head coach.

He interviews DeWayne Walker, as if Walker has any shot of becoming UCLA’s next head coach, a guy with no previous experience as head coach replacing a guy who had no previous experience as a head coach, and failed.

Why hire Walker? “I bring continuity,” Walker says, and if UCLA were interested in that, it wouldn’t be looking for a new coach.

Guerrero interviews Neuheisel, the current back-up plan if everyone else in the world rejects the UCLA job.

The UCLA alumni are calling for Neuheisel’s hire, and as I recall, a group of former players was also calling for Dorrell’s hire five years ago.

Guerrero refuses to let anyone in his athletic department have anything to do with office pools, though, so it doesn’t seem like the kind of environment Neuheisel might find comfortable.

But right now I’m guessing “Slick Rick” is saying all the right things, and with the alumni letting Guerrero know how they feel, what’s a lightweight to do but surrender.

Guerrero already has Neuheisel meeting with the school’s new chancellor, and probably hoping the chancellor hires him, so later he can say it wasn’t his decision.

NOPE, NO one wants to be the coach of a football program with so little chance for success save Neuheisel, who has nothing more to lose.

Colorado was put on two years’ probation for 51 recruiting violations during Neuheisel’s tenure at the school. I would imagine UCLA is fertile ground for anyone looking to do whatever it takes to beat USC.

Now, I happen to like Neuheisel, covering him as a reporter when he tried to make a go of it as a player with the Chargers. Great guy, and he’s got something special going for him, all right.

But I find it funny that whenever his name is mentioned on the Internet by someone pushing him for the UCLA job, it’s always pointed out how smart he is. If he’s so smart, how come he’s in such a fix when it comes to getting another job as a head coach?

A coach willing to do almost anything for another chance will be agreeable to UCLA’s desire to keep Walker as defensive coordinator and recruiter. It’s the perfect solution for the patch-work repair of a program that chooses not to go big time.

A major league hire would come in with assurances of bringing in his own staff.

If not Neuheisel, though, does anyone really want this job? UCLA has made a run at several current Pacific 10 coaches and got the brush-off.

Dallas assistant coach Jason Garrett, on the urging of Troy Aikman, gave it serious thought for a few days and then said, “no thanks.” Steve Mariucci didn’t need that much time.

It’s a terrible job, UCLA getting really serious about football once every year -- in November when Bruins fans fully expect their team to beat USC.

The Bruins need someone with stage presence to stand opposite Pete Carroll, like Jim Mora Jr., someone who has the same kind of energy, charisma and drive to prove himself a winner again. Just like Neuheisel -- without the baggage.

Hire anyone less, and maybe hope someone grows into the UCLA job, and it’s still what I expect from Guerrero.

There’s also Slick Rick, and always the chance Carroll might finally return to the NFL -- Carroll spotted recently in Atlanta where they are looking for a new head coach.

Oh, he was in Atlanta, all right, but he was recruiting -- as if he really needs a head start over the poor guy UCLA hires.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.