Gene Block's Emails on Steve Alford - Part 3

8/15/2019 Gene Block's Emails on Steve Alford - Part 3

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From: Mark Gerard

To: Guerrero, Dan

Cc: Rebholz, Joshua; Block, Gene

Subject: Absolute Dissatisfaction with Steve Alford remaining coach of UCLA basketball

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 12:48:41 AM

Dear Mr. Guerrero (and Mr. Rebholz and Dean Block),

Without going into a long winded diatribe, please take very seriously my deepest concern EVER regarding UCLA athletics and the disastrous

potential continued employment of Steve Alford as UCLA basketball coach.

UCLA basketball made me fall in love with UCLA the school as an 8 year

old fan in 1969. My father received his PhD in clinical Psychology at UCLA

in the 50's and my oldest brother graduated from UCLA in 1975. I realized

my dream of going to UCLA in 1978 and I graduated in 1982 Phi Beta

Kappa, Summa Cum Laude, and a Regent Scholar. While there, I went to

virtually every basketball game often sleeping out for several nights for the

best seats to the biggest games.

While in medical school at University of Michigan from 1982-1986, I

watched late night games when televised in the midwest. I returned to

UCLA for my internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Center for

Health Sciences in 1986-1989 and went to many games despite a grueling

schedule in the hospital.

In 1990, I became a season ticket holder and subsequently a WAF donor. I

have traveled to each of the Final Fours since then and could not have

been prouder when we won the championship in 1995. Despite that

feeling, it is not my expectation that we go to the Final Four regularly.

However, I do expect the team to play with tremendous effort, discipline,

defensive intensity, and above all with heart. These qualities are direct

reflections of the team's coach. Sadly, they are not part of this coach's

culture. It is for this reason that I am pleading with you to reverse your

decision and terminate Steve Alford's employment now before permanent

damage has been done to our beloved program. Even during Steve Lavin's

worst years, I never felt compelled to write a letter to the athletic

department.

Unfortunately, the current status of the program is at an all time low and has

become totally unacceptable. The last 3 years the quality of basketball

being played by UCLA has been thoroughly uninspiring and hard to watch.

Alford's 1st year, despite the talent, there were maybe 2 games all year at

Pauley that I could honestly say were entertaining from a basketball

standpoint. It was clear then that the energy at Pauley was dying. Do not

fool yourself with sweet 16 appearances; we know last year we did not



deserve to be in the tourney and got a very favorable draw after the fluke

goaltending call against SMU. I did not view last years team a success on

any level. This year continued to get worse and it is obvious that there is a

toxic state within that caused the players to give up on their coach.

Whether the very real issue of nepotism is at the root of it or the fact Coach

Alford is just an average to mediocre coach, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are not blind to the obvious reality we all see. There are

so many die hard fans who have just tuned out UCLA basketball. When my

friends have listened to my concerns over the last 3 years, they all say that

"IF UCLA HAS LOST YOU, THEY ARE IN BAD SHAPE" as I am one of the

most positive, glass half-full fans you could be.

Do not make a decision to protect the ridiculous contract your department

offered him along with compounding the situation by extending it after year

1 to make the over 10 million dollar buyout valid through April 2017. That

amount will pale in comparison to the long term damage to the brand that is actively deteriorating as we speak. We will all respect you greatly if you

swallow the pill of a bad hire and move forward swiftly with a change. If

you don't, your legacy will forever be tainted. I know that is not what you

want for UCLA in your heart. Bite the bullet. Terminate Steve Alford now.

Thank you for reading this email.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Mark Gerard, M.D.Coaches Roundtable WAF member



From: Douglas Mckain

To: Block, Gene

Subject: You are great!


Attachments: image1.PNG ATT00001.txt

He is not...



From: Mike

To: Guerrero, Dan; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: Dan Guerrero supports nepotism


Mr Block, Guerrero has allowed the basketball coach to play his son the most minutes in UCLA history after three

years, he allowed his other son to take a position on the staff and also watched the coach hire the son of his agent to run player development. How is this allowed?

Sent from my iPhone



From: ljtdds@

To: Guerrero, Dan; Block, Gene; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: Fw:


FREE Animations for your email Click Here!

How much more embarrassing can it get? And now a banner flying on campus

asking for his ouster? Time for leadership to step up..............

http://www.bruinsnation.com/2016/3/13/11217854/ncaa-and-nit-tournament-

brackets-show-how-massively-ucla-underachieved



From: Abraham Ochoa

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Steeeevoooooo


Why is Steve Alford still here? Because Dan G is a big freakin chicken who can't cross the road. Jackass.

Sent from my iPad



From: David Gompert

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Men"s Basketball


Dear Dr. Block,

I realize that given your position you have greater issues to deal with than the state of

the Men's Varsity Basketball Team and its head coach. That is probably why you have an Athletic Director to manage that situation and role for the university. That

said, the importance of the team's success is a critical point of pride for alums and

fans such as myself. Success in both Football and Men's Basketball drives

significant revenue for the institution, as you are well aware. Therefore I implore you

to involve yourself in what has clearly become a disaster. During Coach Alford's

tenure the program's season win totals have steadily declined. In what has to be the

most embarrassing development this year, and Lord knows there are plenty, a win by

a "mid major" against the Bruins had ZERO impact on that team's tournament

resume. In no other era did a win against UCLA not be considered a "signature win"

for that program during a season. That is how far UCLA's impact in the national

consciousness has fallen. A change is absolutely necessary to restore the proud

tradition of UCLA Basketball. Please implore your AD to make the change that all

Bruin Fans so desperately desire and begin our return to national relevance.

I thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

David Gompert

Life Long Bruin Fan



From: LoDuca, Paul

To: Block, Gene

Cc: Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: UCLA Basketball


Chancellor Block: I believe that there is a misconception that Coach Steve Alford must be replaced by a big name coach. If Dan Guerrero is holding back, in letting Steve Alford go, because he doesn’t feel he can land a big name replacement then he is missing the whole Bruin basketball value proposition. Given its natural advantages UCLA is a top ten program waiting to happen. We just need a someone with really good coaching chops to lead the way. I think the best solution is to find the next great coach before everyone else does. Here are some suggestions:

•

Bryce Drew, Valparaiso: He’s 119 – 47 at Valparaiso. He’s 41 years old•

Mitch Henderson, Princeton: He’s 96-52. He’s 40 years old

• Zach Spicker, Army: He’s 102 – 111 overall there but 65 - 59 over the last four

years. Coach K was modestly better going 73 – 59 in 5 years. Spiker is 39 years old.

•

Andy Toole, Robert Morris: He’s 120 – 88 all at RM. He is 35 years old. The worst decision in the world is to keep the status quo because you are afraid you can’t do better. A leader sees that a change must be made and makes it. I’m beginning to feel that UCLA basketball doesn’t only have head coaching problem but also a leadership vacuum in the ADs office. Thank you.

Paul LoDuca

Financial Advisor The Linzmeier Group

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

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From: Leland Smith

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Bball


I’m begging you, please restore UCLA basketball. You know in your heart Alford is not the right coach

for a program like UCLA.

Please

Leland Smith



From: John Galloway

To: Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Block, Gene


Subject: Status of the UCLA Athletic Department is in question now


Dear Chancellor Block:

UCLA alumni and world-wide supporters of the school have had their voices heard. Please

understand the state of the Athletic Department is in question. Our school is one of a

kind. Please consider removing Dan Guerrero as Athletic Director immediately. Do this

without reservation, and feel confident doing so. Understand there are countless qualified

individuals with impeccable resumes who’d beg for the chance to serve UCLA and all it

stands for.

The time has come for a change. Yesterday’s protests have made national news – and

have continued to be a topic of conversation today. Please understand this is much bigger

than you may be giving credit for. The status quo clearly is no longer acceptable and the

protests will carry on.

Again, my wife (class of 89) and I are WAF donors and have had 4 UCLA football seats

season seats since 1992.

Regards,

John G. Galloway

Director – Information Technology Services

Verbum Dei High School

11100 S. Central Ave.

Los Angeles, CA

(323) 564-6651 ext. 6800

www.verbumdei.us



From: John Galloway



Subject: Status of the UCLA Athletic Department is in question now



UCLA alumni and world-wide supporters of the school have had their voices heard. Please

understand the state of the Athletic Department is in question. Our school is one of a

kind. Please consider removing Dan Guerrero as Athletic Director immediately. Do this

without reservation, and feel confident doing so. Understand there are countless qualified

individuals with impeccable resumes who’d beg for the chance to serve UCLA and all it

stands for.

The time has come for a change. Yesterday’s protests have made national news – and

have continued to be a topic of conversation today. Please understand this is much bigger

than you may be giving credit for. The status quo clearly is no longer acceptable and the

protests will carry on.

Again, my wife (class of 89) and I are WAF donors and have had 4 UCLA football seats

season seats since 1992.

Regards,

John G. Galloway




Los Angeles, CA

(323) 564-6651 ext. 6800

www.verbumdei.us



MIKE PRESSER

PRINCIPAL

George Elkins Mortgage Banking [email protected]

949.752.1662 office

cell

949.752.1667 fax

26180 Enterprise Way, No. 300

Lake Forest, CA 92630

BRE #01391972

www gemb.com

From: Michael Presser

To: Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua; Block, Gene

Subject: RE: New basketball coach needed


While the right decision is not always an easy one, I find it is usually better to deal with it sooner

rather than later. Better to move on from Steve Alford now rather than 12 months from now. The

culture of the basketball program will not improve next year and the infusion of talent will be

wasted if UCLA retains Steve Alford. The culture can’t be changed if the coach and his son both

remain in their current positions. You saw yesterday the result of that dynamic.

Please do what is in the best interest of UCLA and fire Steve Alford!



From: Greg Patterson

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Men"s Basketball

Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 12:10:50 PM

I must say that I am disappointed if the news is true that Steve Alford is being retained as the head

coach at UCLA. I can’t pretend to know everything that is going into this decision, but I do know after three years of watching his team play selfish, me-first basketball that this is no longer the

program that I grew up supporting, nor do I feel that Mr. Alford is an appropriate steward of John

Wooden’s program.

Greg Patterson

Trace3

Business Operations Manager

[email protected]



From: Kennedy Cosgrove

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Alienating your alums


http://kennedy-cosgrove.squarespace.com/blog/2016/3/12/nej1ryucw4qiyjmfh0j78384qo42a3

Sent from my iPhone



From: Michael Zank

To: Guerrero, Dan

Cc: Block, Gene; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: Re: Please Fix it (Men"s Basketball, obviously)


Chancellor Block, Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Rebholz:

After four days and three messages, I'm wondering if the lack of even a cut-and-paste courtesy reply from the Athletic Department is a really bad indicator of its ability to safely navigate this current crisis.

Mr. Guerrero, you can fix this. I can help. Others can help. What, if anything, is going on behind the scenes to salvage this situation?

Based on the lack of responsiveness thus far, my worst fear that Ucla's response to its current Athletics and donor crisis has been to do absolutely nothing. Some better, if not required, actions over the past week (or month, or year) include:

(1) Perform financial and budgetary analysis of how eating Mr. Alford's buyout payment could be absorbed without any outside funds (hint: it can)

(2) Identify what new contributions would be immediately available from donors to mitigate Ucla's standalone liability toward Mr. Alford's buyout (hint: at least some, and that's a great start).

