Coaches’ opposing styles reflect squad performances

By Greg Lewis Daily Bruin Senior Staff

USC has the victory bell, but UCLA has the momentum.

The Trojans might have won the last UCLA-USC football game, but
it was the first in nine years. In fact, over the last 20 years,
The Bruins are 13-6-1 against their cross-town rivals.

Southern Cal still holds the overall record in the city
championship series, but it is only because of the head start they
got at the beginning of the series. Overall the Trojans lead the
series 35-27-7, but since 1950, the Bruins lead the series
25-22-3.

The myth that ‘SC is the football school in Southern
California has been destroyed. No longer do the Trojans regularly
pull in the best area recruits based solely on their name, and no
longer does Notre Dame regard its annual matchup with the Trojans
as the most important on its schedule.

When Bob Toledo became UCLA head coach, he inherited a Bruin
winning streak of five and extended it to a series record of eight
straight before last season’s 17-7 loss.

Toledo has firmly established UCLA as the top football program
in Los Angeles.

His counterpart, USC Head Coach Paul Hackett, who is in his
third season at the helm, is in trouble. Odds are he will be fired
at the end of the season.

For the first time ever, the Trojans will finish dead last in
conference play. A loss to perennial Pac-10 doormat Washington
State last week on ‘SC’s home turf clinched for the
Trojans the tenth spot in the conference.

The Coliseum, in fact, has become more of a mausoleum to the
distant football past. Southern Cal’s football tradition has
gone the way of the Spanish Armada.

The Trojans have not finished a season in the top five since
1979. The aging Coliseum isn’t even friendly to the Trojans
anymore. At last week’s game, the first time ever that USC
lost to Washington State twice in a row on their home field, the
few fans in attendance booed the Trojans and even threw beer
bottles toward the ‘SC bench. One fan even held up a sign
that said “S.C.C.C.,” referring to a new nickname:
“Southern California Community College.”

By all accounts, Hackett is a nice guy. Even cornerback Ricky
Manning Jr. and tight end Mike Seidman, two sophomores who were
deciding between UCLA and USC during high school, say that Hackett
is “a really great guy,” and an impressive football
personality.

But many Trojan fans blame the coach for the recent downturn.
There is even a “firepaulhackett.com” Web site.

And Hackett does deserve at least some of the blame. He seems to
have a big problem motivating his players. Last year the coaches
admitted it was a “chore” to get star receiver R.J.
Soward just to come to practice.

This year, defensive lineman Matt Childers took part in an MTV
show appropriately titled “Jackass.” During filming,
Childers tried to tackle the show’s host and instead almost
knocked himself out, forcing him to miss practice time.

Toledo has no such problems. With the exception of Ryan McCann
and Kenyon Coleman, every nicked-up and injured Bruin is dying to
play Saturday. Toledo said that Rusty Williams might kill him if he
is not allowed to play.

Trojan fans wondered from the beginning why Hackett was given
the job. As a college head coach, Hackett’s only experience
was guiding the University of Pittsburgh to a mediocre 13-20-1
record.

USC had a chance to hire No. 1-ranked Oklahoma’s Bob
Stoops, but passed.

Southern Cal also seems to be having an identity crisis.
“Football is not our most important sport,” school
President Steven Sample told the Los Angeles Times.
Firepaulhackett.com does not agree.

Sample is also trying to change ‘SC’s reputation,
focusing on academics. Starting quarterback Carson Palmer said that
he only became a Trojan because he could not cut the Notre Dame
academic mustard.

Hackett, who was brought in as an experienced quarterback coach,
has coached Palmer to 16 interceptions this year and 25 in two-plus
seasons.

While Hackett will be gone after three years, Toledo’s job
is as stable as can be. Toledo has built a football family at UCLA.
He recruits players who fit the Bruin family and tries to get
everyone involved in the program, from assistant coaches to
freshmen walk-ons.

“One of the things that makes Bob Toledo so
successful,” football administrator Randy Taylor said,
“is that he’s a player’s coach. His door is
always open. The team has a council of one person from every class,
and one person from every position who meet with Toledo weekly.

“They discuss anything they want from the size of the
locker room towels to more soup at dinnertime.”

The family attitude extends to all aspects of the football team.
Toledo rarely recruits junior college players because they do not
have enough time to develop the relationships that four- and
five-year players do.

Seidman was the nation’s top player at his position coming
out of high school, and almost chose his father’s alma mater,
USC.

“Hackett was all football when he was recruiting me.
Toledo was more of an all-around guy. I liked that,” Seidman
said. Speaking of family, Mike’s father and uncle have
converted from Trojans at heart to Bruins.

NFL safety Ronnie Lott, one of the ‘SC’s greatest
players, sent his son, linebacker Ryan Nece, to UCLA also, in part
because he liked the family atmosphere.

Toledo and Hackett actually coached together as assistants for
three years at ‘SC. Toledo still considers Hackett a friend.
“Not a close friend, but a friend,” Toledo said.

Hackett’s predicament bothers Toledo because he knows that
a situation like that wears on more than just the coach. “It
makes you feel bad. It’s not just him, it’s his family,
it’s the assistant coaches, it’s the university. You
don’t win, people get on you. That’s hard, (but) that
comes with the territory,” Toledo explained.

Toledo and Hackett even played against each other during their
college days, Toledo quarterbacking his San Francisco State team to
a 21-17 Far West Conference Championship victory over
Hackett’s UC Davis team in 1967.

After Toledo finished at USC in 1978 and Hackett in 1980, they
took different paths. Hackett went to the pros as an offensive
coach. Toledo stayed in the college ranks, a decision that has
served him well come late November. While Hackett was busy working
in the NFL, Toledo was honing his rivalry week skills.

“I’ve been involved in some great ones. The Civil
War when I was at Oregon and the Hatfield and McCoy game between
Texas and Texas A&M. But there is none better than the UCLA
versus USC rivalry,” Toledo said.

Toledo, who has guided UCLA to two Pac-10 championships in four
years as a head coach, is like the older, more successful brother
of Hackett. They both grew up in the same Southern California
household, but now Toledo is running the successful company while
Hackett is waiting out the season until he will probably be
relieved of his duties.