Q&A with UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero: ‘We’re not all about a coaching carousel’

In Dan Guerrero’s nearly 14 years as UCLA’s athletic director, he has overseen 27 national championships, the renovation of Pauley Pavilion and the beginning of construction on new basketball and football facilities.

He has also never experienced anything quite like the outrage recently directed at men’s basketball Coach Steve Alford.

After UCLA finished 10th in the Pac-12 Conference this season, Guerrero’s email inbox was flooded with missives from frustrated fans. In 2013, Guerrero signed Alford to a lucrative long-term contract that bound both sides to a buyout that would pay $10.4 million if the coach left or was dismissed before April 30, 2016.

That didn’t prompt so much as a pause from the 1,600 people who signed a petition seeking Alford’s ouster. Two days last week, a plane flew over Westwood towing a banner urging Alford’s firing. On Sunday evening, Alford announced in a letter to fans that he would return the one-year extension he received after his first season, meaning he’s now under contract until the completion of the 2020 season.

Guerrero held a news conference Tuesday to talk about the state of UCLA basketball, an apparel contract that will soon expire, and what the future holds for him and the athletic department.

Here are the highlights of what he said:

Whose idea was it for Alford to return his extension?

He actually approached us on that. We met several times subsequent to the end of the season. We discussed the entire waterfront with the program. As we talked about various things that we had to do to make the program more successful next year, this was one of the byproducts, one of the results of that conversation.

When he talks about earning his extension back in his letter, is there a chance that happens this upcoming season?

The decision itself to come to me and say that this was something he wanted to do was not an insignificant decision by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t know if it’s unprecedented, but it probably hasn’t happened a lot. In terms of his commitment to the program, by making that decision, he was basically saying, “I’m committed to this program, and I’m committed to making this program successful. And would like to be able to earn that year back.” ... That sends a big message to not only me, but to the fan base that, you know what, this year wasn’t acceptable. And everyone needs to get better.

There was a petition circling, there were the banners flying overhead. Did that pressure Steve into acting?

I don’t know if that had any pressure. Certainly, it was very clear that the fan base was not happy with the season .… But it wasn’t just with the fan base. There was disappointment all the way around. I was disappointed. Steve was disappointed. The coaches were disappointed. The players were disappointed. There was disappointment that pretty much went across the board.

Were you surprised, not necessarily by the level of frustration from fans, but how demonstrative they were? Especially with the planes and banners?

They all want the same thing that we want .… Honestly, I wish that they hadn’t done that, in that I would rather have those individuals, down the road, spend their money on supporting this program, buying season tickets. Maybe donating to the basketball program, [instead of] buying planes with banners .… We have to earn their trust back. You do that by putting a great product on the floor, and winning.

Should fans have any input on personnel?

Anyone worth their salt is going to listen to their fans. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you always agree with them .… Certainly there are a lot of stakeholders out there that either want something from you, [or] expect something from you and/or the program. [He mentions the faculty and university staff, the coaches, the athletes, their parents, the media, the Pac-12 Conference, the NCAA and the UC regents.] And then of course, you have your season ticket holders, you have your alums, you have your fans, just in a general sense .… So when you make decisions, you’re not always going to appease everyone across the board.

What would you say to the fans that are still calling for Alford to be fired?

I believe that those that want a coaching change are not going to be happy no matter what I say. I believe that others who may be disappointed in the season will understand what UCLA’s all about. We’re not all about a coaching carousel every two or three years. We’re about building a program and doing our best to build our program the right way. There are very few coaches around the country that, in their first two years, at any place, will go to two Sweet 16s. You would hope that we would’ve been able to build on that .… We didn’t get it done this year. There’s no question about that. And that’s not acceptable.

Do you have any regrets about the Alford deal?

No, I don’t. When you’re hiring coaches in this day and age, especially in Power 5 conferences, the expectations are extremely, extremely high .… Look at what we’re experiencing right now with the dissension and the dissatisfaction from our fan base. So you need to be able to provide a coach with the security and the opportunity to be able to say, “OK, I’m going to build this program.” And you work with them to get that done. Now, if you have more than one subpar season, that’s a whole different discussion.

If Alford had two subpar seasons in a row, would you reevaluate his status?

We evaluate every program after every season. And that will be no different next year.

Do you anticipate any changes to the basketball coaching staff?

I really don’t. In fact, Steve was very adamant about retaining his existing coaches. He believes that these are the individuals that can help us get to where we need to get, and so there won’t be any changes.

How close are the Ostin (basketball) Center and the Wasserman (football) Center to being fully funded?

We’re probably about $10 million apart from reaching our goal in both of the projects. We have a lot of naming-rights opportunities that are still available in both of them .… Our fans have really stepped up in a big way to support both of those initiatives. We’re still on track to be completed next year, either in the summer or the fall. And those will be big steps, big improvements for both programs.

UCLA’s apparel contract with Adidas is up next year. Where are you in negotiations with that?

We’re in the process of talking to them right now. We have an exclusive negotiating period with them now that ends at the end of this month. At that time, we can hit the streets if that’s something we desire. Adidas has been a great partner with us and provided us with quality shoes, quality apparel, and we’ve been very pleased with that relationship .… Right now we’re laser-focused on talking to them.

Your contract expires at the end of 2019. Have you given much thought to your future with the program, how long you want to stay and how much you want to accomplish?

Well, the reason why my contract expires at the end of 2019 is that it’s synonymous with the end of the $4.2-billion centennial campaign and I pledged to move this program forward such that we would accomplish the objective of raising the $265 million or $270 million that is our charge toward that initiative. I believe we’re going to surpass that, which is something I would really like to do. Certainly there are a number of things we have planned that are important to me — completing the two facilities. The next project is the academic center that we would like to build. We haven’t hit the streets with that yet, but that’s what we would like to do next. When you think about the things we’ve done from a facilities standpoint, that’s half a billion dollars that we have accomplished in the last several years, that would include Pauley and our relationship with the Rose Bowl project. The academic center is a missing piece and that’s next on the agenda.

Does that mean you intend to stay through 2019 or beyond that to see those completed?

I’ve got a contract through 2019. I may choose to step down earlier than that or I may decide that this is something I still want to do. It’s all speculation at this point. I do know I’m focused on trying to win championships and doing what I can for our student-athletes to accomplish their goals, objectives and dreams, and just making UCLA the best athletic program it can possibly be.

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