(2) Quietly reach out to the representatives of successful head coaches at smaller schools and identify whether they would have interest if there were an opening. If you don't want to do this, or don't know how, there are dozens of Ucla alumni and donors that can help (hint: fans don't need a "big name" - just a competent adult who got their coaching opportunities based

on acumen rather than a past as a star player).

(3) Speak with Ucla's counsel about remedies it may have to mitigate Mr. Alford's buyout clause, and what contractual leverage Ucla may have toward negotiating a settlement that leaves all parties free and clear going forward.

(4) With Ucla's counsel (or other appropriate representation), approach Mr. Alford's representatives and begin foundational discussions toward a closeout settlement of his contract. Trust me, they won't be shocked or insulted. They know he sucks, too.

(5) Most importantly, ENGAGE YOUR DONORS who have skills and expertise to assist and

encourage you. Be willing to listen, and don't be afraid to ask for help.

Have any of these things been done? If the answer is "no", you are a very long way from solving this problem.

Again, please, fix Men's Basketball, repair the relationship with your donors, and stop driving your former donors to instead spend money on silly things designed to make you look bad. Be the hero.

I hope you can tell from my tone that I am trying to be constructive, and want to be helpful. I



can help. Others can help. Call and let's talk.

Best Regards,

Michael Zank UCLA Anderson 2007

(m)

Executive Vice President and COOTopaz Systems Inc.

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 12:02 PM, Michael Zank <mike.zank@ > wrote:Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Rebholz, and Chancellor Block,

This is my third message (I've received no reply to the other two), and I'm amazed that young donors walking away from a $50,000 pledge to Athletics (the Football Facility, in particular) doesn't even merit a placeholder copy-paste response. Maybe your CRM system is broken?

I'm not sure the three of you understand the level of crisis that Ucla Athletics finds itself in, or the damage Mr. Guererro has caused to the relationship between Ucla and its donor community by (1) failing to do and due diligence when hiring a men's basketball coach in 2013, (2) failing to dismiss a failed basketball coach at the end of this season, and (3) dismissing the pleas of hundreds (thousands?) of members of the Ucla community to fix the problem, in the most tone-deaf manner possible, by quietly leaking that he was going to retain Steve Alford just 36 hours after the end of this miserable season in hopes it would shut us up, rather than really examine or address the multiple issues causing this crisis.

People (me included) really, really, really want to support Ucla and its athletic programs. We don't want to be stuck in a war with Mr. Guerrero that we didn't start. Athletics in

particular (for better or worse) provides the common cultural element that unites all students, alumni, and fans, and builds the goodwill that eventually matures into donorship like that of Mr. Wasserman and Mr. Ostin, and others that have made large gifts to other departments. The current course of the Athletics administration is destroying this culture, and making the donor experience miserable. We want to give more, not less. We don't want to walk away from pledges, but Mr. Guerrero has left us no option.

I'll close with a few suggestions and observations that you may not have considered. It's not too late for Mr. Guerrero to avoid the perception that he will be the Athletic Director that killed Ucla Men's Basketball, the crown jewel of the entire department. Fire the already-failed Mr. Alford. Don't further alienate your closest supporters by giving up on Men's Basketball.

Please consider:

(1) The situation is only going to get worse. The "Fire Alford" movement, in all likelihood, is just getting started. The entirety of next basketball season, and all the time in between, will be even uglier if Mr. Alford is retained.

(2) In time, the focus for the failed Hoops program will shift from Mr. Alford to Mr. Guerrero and Ucla. Right now, Mr. Alford's failures are in the spotlight. It will be bad for



all of us when this shifts to Mr. Guerrero and Ucla, and the question and perception among the Ucla community and the national media becomes "why have THEY failed?"

(3) Mr. Guerrero has two choices: hero or goat. Unfortunately, his service and legacy as athletic director will, unfairly or not, be cast solely by his response to this crisis. I hope for his sake he chooses "hero". We want peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and only Mr. Guerrero can provide them.

As I said before, we want to give more, not less. Please give us a reason to consider Ucla worthy of support, because on the current course there won't be any Wassermans or Ostins to support the next Athletic Director.

Best Regards,

Michael Zank

PS - If you perceive that this crisis to be too problematic for the current athletics organization to successfully resolve, I promise there are many capable, professional people who are happy to volunteer to help out. Please call me if there is anything I can do with my time or expertise to help fix Ucla Basketball, or assist the Athletics organization in general.



From: Alice Tsuyuki


Subject: Steve Alford


Gentlemen:

I am a UCLA alumna and a 40+ year diehard UCLA basketball fan. I was also a longtime

basketball season ticket holder until last season, when I finally could no longer stomach what I

was seeing on the court under the leadership of Steve Alford.

His nepotism and his inability to build a solid basketball program with tough defense, sound

fundamentals, and something as basic as playing with heart, have made it hard to even care

about UCLA basketball.

If Steve Alford is retained, I will not be renewing my WAF membership. When Alford is gone, I

will be more than happy to contribute and buy season tickets again.

If you believe that UCLA fans are unreasonable and will only settle for the Coach Ks of the

world, let me assure you that is not true. I believe most fans just want a coach who will teach

a fundamentally sound, tough-minded brand of basketball.

Please do the right thing for UCLA. Dismiss Steve Alford now.

Thank you,

Alice Tsuyuki



From: Gilberto Limon

To: Guerrero, Dan; Block, Gene; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: TCU head basketball coaching job open


Tell Alford we'll let him leave without a penalty of $10.5 million. Come on, Dan, remedy your mistake. Help Alford leave.



From: Trevor Fuller

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Please Fire Steve Alford for Gross Nepotism


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

I'm sure you're already aware of this but I just discovered today that previous to this year Alford had employed as his video coordinator one Kory Barnett, the son of his (Steve's) agent, Mike Barnett. And this year as we all know Steve appointed his own son Kory Alford to the position of video coordinator after he graduated from college and needed a job. The Video Coordinator position became free because Kory Barnett (again, Mike Barnett's, Steve Alford's agent's, son) was promoted to the position of Director of Player Development and Scouting.

This is on top of the obscene minutes he, Coach Alford, has allotted to his other son, Bryce, at the expense of far superior players like Aaron Holiday and Prince Ali this year, and Zach

Lavine his first year. If you want statistical proof of Alford's nepotistic treatment of Bryce, you can go here: https://medium.com/@68degreesPlz/nep-o-tism-3f118c43af99#.jllzmmnqa.

All of this is to say that Steve Alford has clearly used UCLA men's basketball to promote the success of his friends and family before the success of the school, the team, and the program, which has resulted in our fourth losing season since Wooden's retirement, our worst finish in Pac-12 play in school history, a toxic environment for the players and staff in the program not named Alford, just so an undeserving Bryce can enter the UCLA record books for minutes played, scoring, and assists.

Please, stop letting Steve Alford treat UCLA's men's basketball program as his own personal

Mom and Pop store and dismiss him from his position as the head coach of UCLA men's basketball before the start of this upcoming off-season.

Sincerely,Trevor Fuller UCLA Class of 2012



From: LaCurtis Sumlin Jr

To: Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: Basketball Coach


Please consider the Davidson Coach. He even looks west coast, unlike alford.



From: Kim Luk

To: Block, Gene; Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: UCLA BB


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

UCLA DESERVES BETTER! FIRE ALFORD!Please the right thing.

Go Bruins!

Kim Luk

1976

Sent from my iPad



From: R. Brink

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Please Fire Alford


For innumerable reasons Steve Alford has proven over the past three years that he is not

capable of leading our team. Please admit a mistake and fire Alford now.

Roy Donald Brink

UCLA Engineering 1968, MBA 1992



From: Scott Revlin


Subject: How long will this continue?


Attachments: image001.pngimage002.png

Gentleman,

I email you all for the fourth time; I have yet to receive a response. I will be ceasing all donations in

any form to UCLA until Steve Alford is dismissed. It pains me to do so, as we are a Bruin family

through and through. We do the 8-clap together each night at my daughter’s bedtime. But enough

is enough, and I cannot support what the current regime is doing to our proud basketball program.

I hope you’ll give me the courtesy of a response.

Regards,

Scott Revlin

Class of 1999

Wife – Class of 2001 and 2009 (Anderson MBA)

Father – Class of 1965

Mother – Class of 1968

Aunt – Class of 1962

Cousin – Class of 1989

Scott Revlin, MA, BCBA

Clinical Manager

STAR of CA

(805) 644-7827 – Office

– Cell

starofca.com

Connect with STAR of CA:



From: Kenji Kumara

To: Guerrero, Dan

Subject: Fans choice for new coach


Scott Drew - Baylor

Cuonzo Martin - Cal

Tad Boyle - ColoradoArchie Miller - Dayton

Fran McCaffery - Iowa

Josh Pastner - Memphis

Jim Larranaga - Miami

Mike Brey - Notre Dame

Lon Kruger - Oklahoma

Randy Bennett - St. Mary's

Billy Kennedy - Texas A&M

Larry Krystkowiak - UtahTony Bennett - Virginia

Gregg Marshall - Wichita St.



From: Jeffrey Hoover


Subject: Change needed!


Dear Chancellor,

It is my request that you handle Mr. Guerrero and Mr. Steve Allford and the situations that have occurred with the

men's basketball program quickly. These two gentlemen are destroying the basketball tradition that UCLA has held

in maintained at such high standards for many years.

When you look at the major money making sports they perform horribly in our unranked most seasons at the end of

the season. Since Dan Guerrero has been the athletic director this is how things usually end up. Now the men's

basketball program has been on a downward spiral and quickly are becoming, if not already, irrelevant.

It is vital that you dismiss both gentleman from their positions and start fresh with more deserving and goal oriented

individuals.

I will no longer support UCLA until this has happened.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Hoover – UCLA fan



From: Brian Netter

To: Guerrero Dan; Block Gene; Rebholz Joshua; aaron1050@

Subject: Fire Steve Alford!

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 6:41:08 AM

- Under Alford, UCLA Basketball has been unranked (AP) 46 of 57 weeks (80.7%) .

- The only PG who surpasses Bryce’s Minutes/Gm over the last two years is Pooh Richardson.

- Alford won one more pac12 game than mora. Alford played 18 games. Mora played 9.

- In his third year as head coach at UCLA, Alford has posted a 15-17 losing record.

- In his third year as head coach at UCLA, Alford has lost to cross-town rival USC three times, all in blowout fashion.

Brian

On Mar 12, 2016, at 10:39 AM, Brian < bnetter@ > wrote:

Dead Dan Guerrero, Chancellor Block and Josh Rebholz,

Coach Alford is the worst coach I've ever seen. I don't care how many positive stats you throw at me. He is the worst. Anyone who knows basketball can see it.

I already gave up my Men's basketball tickets before this year and don't plan on coming back until something positive is done (e.g Fire Alford and replace him with a good coach). I also am highly considering not donating and not keeping my football tickets. I will do everything in my power to convince my friends of the same thing.

I won't support a program that will make bad decision after bad decision. Why on earth did we sign Alford to the ridiculous guaranteed contract having a 10 million dollar buyout? Many of the decisions made over the past 3-4 years have made no sense to me. If you want to run the basketball program to the ground, keep doing what you are doing.

I can go on and on but that's all I have to say...

Please FIRE Alford and restore the basketball program back to prominence.

A Diehard Bruin Fan and Alum,Brian Netter



From: LoDuca, Paul

To: Block, Gene


Subject: Make UCLA Basketball Great Again


Chancellor Block:

Yesterday, I made the suggestion that UCLA should pursue a young up and coming coach

for the basketball team as opposed to an already elite name. The logic is sound — elite

coaches are rare and expensive and to make a move they would need to be available.

