UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has just given Dan Guerrero a vote of confidence
I’m pissed.
No, not about this whole SI article thing. I’m upset about that, but not thoroughly pissed, as my blood pressure has since dropped.
Instead, I’m pissed at someone else: UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. You’re probably wondering why, too. Here’s why:
"After conferring with Dan Guerrero, we have agreed to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the university’s policies, procedures and values are aligned with our continued pursuit of excellence.While it wasn’t fun reading the criticisms leveled against us this morning, I know we will be better as a result of them. I have confidence that Dan will be able move us forward in men’s basketball and to continue to lead our outstanding Department of Athletics."
That’s Chancellor Block, ladies and germs. Chancellor Block, who has just given a vote of confidence to probably the worst athletic director (no caps intended) in UCLA’s history, and one that has been doing a poor job for ten years strong right now. Block has given a vote of confidence to an athletic director who has overseen the fall of our storied basketball program and the fall of our proud football program. Block has placed a stamp of approval on the past ten years of UCLA Athletics.
This is un-friggin’-believable. Because while we all agree — and by “all” I mean the entire UCLA fan-base — that Dan Guerrero needs to be fired, we realize now that Gene Block doesn’t tune into our football and basketball games. We realize that he’s eating whatever Guerrero’s telling him.
(And we also realize that the crap spewed at bruinsnation is the reason Dan Guerrero is still athletic director. The “Chianti Dan” campaign has screwed everything up and has made us all look like complete jackasses; instead of calling him by his name, they went on with really stupid inside jokes like “Strap-on Dan” and “Doughnut Dan” and “Chianti Dan” — while also calling Chancellor Block “Blockhead” — and their attempt to get Guerrero canned hasn’t even been taken seriously as a result. You don’t think Block is getting those phone calls and messages that people have been sending in? Of course he has, but when he realizes it’s from that damned website, he figures they’re a bunch of pimply-ass teenagers who give really stupid monikers and everything goes in one ear and out the other. If you want to point a finger at anyone besides Block for Guerrero’s job being safe, it’s f***ing bruinsnation, man.)
Chancellor Block has done a fine job outside of athletics — we give credit where credit is due. Back in the 80s and 90s (when most of those idiots who claim to weigh athletics far more than academics actually went to UCLA), UCLA’s admission rate was around 55 to 60 percent. Today, the admit rate is somewhere around 22 percent, shooting us up with elite schools like Harvard, Princeton and other potential Ivy League schools. (If you ask bruinsnation, though, most will tell you that we don’t even compare to Ivy League schools; and everyone else are mediocre-loving enablers?)
But this vote of confidence? This stamp of approval? This is bullshit. (Excuse my ghetto.) Because while Block’s work in academics, and raising funds, while recruiting international/out-of-state students to keep this university afloat academically is just fine, it’s his absolute apathy towards athletics that’s pissing me off to no end. Block has turned a blind eye to the fall of our two major sports programs — football and basketball — while giving us a big “FUCK YOU” (again, excuse my piss-poor language) and telling us all to stick it up ours.
When we thought we had Dan Guerrero dismissed, in a corner, without having a huge drug scandal or major NCAA violations involved, things were looking up, even if slightly. But this quote? This vote of confidence? Screw this, man.
Unless Dan Guerrero gets fired, UCLA Athletics may as well go on friggin’ hiatus.