Karl Dorrell

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Karl Dorrell bigraphy, stories - American football player and coach

Karl Dorrell : biography

December 18, 1963 –

Karl Dorrell (born December 18, 1963) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL), a position he assumed in February 2012. Dorrell served as the head football coach of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 2003 to 2007, compiling a record of 35–27. He led the UCLA Bruins to five bowl appearance in five seasons, but did not coach in the fifth after he was fired in December 2007. Dorrell was the first African American head football coach in UCLA’s history.

Head coaching record

Family

Dorrell and his wife, Kim, have two children, Chandler and Lauren.

Coaching career

Assistant coach

Dorrell’s first job as a coach was in 1988, as a graduate assistant for Terry Donahue at UCLA. That season the Bruins finished the season with a record of 10-2 and defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

In 1989, he became a wide receivers coach at Central Florida. In 1990 and 1991 he was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Northern Arizona. Under his tutelage, the NAU offense set a school record with 255 first downs in 1991, amassing the second-most total offense (4,539 yards) in a season.

From 1992 to 1993, Dorrell coached wide receivers at Colorado. In his first year with the Buffaloes, two of his receivers, Charles Johnson and Michael Westbrook, became just the fourth pair of receivers on the same team in NCAA history to each have over 1,000 receiving yards.

He then served as wide receivers coach at Arizona State in 1994 before returning to Colorado when they hired his former UCLA teammate, Rick Neuheisel, as their head coach. This time, he would serve as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998. When Neuheisel left Colorado for Washington, he brought four assistant coaches with him – including Dorrell, who served as the Huskies’ offensive coordinator and receivers coach in 1999.

In both 1993 and 1999, Dorrell was a recipient of Denver Broncos Minority Coaching Fellowships, which allowed him to spend time in the Broncos’ training camp. He would return to the team in 2000 to serve as the receivers coach under head coach Mike Shanahan He held this position for three years, coaching players like Rod Smith, a two-time selection to the NFL’s Pro Bowl, and Ed McCaffrey, a one time Pro Bowl selection. With the help of Dorrell, Smith and McCaffrey became only the second wide receiver duo to each catch 100 passes in a single season (2000).

UCLA

Karl Dorrell was hired as the head coach at UCLA, replacing Bob Toledo, who was released at the end of the 2002 regular season. Between Toledo and Dorrell, Ed Kezirian, an athletic department official who oversees the academics for the football team, served as interim coach for the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl. Under Kezirian, the Bruins won the bowl game over New Mexico, 27–13. Dorrell’s hiring as head coach was announced on December 19, 2002 by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero. Ed Kezirian remained on the football staff. Dorrell was brought in at UCLA to clean up a program marred by off-the-field problems in the final years of Bob Toledo’s tenure. UPI, Dec. 9, 2002

2003–2004 seasons

The UCLA Bruins football team under Dorrell recorded a mark of 6–7 in his first season as head coach in 2003, with an appearance in the Silicon Valley Bowl, and a loss to Fresno State. In 2004, his second season, the team finished with a record of 6–6 an appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl, with a loss to Wyoming.

2005 season

In 2005, his third season as head football coach, Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent, No. 21 Oklahoma, featuring Adrian Peterson.

On October 1, 2005, head coach Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies came to the Rose Bowl for a Pacific-10 Conference game to play UCLA. This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac-10 conference game. At the time, Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program. Dorrell achieved his first win against a top-ten opponent with a 47–40 upset win over No. 10-ranked Cal.