I’m not sure any of them will be on the move this Spring.

However, the names that I shared are likely all available and would come for less money

than you are paying for Alford. Of the four names provided, I would initially target Bryce

Drew. He has a solid record as a player in both college and the NBA. He was an assistant

at Valparaiso before becoming the head coach. His 5 year winning percentage is .715.

He is on the cusp of greatness and you can get him if you have the courage to act now!

Three years ago the hot coaching candidate was Brad Stevens. We all know that Dan

Guerrero could not close him and broke the hearts of every Bruin fan by settling for

mediocrity in Alford. With the public outcry against Alford, and his blatant nepotism, he is

not viable long term. Why keep someone who you know you should fire now?

Bryce Drew and Valparaiso were 3-0 against Stevens’ Butler team. Stevens was extremely

complimentary about Drew’s coaching. Bryce Drew is the real deal and he would come to

UCLA in a heartbeat. Bryce Drew is the solution for UCLA Basketball and he’s young

enough to stay here for 25 years.

All it takes is leadership. I urge you to ask Dan Guerrero to lead.

Thank you.

Paul LoDuca






NMLS ID # 1364401



From: LoDuca, Paul (Wealth Mgmt MS)Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 8:23 AMTo: [email protected]: [email protected]; [email protected]: UCLA Basketball

Chancellor Block:

I believe that there is a misconception that Coach Steve Alford must be replaced by a big name coach. If Dan Guerrero is holding back, in letting Steve Alford go, because he doesn’t feel he can land a big name replacement then he is missing the whole Bruin basketball value proposition. Given its natural advantages UCLA is a top ten program waiting to happen. We just need a someone with really good coaching chops to lead the way. I think the best solution is to find the next great coach before everyone else does. Here are some suggestions:

• Bryce Drew, Valparaiso: He’s 119 – 47 at Valparaiso. He’s 41 years old• Mitch Henderson, Princeton: He’s 96-52. He’s 40 years old• Zach Spicker, Army: He’s 102 – 111 overall there but 65 - 59 over the last four

years. Coach K was modestly better going 73 – 59 in 5 years. Spiker is 39 years old.•

Andy Toole, Robert Morris: He’s 120 – 88 all at RM. He is 35 years old. The worst decision in the world is to keep the status quo because you are afraid you can’t do better. A leader sees that a change must be made and makes it. I’m beginning to feel that UCLA basketball doesn’t only have head coaching problem but also a leadership vacuum in the ADs office. Thank you.

Paul LoDuca






NMLS ID # 1364401







From: evoape@

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Alford v. U.C.L.A.


Hello, the obvious question to you is: What possessed you to approve giving Alford such an absurd buy-

out, that obviously goes to no other coach?

And: How many coaches can you point, at other Pac-12 universities that have such an absurd buy-out?

Yours truly, a taxpayer




To: Block, Gene

Subject: Change needed now!


Dear Mr. Block,

I am a lifelong UCLA fan living in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has been very difficult over the last several years to maintain

my level of interest in UCLA programs due to the pitiful performance by many of the teams. Looking at statistics,

since Dan Guerrero has taken over, the nonrevenue programs generally do well but that is ongoing at all times. The

two major revenue sports, football and men's basketball have done very poorly. Most years since Dan Guerrero has

been in place these two programs finish unranked.

Now, you might not think it's that big of a deal but the image of UCLA rides on the coattails of the men's basketball

program. What Dan Guerrero is allowing to happen with current coach Steve Alford is a joke. This is destroying the

program.

It is my request that you evaluate Mr. Guerrero and force him to retire early so that a new AD can be in place to hire

a new coach for men's basketball. This is necessary! Please understand with improved sports programs more money

comes to the school and notoriety! Which then would increase the number of applicants to enroll at UCLA.

Yes, UCLA has an unbelievable academic institute. But the athletics at UCLA are equally impressive. Do not allow

our programs to fall off. You must fire Dan Guerrero and Steve Alford.

On top of all of the things that have happened, please know that having Steve Alford hired and the issue that took

place in Iowa where he supported a rapist, along with asking professors to change grades for players, these are

actions that should warrant dismissal.

Please do the right thing and give UCLA fans hope.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Hoover - UCLA Fan

Sent from my iPhone





Subject: Change needed!


Dear Chancellor,

It is my request that you handle Mr. Guerrero and Mr. Steve Allford and the situations that have occurred with the

men's basketball program quickly. These two gentlemen are destroying the basketball tradition that UCLA has held

in maintained at such high standards for many years.

When you look at the major money making sports they perform horribly in our unranked most seasons at the end of

the season. Since Dan Guerrero has been the athletic director this is how things usually end up. Now the men's

basketball program has been on a downward spiral and quickly are becoming, if not already, irrelevant.

It is vital that you dismiss both gentleman from their positions and start fresh with more deserving and goal oriented

individuals.

I will no longer support UCLA until this has happened.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Hoover – UCLA fan



From: Carrie White-Parrish

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Re: the state of the program


Dear Sirs,

I'm writing to you again to beg you to consider the bigger picture, here, and the larger fanbase. We are not happy. Almost to a man, the university and its fans and donors are nothappy. As an AD, I would expect that you care for the university as a whole, rather thanthe ego and feelings of one man, who is coaching our glorious basketball program into ablack hole.

This sort of thing would never be allowed to happen at any of the other blue bloods.Kentucky? Absolutely not. Duke? Please. North Carolina? Well… who can really call them a blue blood at this point? But UCLA???? We have the longest and most illustriousbasketball history in the country, and, arguably, in the world. How is it possible that wehave been allowed to come to this point, and have to face another year of this

embarrassment, under an AD who claims to love UCLA, simply for … Well, what actually IS the reason here? I don't believe any reason could possibly be good enough.

Please consider your decision carefully. Consider how many alumns, students, fans, anddonors you're alienating, and how deserted Pauley will be next year if we have to endureanother year of Steve Alford. I literally never thought I would say this, but this is worsethan going to school during the Steve Lavin years.

If you truly love UCLA, do the right thing. Please. ______________________________________________

Carrie White-ParrishEditorial Director, PublisherGlass House Press

[email protected] www.glasshousepress.com

____________________________________________

Doc doesn't believe that Dresden survived his escape. He thinks we're safe, now that Dresdenhas disappeared.

But I know differently. I know what I saw when he escaped, and the stone made sure Iunderstood what it meant. Now I have to find him. No matter how much Doc tries to convinceme otherwise, the stones don't lie. Dresden is still out there, somewhere. And I have to stophim, before he does anything else to damage history.

Because the world won't be safe until I do.

Follow Jason Evans and his friends on their newest quest to savethe world in A Rebel's Stone by bestselling author PT McHugh,coming in spring, 2016. This time, they're not all coming home.



From: Carrie White <[email protected]>

Date: Friday, March 4, 2016 7:45 AM

To: <[email protected]>

Cc: < [email protected]>, <[email protected]>

Subject: the state of the program

Dear Sirs…

I grew up on UCLA lore. In fact, I was born to it. Both of my parents went to UCLA, andwere there for the Wooden years. My mother was a tutor to Walton and his gang. My fatherhid from the Black Panthers in Royce when they invaded the campus. They lived and breathed John Wooden, and taught me everything I needed to know about how to get into UCLAmyself. In fact, the common joke is that I was bred to go there.

Some of my earliest memories are of watching Bruin basketball. I remember seeing Reggie

fly. I cheered for what we called the ‘5 Ms’—Tracy Murray, Mitch Butler, Derrick Martin,Gerald Madkins, Don Maclean. I was pacing outside of my house, listening to my dad andsisters scream, when Tyus made his layup against Minnesota. And in the end, when it camedown to choosing a college, I went to UCLA for the academics, yes, but because UCLA basketball ran through my blood like oxygen.

I got there a year after the national championship and was there during the fall into the Lavinyears. I graduated in 2000 and suffered through those embarrassing years of no basketballidentity. I was ecstatic when Howland came on board, and I supported him — and his hard-nosed style — up until the end. I met him several times, and really liked him personally, aswell as his style and passion for UCLA. When Steve Alford arrived, I was disappointed, but

wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the AD had seen something no one elseknew. Maybe he really was the one to bring the program back up. We have all, however, seenthat this is not the case. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, and I don’t knowwhat the motivations or political agendas are. I don’t know how we got to this point.

What I do know is that I’ve never been so embarrassed to be a UCLA basketball fan. I’venever intentionally ignored my TV when there’s a game on. I’ve NEVER been able to say Idon’t care about any of the players on the team. Not even during the Lavin years was I sodisillusioned with our team and what it was doing to our lofty history. I can say without adoubt that I’ll be withholding any and all support — financial and otherwise — until this problem within the program is fixed. I absolutely cannot condone contributing to the downfall

of our program, or the man — men — who are allowing our tradition to be flushed away likethis. Please, for the love of all that is UCLA, fix the problem. Fire Steve Alford and find us acoach worthy of those four letters.

Carrie White-ParrishClass of 2000

______________________________________________





____________________________________________

Doc doesn't believe that Dresden survived his escape. He thinks we're safe, now that Dresden

has disappeared.

But I know differently. I know what I saw when he escaped, and the stone made sure Iunderstood what it meant. Now I have to find him. No matter how much Doc tries to convinceme otherwise, the stones don't lie. Dresden is still out there, somewhere. And I have to stophim, before he does anything else to damage history.





From: Jeremy Borden

To: Block, Gene; Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: More support for Alford"s dismissal


This just shouldn't be the case at the university with the most college basketball national titles.

Under Coach Alford, UCLA has been unranked in 47 of his 58 weeks as head coach which is 81% of the time.2014-15 UCLA was 12-12 against Power 5 opponents. (A Power 5 opponent is a team from the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, SEC or Pac 12.)2015-16 UCLA was 7-16 against Power 5 opponents.2013-14 UCLA was 1-4 against ranked opponents. (That UCLA team had three first round picks playing on it.)2014-15 UCLA was 2-7 against ranked opponents.2015-16 UCLA was 3-4 against ranked opponents.While at UCLA, Coach Alford is 6-15 against ranked opponents.



From: Tony Rossi

To: Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: Jim Rome comments on UCLA basketball program


Dear sirs,

The UCLA basketball program is now subject to national ridicule. Please see below for the comments made by Jim Rome on his national radio show yesterday. The fan base continues to

wonder when the administration will listen to the will of the people.

Yesterday, a plane was flying over Westwood dragging a banner that read

“UCLA Deserves Better- Fire Alford” Give that pilot a 1-seed. And give whoever

paid him a key to the city.

That’s one of the most iconic flights LA has seen since Howard Hughes landed

on a golf course and Harry Ford crashed into one.

And I’d like to say it’s a low point for UCLA basketball, but I can’t. Sure, there

have been some shaky coaching runs over the years. But I don’t remember

getting the fly-over treatment after a 6-12 season in conference. And even

that’s not your low point. The low point was walking off the floor after losing to

USC by 24 points to complete the first cross-town season sweep since the

1940s. The last time that happened, John Wooden was serving in World War II.

Never mind hiring a plane, the program should have put Steve Alford on one and

flew him out of town.

But give credit to Alford for something – his team had 1 more Pac-12 win than

the Bruins football team had. So at least tip the cap for Alf for the re-branding.

Because he’s helping turn a classic national basketball program into a football

school.

