Letters to Sports: UCLA proves it isn’t a football school

UCLA’s decision to retain Chip Kelly confirms, once again, that UCLA really is a great basketball school.

And why not retain him? After six seasons, his record stands at a gaudy 34-34. Sure, the Rose Bowl has suffered through three of the lowest attendance years in its history since the Bruins began calling it home. But, hey, what can you expect when you only pay your head football coach $6.2 million per year. That comes to a little more than a million dollars per victory.

I say give him a raise to $10 million per year. Doing the math, the Bruins might just reach that 10-win pinnacle.

Steve Kaye
Oro Valley, Ariz.

UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond clearly went out on a limb by defying Times columnist Bill Plaschke’s edict to fire football coach Chip Kelly. Plaschke believes that Kelly should be evaluated exclusively by wins and losses. Ironic, considering Plaschke’s past demand for the immediate removal of the coach of an “out of control” college football program. Anyone recall Pete Carroll?

Rob Fleishman
Placentia

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Cal 33, UCLA 7. I can’t imagine a better and more apt end to UCLA’s season: a humiliating loss to Cal. UCLA and USC destroyed the Pac-12 out of excessive self-regard and hubris and greed. UC Berkeley and UCLA played each other for 90 straight years as the two major campuses in the UC system, but UCLA wanted more — to play with the big boys in the Midwest at the cost of that long tradition at home. Good riddance!

Henry A. Hespenheide
Hermosa Beach

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The status of Chip Kelly was a huge undertaking for Martin Jarmond. He should have taken this decision off his shoulders and settled it democratically. Let all football season-ticket holders vote for or against retaining Kelly. The result will not surprise you.

Jerry Brockett
Long Beach

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My wife and I braved the long drive, the frigid Pasadena evening, the $35 parking charge and the $100 ticket price for each to witness Saturday’s Cal-UCLA game. The best part of the event was spending time with some long time friends and fellow alums, whose collective memories of attending games in the Arroyo deserved better than what was served up against Cal.

Chip Kelly is at .500 after six seasons. It may not be exclusively Kelly’s fault that attendance is awful, but he’s made a habit out of fielding a team that does not and cannot meet even modest expectations. Mr. Jarmond, there was no compelling reason for keeping Kelly next year, unless yours is a secret desire to justify discontinuing football in Westwood in the near future.

Blaise Jackson
Escondido

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As a longtime Bruins fan of more than 50 years, I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to see that Chip Kelly will be returning for 2024. It’s never too early to make those lower-tier bowl game plans!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

Goodbye, Dante Moore. You could see this coming after his dismal performance vs Cal. No energy. No enthusiasm. This 18-year-old, so-called five-star QB showed his immaturity once he got demoted from starter. Who needs him?

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

I hope that Lincoln Riley watched the Michigan-Ohio State football game to see what championship-caliber football teams look like. There is no way that USC is ready to play at that level.

For the Trojan faithful, it’s going to be a rough few years.

Norm Shepherd
Newport Beach

I have been a Rams fan forever, but it’s not time to be jubilant just because they beat a bad team. However, if they can beat the Browns and the Ravens, with three poor teams coming after that, then they may have a shot. They are lucky that the 49er game is last, since by that time S.F. might be locked into the No. 2 position and decide not to risk playing their first string the whole game.

Mike Schaller
Temple City

More embarrassing than the 44-point loss to the 76ers, the Lakers could’ve and should’ve selected Jaime Jaquez Jr. with the 17th pick in the June draft. An All-American for UCLA, Jaquez is currently a super sub for the Miami Heat. Aside from his usual stellar defense, he is the first player off the bench, finishes games, averages double digits, and is shooting better than 50%. Instead, the Lakers selected Jalen Hood-Schifino, who has played a grand total of 22 minutes.

Jonathan Curtiss
Sherman Oaks

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Beyond the crazy-colored courts for the NBA in-season tournament, even more remarkable is that of the top four teams in each conference, only two (both from the East, none in the West) qualified for the quarterfinals. It seems the NBA is patterning itself after the MLB postseason.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

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