They’re ready to dump Dorrell and Streeter

You should be ashamed of printing Kurt Streeter’s column of Nov. 18.

Mr. Streeter is an embarrassment for trying to turn the question of who should coach the UCLA football team into a question about race. Karl Dorrell is not on the hot seat because he is black. He is on the hot seat because he has failed to deliver enough victories.

I don’t care if the skin color of UCLA’s head football coach is purple. I care if he can provide the leadership, the experience and the character to put together a program that can win football games.

Joe Piechowski

Thousand Oaks

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I want to make sure I understand the takes from Times writers on Karl Dorrell:

UCLA fans need to ignore that Karl has not gotten a sniff of a significant bowl game in five years.

UCLA fans need to ignore that Karl’s coaching record is barely above .500 for five years.

UCLA fans need to ignore that the only successful season under Karl was a 10-2 season where the success was predicated on being behind at halftime of every game, throwing the ridiculous West Coast offense out the window, and going for broke.

UCLA fans need to ignore that the only consistent thing about Karl’s teams is their horrific inconsistency.

We are supposed to give Karl more time because a handful of 18-year-old kids might decommit if he is gone, and because he takes responsibility for the shortcomings of the program (just ask the assistant coaches he has thrown under the bus in five years to salvage his own reputation).

Tony Siracusa

San Gabriel

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Karl Dorrell’s imminent departure has only to do with his incompetence, and Kurt Streeter and Dorrell pulling the race card does nothing but hurt future prospective African American coaches who try to get hired. If I were an athletic director, I’d fear that I’d have to endure columns like this and coaches who can’t stand on their own merit and are reduced to pulling the race card.

I have felt for some time that Dorrell should be let go strictly because of the Bruins’ poor play on the field. On the other hand, I took no pleasure in seeing Coach Dorrell the man getting fired because I thought he was a man of character. Streeter’s column now has me questioning that.

He got hired because he blew away our former chancellor by invoking the legacy of Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe. I can’t think of one BCS conference coach who got fast-tracked from an NFL position coach to head coach at a major university with a proud heritage. He wasn’t hired on merit, and if it were up to Streeter he wouldn’t be fired on it as well.

Casey Park

Tustin

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In your article defending the mediocre coaching job of Karl Dorrell, you asked the readers to “Keep Me Posted.” I am glad we can. You stated “Under Dorrell’s watch, here is what you no longer see: Bruins in the headlines for run-ins with the law.” Perhaps you should search the archives of your own paper -- you will find that under Dorrell’s watch there have been several players and a current assistant coach who have found themselves making headlines for “run-ins with the law.”

Mike Baaden

Los Angeles

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Two words for all Karl Dorrell detractors -- Willingham-Weis. Think about it.

Doug Dunlap

Fullerton