Sincerely,

Tony Rossi

UCLA Class of 1993



From: patoooo@

To: Block, Gene



Sir,

Did you see this? This is Nationwide media. We're being laughed at.

from Jim Rome show today:

"Spring Break just started early at UCLA. I’ve gotta a feeling on Frat Row in

Westwood, there were some red solo cups raised to the sky out of respect for

the pilot buzzing campus with a FIRE ALFORD banner.

Yesterday, a plane was flying over Westwood dragging a banner that read

“UCLA Deserves Better- Fire Alford” Give that pilot a 1-seed. And give whoever

paid him a key to the city.That’s one of the most iconic flights LA has seen since Howard Hughes landed

on a golf course and Harry Ford crashed into one.

And I’d like to say it’s a low point for UCLA basketball, but I can’t. Sure, there

have been some shaky coaching runs over the years. But I don’t remember

getting the fly-over treatment after a 6-12 season in conference. And even

that’s not your low point. The low point was walking off the floor after losing to

USC by 24 points to complete the first cross-town season sweep since the

1940s. The last time that happened, John Wooden was serving in World War II.

Never mind hiring a plane, the program should have put Steve Alford on one and

flew him out of town. Not that I don’t respect the hustle of whoever threw down

for that plane. Can you even imagine how much that must have cost – in LA? If

you have to break off a half mill to get a 2-bedroom condo, with a shared wall,

it’s gotta be steep to rent a 2-passenger plane. And yet, whatever it is – it’s a

drop in the bucket compared to what UCLA would have to pay to actually

Whack the Alf. Never mind that puddle jumper, you could buy 3 private jets for

the 10.4 mill Alf would be due if they ran him. That’s the buzzkill in this party.

UCLA wasn’t even close to going to March Madness. And Alf isn’t going

anywhere.

As much I respect angry UCLA fans throwing down for an aviator, they’d be

better off starting a Kickstarter.

But give credit to Alford for something – his team had 1 more Pac-12 win than

the Bruins football team had. So at least tip the cap for Alf for the re-branding.

Because he’s helping turn a classic national basketball program into a football



school.

You deserve better than Steve Alford, Bruin fan, but unless you can scratch a

ten million dollar check, you’re not going to get it. Never mind that you had

better. And his name is Ben Howland. You believe that: you fired a guy who

took you to three Final Fours in order to hire a guy who just got swept by USC?!

How the hell does that work? I’d love to tell you it’s all going to work out just

fine, Bruin fan. But it won’t."

-- Jim Rome

UCLA deserves better!

As long as Steve Alford is coaching UCLA basketball I will never attend another game or give any money

to the UCLA athletic program.

Thank you for your time.

Pat Thompson

50 year die-hard UCLA fan.

if you wish to chat.



From: Matthew

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Coach Alford must be relieved of his duties

Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 12:00:37 PM

Dear Mr. Guerrero,

I am sure by now you are tired of receiving these emails. Believe me, I am tired of sending

them, and I'm sure my fellow Bruin fans are, too. It is a measure of our love of the men's

basketball program and our respect for you to do the right thing that we continue to lobby to

save Bruin hoops from the depths to which it has sunk. At this time of year, when we should

be breaking down our brackets and sizing up the competition (not as a lame double-digit seed

but one with a real chance to make the Final Four), we are instead focused on the change

that must be made. Why? Because Bruin basketball has been reduced to irrelevance.

Let that sink in. UCLA basketball is nationally irrelevant -- not even worthy of an NIT bid (not that a proud Bruin program should ever be reduced to playing in the NIT).

Even last year's Sweet 16 team (reminiscent of the days of Steve Lavin, whom you rightfully

fired) was a sign of trouble for the program. UCLA was a controversial choice to even be in

the tournament, and only as an 11 seed. Everyone knew UCLA had no chance of making a

deep run in the tournament, and of course we did not. Mid-majors rightfully celebrate

Cinderella Sweet 16 runs; basketball royalty does not. But the longer Coach Alford is

retained, the farther away from basketball royalty UCLA becomes.

Every team turns in a bad performance now and then. But that is not what we have here. A

team that was talented enough to beat Kentucky, Gonzaga, and Arizona completely collapsed.

No defense, no fundamentals, no intensity, no pride. They rolled over and got demolished by

USC three times.

Coach Alford lost the team, and lost the program. It cannot be recovered. Rumors of

imminent transfers are swirling around the program. When it is mentioned in the media, the

coverage is not favorable. Taken with the groundswell of fan opposition to Coach Alford's

tenure, transfers clearly telegraph to the outside world that something is rotten in the state

of Westwood.

You know all of this. You also know on some level that there is only one cure for it.

Please relieve Coach Alford of his duties. It is time.

Respectfully,

Matt Henderson



From: Scott Revlin


Subject: Prince Ali is transferring


Attachments: image001.pngimage002.png

"We’ve had our issues with transfers as of late. I’m hoping that Steve can come in, bring in quality

players, and hopefully allow them to grow and develop so that they can have a program, that year

in and year out, can compete at a high level." - Dan Guerrero on hiring Steve Alford, March, 2013

Scott Revlin, MA, BCBA

Clinical Manager

STAR of CA

(805) 644-7827 – Office

– Cell

starofca.com

Connect with STAR of CA:



From: Kenji Kumara

To: Guerrero, Dan

Subject: Accurate overview of the men"s program and this season


http://mostlyuclahoops.blogspot.com/



From: Dan Brisket

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Prince Ali to transfer out due to Alford"s nepotism


Chancellor Block,

Mr. Guerrero and Rebholz,

The entire fabric of the program is in jeopardy. Please fire Coach Alford and end the nepotism and bad situation

overall. More

Players to come. Steve Alford is a disaster.

Sent from my iPhone



From: Jon Cohen

To: Block, Gene




Continuing to be an embarrassment. If these transfers are true, just more of a joke.

How is this going to be resolved. Another empty year at Pauley and Bryce Alford will damage the program further.

Chancellor Block and Josh, why does Dan continue to hold all the cards here?

Same man who hired Karl Dorrell (oh my god), Rick Neuheisel and Steve Alford.

Unreal.



From: Kenji Kumara

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Another good read on the program


UCLA Basketball fans are again catching flack for being unreasonable and demanding. This narrative has raised its

ugly head every time Bruin fans have grown unhappy with the

basketball program over the last 40 years. And i t’s nonsense.*

Why do people keep insisting that UCLA fans are unrealistic and that the

pressure inherent in the UCLA Basketball head coaching position outweighs the

opportunities for success?

RELATED: UCLA Is Not Going To The NCAA Tournament

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The elite tier in the history of this sport consists of five programs: North

Carolina,Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, and UCLA.** None of those other

programs would tolerate aSteve Lavin or a Steve Alford.

None of them would be scoffed at for parting ways with coaches that consistently

underperform and fail to develop talent. No one would tell Kentucky or North

Carolina to be happy with the Sweet Sixteen and the occasional missed tournament.

Yet this is what UCLA fans keep hearing from college basketball media and

fans. Why?

Begging the Question



CONTENTION AND

OCCASIONAL DEEP

TOURNAMENT RUNS. UCLA

FANS ARE ENTITLED

BECAUSE IT WAS ALWAYS

THUS.

was given six years in which

to approach, not the success

of John Wooden, but of his

immediate predecessor;

thatBen Howland was fired

after an

embarrassing Sports

Illustratedexpose that detailed his complete lack of control over an increasingly

troubled team. No, UCLA fans are impatient because it was always thus.

Never mind that UCLA fans aren’t asking for national title contention every year,

but rather conference title contention and occasional deep tournament runs.

UCLA fans are entitled because it was always thus.

The expiration date on this narrative has long passed, but the college basketball

talking heads have turned up their noses so high that they don’t notice the

smell.

And it becomes self-fulfilling. If reports are true that Brad Stevens and Shaka

Smartboth turned down the UCLA job after Howland was fired because they

didn’t think the fans’ unreasonable expectations would give them a chance to

succeed, then this tiresome conversation is doing real damage to the program.

The Howland Wars

This narrative got an extension after the ugly firing of Ben Howland. The

headline of that decision was – and still is – that UCLA fired the coach who

brought them to three straight Final Fours. People couldn’t (and can’t) see past

that.

The debate still rages within the fan base. Had his style of play really hurt

recruiting? Had he really alienated the local prep and AAU pipelines?

Were Nikola Dragovic andReeves Nelson really that out of control? Had

Howland really let the culture get that toxic?

RELATED STORY: UCLA Basketball is Bad but Not Nikola

Dragovic Bad



That’s a good discussion for another time. But the bottom line is that Howland

was fired more for off-court headaches than for a lack of on-court success. It

was never that the ’06-’08 run wasn’t enough, but rather that the man behind

that run seemed to have burnt and/or checked out. UCLA didn’t fire 2003-2008

Howland. It fired 2009-2013 Howland.

Regardless of how you feel about that call, the consequences still ring through

coverage of UCLA today. It’s lazy, and it’s unfair, and UCLA fans ought to rebut

it wherever possible, but this narrative is not going away any time soon.



From: Tony Rodriguez


Subject: The alienation of fans by the UCLA admin is staggering!


Attachments: image002.png

Dear Sirs,

The lack of a response to the UCLA fan base and alum is disturbing on your part. I attended and

graduated UCLA in 1987. I have donated in excess of $30,000 to the university, and have been a

season ticket holder for both football and basketball off and on since graduating. While I have not

donated as much as others, I nonetheless wear my colors proudly. Now that I am back permanently

in Los Angeles, I am ready to get involved as both a donor and season ticket holder. But none of this

will happen unless Coach Alford is removed as our basketball coach.

I have been talking with other alumni and this will not end until he is removed. We will organize

protests and make life uncomfortable for those involved in his retention. This is not a threat but a

normal right to voice our extreme displeasure to the current situation. We have peaceful but “media driven” type protests even at games in Pauley. So far about 56 season ticket holders I know

will be involved.

For the way Coach Alford as alienated players on the team, he deserves the same alienation from

the fans… he is the most hated coach in the Los Angeles sport scene. We will not relent… nor will we

allow this great recruiting class be wasted by a nepotistic coach.

Please let Steve Alford go and save the UCLA brand. We are not going away!!

Tony Rodriguez

BLACK WALL INTERNATIONAL COMPANIES

MANAGING DIRECTOR-GLOBAL FINANCING

(310) 351-7221 DIRECT

[email protected]

Confidentiality: This message and its contents are confidential and may contain privileged information intended only for the addressee or the intended recipient If you are not the

addressee or the intended recipient of this message, you may not use, copy or disclose to anyone any information contained in this message or its contents If you have received this

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From: DM

To: Rebholz, Joshua; Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Guerrero, Dan

Subject: Prince Ali


Any comment on this story?

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

During the team film session immediately after the Cal game late in the season, CSA began ripping on Ali

both offensively and defensively for bad shots, lack of effort, and lack of help D possession after

possession. My source said it was bad. This lead to a emotional confrontation between CSA and Ali

later in the film session during an all-to-often defensive series for Bryce where CSA did not say a word.

Prince Ali flat out called Bryce and CSA out in front of the entire team for what is going on and had to be

removed from the film session by an assistant coach. At the next practice a supposed shoving match

between Ali and Bryce occurred where Ali was then removed from practice (these details were a bit gray so I do not know exactly what happened). Bryce was allowed to stay. From that point on Ali was

benched and was actually encouraged by CSA sometime after the Oregon game to start looking

elsewhere.

Source also told me Bryce is so rarely criticized in film study vs. everyone else it makes numerous

players angry.

Take it FWIW... this source is extremely close to a player on the team.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended

recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.



From: Michael Zank

To: Guerrero, Dan

Cc: Block, Gene; Rebholz, Joshua; Emily Zank

Subject: Ignoring people that pledge $50,000 to your department is an interesting choice


Four messages, five days, and not a peep in return.

An "out-of-office" reply would at least make sense. Is a gag order in effect? (Also an interesting choice). Without communication and information, people tend to assume the worst.

I hope, for your sake, that rumors that you are trying to meddle in Alford's basketball staff but retain him as coach through at least 2017 as sort of fantasy "leverage" to reduce his buyout in the future are false, since:

(1) Replacing one or more assistant coaches will NOT make the basketball team any better next season, or fix any of the underlying problems causing the terribleness and dysfunction. So, what's the point?

(2) it indicates you have no intention of solving your basketball problem, since you are prolonging the cause of its suffering;

(3) it signals that your donors and fans that you know Alford has failed and should be fired, but you aren't going to do it until after the next miserable season (if at all);

(4) that Mr. Alford would trade away a portion of $10MM in guaranteed buyout payments in order to keep a job where he has poisoned the entire ecosystem, has no support from anyone, and will enter next season on the hottest of hot seats even if you fail to fire him.

(5) it may be distracting you from pursuing other, more productive avenues to solving your basketball crisis

Fire him now. Make the madness stop. End the civil war. The solution is so obvious, and it is bizarre that you are resisting it. The first players put in their transfer paperwork today and more will follow; they've had enough of Alford also.

Please, please, please let someone help you.

Michael Zank

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 12:02 PM, Michael Zank <mike.zank@ > wrote:Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Rebholz, and Chancellor Block,

This is my third message (I've received no reply to the other two), and I'm amazed that young donors walking away from a $50,000 pledge to Athletics (the Football Facility, in particular) doesn't even merit a placeholder copy-paste response. Maybe your CRM system



is broken?

I'm not sure the three of you understand the level of crisis that Ucla Athletics finds itself in, or the damage Mr. Guererro has caused to the relationship between Ucla and its donor community by (1) failing to do and due diligence when hiring a men's basketball coach in 2013, (2) failing to dismiss a failed basketball coach at the end of this season, and (3) dismissing the pleas of hundreds (thousands?) of members of the Ucla community to fix the

problem, in the most tone-deaf manner possible, by quietly leaking that he was going to retain Steve Alford just 36 hours after the end of this miserable season in hopes it would shut us up, rather than really examine or address the multiple issues causing this crisis.

People (me included) really, really, really want to support Ucla and its athletic programs. We don't want to be stuck in a war with Mr. Guerrero that we didn't start. Athletics in particular (for better or worse) provides the common cultural element that unites all students, alumni, and fans, and builds the goodwill that eventually matures into donorship like that of Mr. Wasserman and Mr. Ostin, and others that have made large gifts to other departments. The current course of the Athletics administration is destroying this culture, and making the donor experience miserable. We want to give more, not less. We don't want

to walk away from pledges, but Mr. Guerrero has left us no option.

I'll close with a few suggestions and observations that you may not have considered. It's not too late for Mr. Guerrero to avoid the perception that he will be the Athletic Director that killed Ucla Men's Basketball, the crown jewel of the entire department. Fire the already-failed Mr. Alford. Don't further alienate your closest supporters by giving up on Men's Basketball.

Please consider:

(1) The situation is only going to get worse. The "Fire Alford" movement, in all likelihood,

is just getting started. The entirety of next basketball season, and all the time in between, will be even uglier if Mr. Alford is retained.

(2) In time, the focus for the failed Hoops program will shift from Mr. Alford to Mr. Guerrero and Ucla. Right now, Mr. Alford's failures are in the spotlight. It will be bad for all of us when this shifts to Mr. Guerrero and Ucla, and the question and perception among the Ucla community and the national media becomes "why have THEY failed?"

(3) Mr. Guerrero has two choices: hero or goat. Unfortunately, his service and legacy as athletic director will, unfairly or not, be cast solely by his response to this crisis. I hope for his sake he chooses "hero". We want peace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, and only Mr. Guerrero can provide them.

As I said before, we want to give more, not less. Please give us a reason to consider Ucla worthy of support, because on the current course there won't be any Wassermans or Ostins to support the next Athletic Director.

Best Regards,



Michael Zank

PS - If you perceive that this crisis to be too problematic for the current athletics organization to successfully resolve, I promise there are many capable, professional people who are happy to volunteer to help out. Please call me if there is anything I can do with my time or expertise to help fix Ucla Basketball, or assist the Athletics organization in general.



Bryce's defense is atrocious and Hefland gets it.

An important second point is Hefland does not tow the party line talking about Bryce's great assist

to turnover ratio, why? Hefland knows that next year UCLA has a real and elite point guard

option. As the diplomatic intern says:

Lonzo Ball; G; 6-5; Fr.; Might be Alford's most decorated recruit ever. Was the

Naismith high school player of the year.

Ball has to have the ball in his hands. Ball is not good but amazing. Ball is one of those guys the

question is not if he is going to be good but how good is he going to be. There is a reason why

Hefland talks about Bryce's clutchness and lack of defense, not his point guard skills.

The final two players I will highlight:

I s a a c Ham i l t o n ; G; 6-5; Sr.; Arguably UCLA's most improved player. He was third

in the Pac-12 Conference in scoring and is a capable defender.

Aa r o n H o l i d a y ; PG; 6-1; So.; The team's steals and three-point percentage leader,

Holiday contributed in all facets as a freshman.

Notice that Hefland praised Hamilton's defense and all facets of the game for Holiday. In other

words, if Steve Alford believes the problem is defense then Bryce Alford must be benched.

UCLA should look like this next year:

PG: Offense: Ball Defense; Holiday

SG: Offense Holiday Defense Hamilton

SF: Offense Hamilton Defense: Ball

Quick comments on this fantasy. Holiday is a good defender who could be great. Holiday was the

team's leading three shooter as well. Most importantly Holiday is the only guy who can cover a

quick point guard on the opposing team.

Hamilton is a very good shooter but limited as a ball handler (me being diplomatic.) He actually

makes sense as a small forward on offense. Steve Alford felt Hamilton struggled against stronger

threes on defense. That makes Ball the obvious choice to guard the three.

Of course this is a fantasy because Steve Alford won't cut Bryce's minutes let alone bench him. As

the Diplomat says in another article entitled "UCLA's lack of defense, effort and leadership

led to a lost season" with a picture of a sitting Bryce :

However, next season will be a critical one. Reaching the status UCLA craves â€”

contending for Final Fours and national championships â€” requires addressing this

season's shortcomings: defense, effort and leadership.

Most likely, Ball will play point guard, with Bryce Alford shifting to shooting guard

and Isaac Hamilton, the team's leading scorer, staying at small forward.

That would leave Aaron Holiday, who showed talent and toughness as a freshman,

coming off the bench.

Again let's read between the lines on what the Dipolmat says on the problems:

"defense" No other player besides Bryce is criticized by Hefland for his defense.

"effort" Okay Hefland does not say this but part of Bryce's problem is he makes little effort on

defense. He does pick a siting Bryce for the picture to accompany the article.

"leadership" Bryce along with Tony Parker is identified as the leader. Hefland praises Norman

Powell leadership the year before and is strongly implying that Bryce failed as a leader.

So basically Hefland is diplomatically saying Bryce needs to play less, not be a point guard and gasp

maybe be benched in favor of the good in all facets Holiday.

We all know that Bryce is a lock next year to lead UCLA in minutes and play a lot of point, which is

why we very undiplomatically say "Fire Steve Alford now!"

Go Bruins!



From: Trevor Fuller

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Please Dismiss Steve Alford


Dear Mr Guerrero,

Asking Coach Alford to change his staff is a vote of no confidence and will not improve the situation at hand, which is one of gross nepotism and professional negligence. Rearranging the bystanders (i.e. the coaching staff) to this mess will solve nothing. Steve will still be the coach and will still be favoring his son over far superior players like Prince Ali, whom I'm sure you're aware by now is transferring due to mistreatment at the hands of the person who should have been guiding and teaching him (Steve Alford). If you want to know what I'm referring to, go here: http://www.scout.com/college/ucla/forums/1735-bro-premium-hoops/14636328-the-truth-behind-this-transfer . Please, if you are considering asking Steve to make changes to his staff, stop. It will satisfy no one and will solve nothing, because it does not address the true core of the problem.

Asking Steve for a reduction to the buyout you gave him will also solve nothing, at least from the point-of-view of all of us dissatisfied with the program. The buyout was an extraordinary mistake, and extending it after Steve's disappointing first year was an even greater blunder, but trying to retroactively erase those decisions will, again, not protect the program from further degradation: Steve will still be coaching; he will still be insisting Bryce play over thirty-five minutes a game, whether it's for the good of the team or not; he will still be demanding from other players superb effort while tolerating Bryce's on-court laziness and selfishness, if not passionately encouraging it; etc.

The only effective course of action available to you is to dismiss Steve Alford from his post.

Anything else is blatant pusillanimity.

To reiterate: please dismiss Steve Alford from his post as the head coach of UCLA men's basketball. No other action will correct the very steep decline in quality the program is on right now, and has been on since Steve's first year. No progress can be made if Steve Alford remains as head coach.




of fan anger at the coach. It’s truly unprecedented, and signals nothing good about the

current state of the UCLA basketball program.

This is the sad state of what should be one of the great exemplars of college athletics, the

pinnacle of being an NCAA student athlete. Instead it is a morass of indifference, nepotism,

and irrelevance.

The only means of fixing this is clear. Please dismiss Coach Alford from his position,

immediately. Nothing short of this -- not assistant coaching changes, not promises to "do

better," not meetings or conferences or discussions or memoranda -- will suffice.

Sincerely,

Matt Henderson



From: Abner Kwon

To: Block, Gene



Dr. Block:

The below is a must read piece from Bruin Report Online and one that is eerily eye-opening. Thank you for

your time. It has now been 21 seasons since UCLA won a national championship, and prior to that championship in 1995, it had been 20 seasons. In other words, in 41 seasons since John Wooden retired, UCLA has won a single national championship. In that same time frame, Kentucky has won four of its eight total titles, Duke has won all five of its titles, North Carolina has won four of its five, Indiana has won three of its five, Connecticut has won four, Louisville has won three, Kansas has won two, and the list goes on.Here's a better way to put it: of the 14 schools who have actually won NCAA basketball championships, UCLA is tied for 11th for the most since 1975, which puts the Bruins ahead of basketball powerhouses Cincinnati (last won in 1962), San Francisco (last won in 1956), and Oklahoma State (last won in 1946) and tied with North Carolina State (last won in 1983). So, when we're writing a piece about the state of the UCLA basketball program, it's important to understand what kind of basketball program UCLA actually has. This is not a program that is among the uber-elite in college basketball -- unfortunately, that categorization is reserved for schools like Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas these days. UCLA has simply not won enough to get lumped in with those schools at

the top of the mountain.Of course, UCLA fading from the category of the elite didn't just happen in a vacuum, and it hasn't been a straight-line fall. There was that brief, awesome up-tick for the first half of Ben Howland's tenure when he recruited, developed, and coached very well, and UCLA, as a matter of course, went to three straight Final Fours. If Howland could have sustained that style, and if he'd been wired a little differently, it's actually kind of easy to imagine that UCLA might have been able to ascend firmly back into that elite category, and pull in a 12th or 13th banner.But Howland wasn't able to sustain the success, and UCLA probably waited a year too long to fire him, and that has long been part of UCLA's problem -- waiting too long to fire a guy. Of course, the more significant issue has been hiring the wrong guy in the first place, as UCLA did with Steve Lavin after Jim Harrick was fired. By hiring Lavin, UCLA wasn't able to parlay the 1995 championship into any kind of meaningful, sustained winning, and Howland's own issues squandered the window that yawned open after the three-straight Final Fours.Now, as we talked about in the last piece, UCLA has had four losing seasons in the last 14, and has missed the NCAA Tournament altogether in five of the last 14 years. As far as college basketball goes, that's the

mark of an average-ish high-major program, and certainly not anything close to elite.The frustrating thing for UCLA fans, though, is that it's obvious UCLA still has the tools to be an elite program, with a great recruiting base, an unparalleled tradition, soon-to-be very good facilities, and a location that makes the school attractive to players country-wide. Think about this: it took Lavin, who isn't a real basketball coach, six whole years to crater the program -- UCLA had enough natural juice that he managed to go to an Elite Eight in his first season and Sweet 16s in his next five! Howland proved that UCLA is just a smart, sustained recruiting strategy and a good coach away from being right back in the mix for Final Fours and national championships.Now, UCLA has missed the NCAA Tournament again this year after a very bad season that saw the Bruins finish 15-17. Under Steve Alford, UCLA has become a progressively worse team on both offense and defense, and the shocking thing this year was the near total lack of effort at times, especially over the last three or four weeks of the season when UCLA needed to put together a win streak to get an NCAA Tournament bid. Instead, the team (both coaches and players) folded. It was an awful season to watch, and, as we wrote last week, it is certainly in the conversation for the worst season UCLA has had since 1948. Alford’s first three years, as we talked about last week, were the worst first three years for a coach since Wilbur Johns, and are comparable to the LAST three years for Walt Hazzard and Ben Howland.

How’s this for a stat: UCLA has gone unranked in 46 of 57 weeks during Alford’s tenure. That’s just…irrelevance.But judging the record and rankings is only a surface-level way to evaluate a program. Below, we're going to take a look at the significant factors that have played into UCLA being in the state it's in: On-Court Issues, Favoritism, and Recruiting Problems. On-Court IssuesUCLA showed a stunning lack of effort on defense this year, and this was easily the worst year for UCLA under Alford in terms of defensive effort. But what's especially shocking is the sheer lack of defensive fundamentals you see from the players on the court. After four years, Tony Parker still doesn't know how to position himself to avoid fouls, and after three years, Bryce Alford, and Isaac Hamilton to a lesser extent, still don't know to consistently get in a stance and keep their hands up on defense. These aren't even complex things -- keeping your hands up in a zone defense is something you can teach a group of third



the team wins a certain amount of games, our assessment is nowhere near as important as the assessment of the players on the team.UCLA could see at least one player, and possibly more players, leave the program this offseason, and, from what we’ve gathered, the obvious favoritism, along with the poor coaching and lack of development, could be a factor in those decisions. Recruiting ProblemsNo one is disputing that UCLA has a good group of players coming in with the 2016 class, and the 2017 class is certainly shaping up to be a pretty good one as well. But this year's team was built on the strength of the 2013, 2014, and 2015 classes, and it's hard to describe those classes as anything other than a significant failure.In the 2013 class, UCLA signed Isaac Hamilton (who had to sit out his first year), Wanaah Bail (who has transferred, and also who probably shouldn't have been playing at this level anyway), Bryce Alford (the head coach's son who plays too many minutes), Noah Allen (who probably shouldn't be playing at this level), and Zach LaVine (who played one year and left for the NBA). You can give them a general pass for this class, since they didn't have much time to do anything beyond bring in a warm body in Bail and eventually get Hamilton on the bounce-back from UTEP. Notably, though, they parted ways with Allerik Freeman, who's a key piece at shooting guard for a pretty good Baylor team this year.In the 2014 class, UCLA signed Jonah Bolden (who had to sit out his first year), Thomas Welsh, Kevon Looney (who played one year and left for the NBA), and Gyorgy Goloman (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team). No, your eyes don't deceive you -- there's not a single guard in that class.In the 2015 class, UCLA signed Ikenna Okwarabizie (who probably shouldn't be playing at this level), Alex Olesinski (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team), Prince Ali (who we've heard will likely transfer after this season), and Aaron Holiday.In other words, after three years of recruiting, of 13 players UCLA signed, four of those still on the roster are

probably not capable of playing for a very good UCLA team, one has already transferred, at least one of the remainders is likely to transfer before next season, and two have moved on for the NBA. The 2015 class is shaping up to be a significant failure, with what looks like two non-contributors and a transfer out of four players, and that's not even taking into account what Holiday may decide to do (we've heard he's still uncertain about whether he'll return to UCLA next season). UCLA did not sign a single guard in the 2014 class, which was a failure of pretty extreme magnitude given that UCLA had just three guards on the roster for 2014-15.Ultimately, just looking at that group of classes, this isn't the way UCLA recruits when the program is healthy. We've gone over Steve Alford's recruiting strategy from those couple of years more than enough, but, to hammer it home, pursuing the uber-elite national recruits all over the country like UCLA did for the first two summers under Alford was a very bad strategy and not the sort of thing UCLA has historically had a great deal of success doing. When UCLA has been very good, the Bruins have built their teams around the great amounts of talent you can find within a 200-mile radius around UCLA. As we wrote at the time, unless you have a firm connection to a kid across the country, it's usually a waste of time to spend a ton of recruiting capital recruiting nationally. It just doesn't pay off enough to justify the expense of time and resources. UCLA spent a ton of time going after guys like Myles Turner, Rashad Vaughn, Justise Winslow,

and more, especially in the 2014 class, and it really inhibited the Bruins' ability to sign local talent. Just look at USC's roster of athletic, talented shooters and keep in mind that four of those guys from the 2014 and 2015 classes (Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah Stewart, Chimezie Metu, and Bennie Boatwright) wanted to be Bruins at one time or another. UCLA showed a tremendous amount of hubris in recruiting through the first two cycles, with Alford thinking that his name coupled with UCLA was enough to recruit with the Dukes and Kentuckys of the world.UCLA is leveraging its connections to the Compton Magic, a local AAU program, significantly more over the next two cycles, which has helped UCLA earn commitments from very talented pieces in Ike Anigbogu, Jalen Hill, and Jaylen Hands, and landing players like those guys is exactly what UCLA should be doing going forward, and what UCLA should have done for the last three cycles. This isn't revisionist history -- everyone who really knew the landscape of UCLA recruiting was telling the staff that they needed to prioritize local recruiting at the time when UCLA was flying all over the country following the elites. We wrote it several times here. Landing a Kevon Looney here or there doesn't justify missing out on the McLaughlins and Metus of the world.It's also worth noting that, as good as the next two classes are shaping up to be, they're really built on two things: the coaching staff's relationship with the Compton Magic and the coaching staff's relationship with Lavar Ball. Every player committed or signed with UCLA in 2016 and beyond is either named "Ball" or a member of the Compton Magic. Having a partnership with just one AAU program and just one family of basketball players is probably not a path to sustained long-term success. And it’s worth noting as well that one of the few major successes Alford’s staff had recruiting nationally in its first two cycles (landing Kevon Looney) came about largely through the school’s relationship with Adidas.————-The foundation of the program has rarely been on as shaky ground as this. From a historical perspective, the last eight years have been pretty close to the nadir for the UCLA program in the modern, post-Wooden era, and over the last three years, Alford has done little to slow the slide into mediocrity. Player development has been poor, recruiting has taken an unnecessary amount of time to get going, and the obvious favoritism shown to his son has alienated certain players and could help to lead to mass departures this offseason.The fanbase has also been marginalized and alienated, and it has led to an enormous groundswell of fan anger over the last several weeks, with a petition to fire Steve Alford gaining over 1500 signatures and an



actual banner flown over the UCLA campus this week calling for his ouster. Even in the waning days of Lavin and Howland, there wasn’t this level of fan anger at the coach. It’s truly unprecedented, and signals nothing good about the current state of the UCLA basketball program.UCLA is a storied program, with the kind of tradition, recruiting base, and name brand to be a very good to elite college basketball program. As Howland showed just a decade ago, turning the program around and getting back to elite status at UCLA really only requires a pretty good coach who’s dedicated to his craft and a smart, sustained recruiting approach.And that’s the hope for fans, I suppose: perhaps UCLA will one day have both of those things again. Respectfully,

Abner Kwon

ARES MANAGEMENT LLC

2000 Avenue of the Stars | 12th Floor | Los Angeles | California | 90067 |US310.201.4172 voice | 310.432.8736 fax | [email protected]

This message, including any attachments, may include privileged, confidential and/or inside information. Any distribution or use of this communication by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited unless authorized by the sender and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by replying to this message and then

delete it from your system.



From: Carrie White-Parrish

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Re: the state of the program


As fans and alumni, we thought you guys would be keen to hear these stories coming out

of the basketball program.

"During the team film session immediately after the Cal game late in the season, CSAbegan ripping on Ali both offensively and defensively for bad shots, lack of effort, and lack of help D possession after possession. My source said it was bad. This lead to aemotional confrontation between CSA and Ali later in the film session during an all-to-often defensive series for Bryce where CSA did not say a word.

Prince Ali flat out called Bryce and CSA out in front of the entire team for what is goingon and had to be removed from the film session by an assistant coach. At the next practice a supposed shoving match between Ali and Bryce occurred where Ali was then removed

from practice (these details were a bit gray so I do not know exactly what happened).Bryce was allowed to stay. From that point on Ali was benched and was actuallyencouraged by CSA sometime after the Oregon game to start looking elsewhere.

Source also told me Bryce is so rarely criticized in film study vs. everyone else it makesnumerous players angry."

"And from what we understand, the players recognize this issue as well. From what we’veheard, the players don’t have any specific dislike for Bryce — far from it, actually, as mostof what we heard indicates he’s a pretty likable guy — but there’s a real pronounced

resentment of the obvious favoritism shown to him by the coaching staff. There will befilm sessions where the defensive issues of certain players will be dissected ad nauseum,but rarely is there any mention of Bryce’s defensive issues. There have been a couple ofinstances over the last couple of years where we’ve heard, after one player or another stepsup offensively in a particular game, that the coaching staff’s message is that it was a resultof the opposing team being so focused on taking away Bryce.

There’s been enough obvious favoritism in the program that it has contributed to asignificant amount of resentment from the players on the team (and not just this season),so it’s something that needs to be mentioned. Whatever we might feel about Bryce playing so many minutes and how it might affect whether the team wins a certain amount ofgames, our assessment is nowhere near as important as the assessment of the players onthe team.

UCLA could see at least one player, and possibly more players, leave the program thisoffseason, and, from what we’ve gathered, the obvious favoritism, along with the poorcoaching and lack of development, could be a factor in those decisions."



basketball ran through my blood like oxygen.

I got there a year after the national championship and was there during the fall into the Lavinyears. I graduated in 2000 and suffered through those embarrassing years of no basketballidentity. I was ecstatic when Howland came on board, and I supported him — and his hard-nosed style — up until the end. I met him several times, and really liked him personally, aswell as his style and passion for UCLA. When Steve Alford arrived, I was disappointed, butwanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the AD had seen something no one elseknew. Maybe he really was the one to bring the program back up. We have all, however, seenthat this is not the case. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, and I don’t knowwhat the motivations or political agendas are. I don’t know how we got to this point.

What I do know is that I’ve never been so embarrassed to be a UCLA basketball fan. I’venever intentionally ignored my TV when there’s a game on. I’ve NEVER been able to say Idon’t care about any of the players on the team. Not even during the Lavin years was I sodisillusioned with our team and what it was doing to our lofty history. I can say without adoubt that I’ll be withholding any and all support — financial and otherwise — until this problem within the program is fixed. I absolutely cannot condone contributing to the downfall

of our program, or the man — men — who are allowing our tradition to be flushed away likethis. Please, for the love of all that is UCLA, fix the problem. Fire Steve Alford and find us acoach worthy of those four letters.

Carrie White-ParrishClass of 2000

______________________________________________



____________________________________________

Doc doesn't believe that Dresden survived his escape. He thinks we're safe, now that Dresdenhas disappeared.

But I know differently. I know what I saw when he escaped, and the stone made sure Iunderstood what it meant. Now I have to find him. No matter how much Doc tries to convinceme otherwise, the stones don't lie. Dresden is still out there, somewhere. And I have to stop

him, before he does anything else to damage history.





From: Jake Bryan

To: Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Rebholz, Joshua; Guerrero, Dan; [email protected]

Subject: Re: Fire Alford leave Adidas


Perhaps you guys should go see why Prince Ali is going to transfer out... #nepotism #FireAlford

If you guys think that Bruins Nation, BRO members, etc. are going to stop flying banners and getting mobile ads going... You're mistaken.

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 11, 2016, at 4:54 PM, Jake Bryan < jakebryan02@ > wrote:

You guys are worthless... Bringing Alford back? I'll stop at nothing now to talk about what a joke Ucla athletics has become. You are the definition of spineless. It's the blind leading the blind with your group. Pauley will be empty next year again, players will declare and transfer and we will still be led by our nepotistic joke of a coach.

Oh and we all can't wait until you screw up the apparel deal. You'll do the simple thing and re up with adidas because you guys don't work and lack vision. Adidas is shit, we look like shit and recruits laugh at adidas.

Keep it up AD brain trust, your legacy has already been sealed. Spineless losers.

Sent from my iPhone


Out of curiosity... Are you guys aware of what Ucla fans think of adidas? Are you checking Bruin Report Online, Bruins Nation, Twitter and Facebook UCLA athletic pages?

If you are in touch with those pages and outlets I'm sure you know how much the fan base hates adidas. Everyone would rather see is with Nike, Jordan brand or Under Armour. Everyone is scared to death because they think you won't negotiate and will just take

adidas' desperate money heave at you guys.

I'm begging you, please get something done with Nike, Jordan brand or Under Armour. Sales will increase, it will be great publicity to reinvigorate the fan base and recruits will love it.

I'm sending this now because all bruin fans know that you guys just stopped by adidas hq. A big Ucla kiss up banner can't right the wrongs that adidas has done. Terrible uniforms and no feeling at all of being a flagship school. Adidas is and has been a joke. Please



make the right move. Get the fans and recruits pumped. This is your chance to shine!

Sent from my iPhone


To you guys as well...

From: Jake Bryan < jakebryan02@ >Date: March 3, 2016 at 11:10:15 AM PSTTo: [email protected]: Fire Alford leave Adidas

Long time supporter of Ucla athletics, I can't do it anymore for hoops if Alford is retained. Done watching, attending, everything.I'm also done buying Ucla gear if we can't figure out a way to go Nike, Jordan Brand or Under Armour. Adidas is trash, they've ruined our football uniform and it isn't popular with high school recruits.Done...- Jake

Sent from my iPhone



From: John Galloway



Subject: More evidence of a mismanaged Athletic Department



Today, it is reported that the UCLA Athletic Department is asking basketball coach Steve

Alford change his coaching staff members, or accept a lesser buyout from his contract and

keep his staff. You must understand this is not a sufficient solution to this embarrassing

episode. This tactic offered by Dan Guerrero is – at a minimum – an admission of his own

mismanagement of Alford’s unwarranted contract and buyout clause. It’s a de-facto mea

culpa. Your problems regarding UCLA athletics have gone far beyond Steve Alford’s poor

work performance – it now points directly to mismanagement at the Director level.

Please remove Dan Guerrero immediately and begin a talent search for a new Athletic

Director.

My wife (UCLA class of 89) and myself are WAF donors and have held season seats at

UCLA football games since 1992.

Regards,

John G. Galloway




Los Angeles, CA

(323) 564-6651 ext. 6800

www.verbumdei.us



From: John Lam

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: RE: Suspension of UCLA Basketball Support


Dear Mr. Guererro:

I previously wrote to you regarding my concerns about the basketball program. Today, an account

of an incident that occurred behind closed doors has me even more troubled. It seems like the

basketball program under steve alford is on a path that will irreparably harm the basketball program

for years to come. Team morale looks to be at an all time low. I implore you to read the below

account and strongly reconsider your support of coach steve alford.

Sincerely,

John W. Lam

Class of 2001

DuringtheteamfilmsessionimmediatelyaftertheCalgamelateintheseason,CSAbeganrippingon

Alibothoffensivelyanddefensivelyforbadshots,lackofeffort,andlackofhelpDpossessionafter

possession.Mysourcesaiditwasbad.ThisleadtoaemotionalconfrontationbetweenCSAandAli

laterinthefilmsessionduringanall-to-oftendefensiveseriesforBrycewhereCSAdidnotsaya

word.

PrinceAliflatoutcalledBryceandCSAoutinfrontoftheentireteamforwhatisgoingonandhadto

beremovedfromthefilmsessionbyanassistantcoach.Atthenextpracticeasupposedshoving

matchbetweenAliandBryceoccurredwhereAliwasthenremovedfrompractice(thesedetailswere

abitgraysoIdonotknowexactlywhathappened).Brycewasallowedtostay.Fromthatpointon

AliwasbenchedandwasactuallyencouragedbyCSAsometimeaftertheOregongametostart

lookingelsewhere.

SourcealsotoldmeBryceissorarelycriticizedinfilmstudyvs.everyoneelseitmakesnumerous

playersangry.

TakeitFWIW...thissourceisextremelyclosetoaplayerontheteam...

From: John Lam

Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 10:44 AM

To: [email protected]

Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]

Subject: Suspension of UCLA Basketball Support

Dear Mr. Guerrero:

This email is to inform you that I will be suspending my support for UCLA Basketball until such time



that Coach Steve Alford is no longer the head basketball coach at UCLA. I have watched Coach

Alford manage the team in a manner that has undermined point guard recruiting over the past

three seasons as well as undermined team morale. I will no longer attend games or contribute to

the Wooden Athletic Fund.

Sincerely,

John W. Lam

Class of 2001

John W. Lam, Partner

[email protected]

Southern California Office:

Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin

13181 Crossroads Pkwy. North

Suite 400 - West Tower

City of Industry, CA 91746

tel 562.699.5500 | fax 562.692.2244

Northern California Office Mailing Address:


PO Box 4016

Yountville, CA 94599

tel 707.944.0540 | fax 707.944.0580

Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin represents Cities, Counties, Special Districts – Airport, College, School,

Transit, Water and other Public Agencies, Private Corporations and Business Entities

www.agclawfirm.com

Privileged And Confidential Communication.

This electronic transmission, and any documents attached hereto, (a) are protected by the Electronic

Communications Privacy Act (18 USC §§ 2510-2521), (b) may contain confidential and/or legally

privileged information, and (c) are for the sole use of the intended recipient named above. If you have

received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the electronic message. Any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of the information received in error is strictly

prohibited.



From: John Lam

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: RE: Suspension of UCLA Basketball Support


Dear Mr. Guererro:

I previously wrote to you regarding my concerns about the basketball program. Today, an account

of an incident that occurred behind closed doors has me even more troubled. It seems like the

basketball program under steve alford is on a path that will irreparably harm the basketball program

for years to come. Team morale looks to be at an all time low. I implore you to read the below

account and strongly reconsider your support of coach steve alford.

Sincerely,

John W. Lam

Class of 2001

DuringtheteamfilmsessionimmediatelyaftertheCalgamelateintheseason,CSAbeganrippingon

Alibothoffensivelyanddefensivelyforbadshots,lackofeffort,andlackofhelpDpossessionafter

possession.Mysourcesaiditwasbad.ThisleadtoaemotionalconfrontationbetweenCSAandAli

laterinthefilmsessionduringanall-to-oftendefensiveseriesforBrycewhereCSAdidnotsaya

word.

PrinceAliflatoutcalledBryceandCSAoutinfrontoftheentireteamforwhatisgoingonandhadto

beremovedfromthefilmsessionbyanassistantcoach.Atthenextpracticeasupposedshoving

matchbetweenAliandBryceoccurredwhereAliwasthenremovedfrompractice(thesedetailswere

abitgraysoIdonotknowexactlywhathappened).Brycewasallowedtostay.Fromthatpointon

AliwasbenchedandwasactuallyencouragedbyCSAsometimeaftertheOregongametostart

lookingelsewhere.

SourcealsotoldmeBryceissorarelycriticizedinfilmstudyvs.everyoneelseitmakesnumerous

playersangry.

TakeitFWIW...thissourceisextremelyclosetoaplayerontheteam...

From: John Lam


To: [email protected]

Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]

Subject: Suspension of UCLA Basketball Support

Dear Mr. Guerrero:

This email is to inform you that I will be suspending my support for UCLA Basketball until such time



that Coach Steve Alford is no longer the head basketball coach at UCLA. I have watched Coach

Alford manage the team in a manner that has undermined point guard recruiting over the past

three seasons as well as undermined team morale. I will no longer attend games or contribute to

the Wooden Athletic Fund.

Sincerely,

John W. Lam

Class of 2001

John W. Lam, Partner

[email protected]

Southern California Office:


13181 Crossroads Pkwy. North

Suite 400 - West Tower

City of Industry, CA 91746

tel 562.699.5500 | fax 562.692.2244

Northern California Office Mailing Address:


PO Box 4016

Yountville, CA 94599

tel 707.944.0540 | fax 707.944.0580

Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin represents Cities, Counties, Special Districts – Airport, College, School,

Transit, Water and other Public Agencies, Private Corporations and Business Entities

www.agclawfirm.com

Privileged And Confidential Communication.

This electronic transmission, and any documents attached hereto, (a) are protected by the Electronic

Communications Privacy Act (18 USC §§ 2510-2521), (b) may contain confidential and/or legally

privileged information, and (c) are for the sole use of the intended recipient named above. If you have

received this electronic message in error, please notify the sender and delete the electronic message. Any disclosure, copying, distribution, or use of the contents of the information received in error is strictly

prohibited.



From: Jaime Goldfarb

To: Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua

Cc: Block, Gene

Subject: Reports on Status of our Basketball Program


Although not privy to insider information on the inner dealings of our basketball program, unflattering rumors are

emerging regarding the handling of our players by the coaching staff. Are you investigating the allegations as part

of your due diligence in consideration of whether we retain or dismiss Coach Alford?

Jaime Goldfarb

Jaime Goldfarb, Ph.D.

CEO

Goldfarb Educational Consulting



From: Alice Tsuyuki

To: Guerrero, Dan




Dear Mr. Guerrero,

It is my understanding that Steve Alford has been told to replace his staff with people who are

approved by the Athletic Department. If that is true, it won't be enough to prevent the

further sinking of the once proud basketball program into irrelevance. Steve Alford must be

removed as head coach. With next year being Bryce's senior campaign, his dad will be

guaranteed to feature him even more than he has the last three years. Bryce plays no

defense, and certainly should not be playing the most minutes on the team. This blatant

nepotism will continue to affect team morale and cause players to transfer out (as I have

heard Prince Ali has already filed transfer papers).

Please do the right thing and fire Steve Alford. If you do that, I will renew my WAF

membership and buy season tickets again.

Thank you,

Alice Tsuyuki



From: Michael Macdonald

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Stanford vs UCLA Basketball Program


Mr. Guerrero,

It was reported on Monday that Johnny Dawkins was relieved of his duties as

the head coach of the Stanford Basketball program. Although he had some

success earlier in his tenure, his recent performance had taking a decidedly

downward trajectory and the fan base and administration both recognized that

he was not the coach to bring their program sustained success. Although he

coached there for a longer period than Steve Alford at UCLA, Dawkins final

three years and Alford's last three years share an eerie similarity:

Stanford

23-13 overall 10-8 conf sweet 16

24-13 overall 9-9 conf NIT champions

15-15 overall 8-10 conf No postseason

Johnny Dawkins, fired

UCLA



15-17 overall 6-12 conf no postseason

Both programs enjoyed a run to the sweet 16 two years ago, however, it is

apparent in looking at the records that both programs were sinking further

into mediocrity as time went by. While Stanford is not recognized

historically as an elite basketball program, the athletic department made a

decisive move to reverse what was seen as a downward trend. Our program is

in a similar if not more precarious position. Decisive action needs to be

taken to repair our crumbling program. Follow the lead of Stanford and make

the change that is needed to the UCLA basketball program.

Respectfully,

Michael Macdonald

UCLA, class of 2003



From: DM


Subject: New assistants are not enough


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

A recent report states that UCLA is requiring Coach Alford to replace his assistants. This will not do. The problem is Coach Alford, and no amount of shuffling the staff will suffice.Please remove Alford as coach.

David MadeoClass of 1992Current WAF member Former season ticket holder




From: Greg Patterson

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Disappointed - Mens Basketball


Mr. Guerrero,

I am disappointed that my previous emails have not received a response, but I understand you must

be busy dealing with what has now become somewhat of a calamity in regards to the UCLA men’s

basketball program. With long-time fans such as myself in an uproar, coupled with (at least one –

possibly more as rumored) transfers out of the program and away from Coach Alford, I’m sure you

must be quite busy.

I just wanted to reiterate my displeasure at the thought of retaining Mr. Alford for another season. I

know that there is a lot that would go into a decision such as that, but I feel strongly enough about a

replacement being needed to write to you at this time.

I am what would be considered a very small donor to the WAF ($300/YR) and between Josh’s tireless

efforts for our athletic department, and Coach Mora’s positive trajectory of our football

culture/program, I have felt very good about my contribution to this point. However, I do have a

hard time believing that I would renew my donation for next year absent a head coaching change of

our basketball program (no – Coach Alford changing as assistant or two doesn’t really do much for

my thoughts on him as a man, and as a coach).

Greg Patterson

Trace3

Business Operations Manager

[email protected]



From: Brett Threlkeld


Subject: New Head Basketball Coach is the Answer, Not New Assistants




From: Steve Otera


Subject: The State of the UCLA Basketball Program


Gentlemen,

You should read the article linked and cut and pasted below.

Thank you for all you do for UCLA.

Steve Otera

http://www.scout.com/college/ucla/story/1652435-state-ucla-basketball-program



Bruin Report Online Friday at 4:18 PM by

enough to get lumped in with those schools at the top of the mountain.

Of course, UCLA fading from the category of the elite didn't just happen in a vacuum, and it

hasn't been a straight-line fall. There was that brief, awesome up-tick for the first half of Ben

Howland's tenure when he recruited, developed, and coached very well, and UCLA, as a matter

of course, went to three straight Final Fours. If Howland could have sustained that style, and if

he'd been wired a little differently, it's actually kind of easy to imagine that UCLA might have

been able to ascend firmly back into that elite category, and pull in a 12th or 13th banner.

But Howland wasn't able to sustain the success, and UCLA probably waited a year too long to fire

him, and that has long been part of UCLA's problem -- waiting too long to fire a guy. Of course,

the more significant issue has been hiring the wrong guy in the first place, as UCLA did with

Steve Lavin after Jim Harrick was fired. By hiring Lavin, UCLA wasn't able to parlay the 1995

championship into any kind of meaningful, sustained winning, and Howland's own issues

squandered the window that yawned open after the three-straight Final Fours.

Now, as we talked about in the last piece, UCLA has had four losing seasons in the last 14, and

has missed the NCAA Tournament altogether in five of the last 14 years. As far as college

basketball goes, that's the mark of an average-ish high-major program, and certainly not anything

close to elite.

The frustrating thing for UCLA fans, though, is that it's obvious UCLA still has the tools to be an

elite program, with a great recruiting base, an unparalleled tradition, soon-to-be very good

facilities, and a location that makes the school attractive to players country-wide. Think about

this: it took Lavin, who isn't a real basketball coach, six whole years to crater the program -- UCLA had enough natural juice that he managed to go to an Elite Eight in his first season and

Sweet 16s in his next five! Howland proved that UCLA is just a smart, sustained recruiting

strategy and a good coach away from being right back in the mix for Final Fours and national

championships.

Now, UCLA has missed the NCAA Tournament again this year after a very bad season that

saw the Bruins finish 15-17. Under Steve Alford, UCLA has become a progressively worse team

on both offense and defense, and the shocking thing this year was the near total lack of effort at

times, especially over the last three or four weeks of the season when UCLA needed to put together a win streak to get an NCAA Tournament bid. Instead, the team (both coaches and

players) folded. It was an awful season to watch, and, as we wrote last week, it is certainly in the

conversation for the worst season UCLA has had since 1948. Alford’s first three years, as we

talked about last week, were the worst first three years for a coach since Wilbur Johns, and are

comparable to the LAST three years for Walt Hazzard and Ben Howland.

How’s this for a stat: UCLA has gone unranked in 46 of 57 weeks during Alford’s tenure. That’s



of defensive fundamentals you see from the players on the court. After four years, Tony

Parker still doesn't know how to position himself to avoid fouls, and after three years, Bryce

Alford, and Isaac Hamilton to a lesser extent, still don't know to consistently get in a stance and

keep their hands up on defense. These aren't even complex things -- keeping your hands up in a

zone defense is something you can teach a group of third graders.

The lack of fundamentals in the program is obvious from watching any of the games, and from

what we've seen and heard, it stems from a practice culture that is anything but stringent.

Howland's practices during his time in Westwood were the stuff of legend, with players having to

spend long hours off-court preparing for what they'd have to do on the court. They were

extremely tough practices with a ton of time spent on minute attention to detail -- how to

space your feet, how to position your hands, the proper angle to bend your knee in a defensive

stance.

Alford's practices are lackadaisical affairs from what we've heard, and from what we've seen.

There's little attention to detail and little time spent on specific tactics for a given

opponent. They're also not close to as rigorous as Howland's practices, which often left players

physically exhausted (which was, of course, sometimes detrimental). When it comes to film work

and developing game plans, what we've heard is that this staff really has a hard time developing

effective game plans, and, what's more, has a pronounced inability to adjust game plans mid-

game.

Universally, even if players didn't like him at times, they had a profound respect for Howland's

hoops acumen, and what we've heard over the last three years is that it's pretty much the opposite

for the overall assessment of Alford. The feeling is that there isn't an emphasis on player

development, at least not to the extent there was under Howland, and that's another thing that's

pretty obvious watching the team, especially from a physical perspective, where all of these guys

look the same as they did last year.

From a game preparation and motivation standpoint, this year specifically, the players and the

coaches pretty much gave up on the season down the stretch. Again, not to keep comparing things

to Howland's years in Westwood, but when the team would have a losing streak or just not play

well for a while, Howland, who was already a tireless, 16-hour-day type worker, would ratchet up

the intensity to an altogether new level. Practices would be tougher, there would be even more

film work, and more often than not, play would improve.

None of that happened this year. If anything, from what we've gathered, there was actually more

of a sense of the coaches and players going through the motions over the last three weeks in

practice and film study. If giving effort is the basic thing to expect from players, then giving

motivation is the basic thing to expect from coaches, and from what we've heard, both parties

failed in those basic jobs.



it’s an uncomfortable subject and it’s not Bryce Alford’s fault that his dad plays him so many

minutes. That's probably been an error on my part, because it's obvious now how much of an

issue it is and has been for the team. When Steve Alford was hired, he brought his son Bryce with

him to Westwood, and since then, he has played Bryce too many minutes and given him too

many shots every single year that he's been here.

It's not really even up for debate. In 2014, Bryce played 23 minutes per game, almost all of them

at point guard, and that was a misallocation of the ball responsibilities, for one, since Kyle

Anderson was a far better option initiating the offense (Anderson's assist rate that year was a

ridiculous 34.1 while Bryce's was a fine, unspectacular 19.1). Alford played just three fewer

minutes per game than Norman Powell, who was a significantly better offensive and defensive

option and should have played more than 25 minutes per game. Heck, Anderson only played 33

minutes per game, and given that we've seen Alford is more than willing to play Bryce 36+

minutes per game, Anderson probably should have played a few more as well.

Last year, with only three guards on the roster, Alford was forced to play all three of Bryce,

Powell, and Isaac Hamilton major minutes, but it’s worth noting that Bryce played the most

minutes on the team at 36.3 per game, with Powell notching 34 and Hamilton playing 33. This

year, with one more guard in the rotation, Bryce again played 36.3 minutes per game, followed

by Hamilton at 35 and Aaron Holiday at 31.

To give that some context, this year he played a greater percentage of minutes for UCLA than any

Pac-12 player is playing for any Pac-12 team. He played a greater percentage of minutes for

UCLA than Tyler Ulis is playing for Kentucky. He played a greater percentage of minutes for

UCLA than Buddy Hield is playing for Oklahoma, and Hield might be the best player in college

basketball this year. He played more than Hamilton, Welsh, and Parker, who all shot the ball

better this year and played more defense, and he played more than Holiday, who was a

significantly better defender and only a slightly worse shooter. Bryce has some obvious assets as

a player — he doesn’t turn the ball over much at all and he shoots threes pretty well — but those

two things really do not justify the amount of minutes he gets. This year, he was the fourth-best

shooter among starters but took the second-most shots.

And from what we understand, the players recognize this issue as well. From what we’ve heard,

the players don’t have any specific dislike for Bryce — far from it, actually, as most of what we

heard indicates he’s a pretty likable guy — but there’s a real pronounced resentment of the

obvious favoritism shown to him by the coaching staff. There will be film sessions where the

defensive issues of certain players will be dissected ad nauseum, but rarely is there any mention

of Bryce’s defensive issues. There have been a couple of instances over the last couple of years

where we’ve heard, after one player or another steps up offensively in a particular game, that the

coaching staff’s message is that it was a result of the opposing team being so focused on taking



Recruiting Problems

No one is disputing that UCLA has a good group of players coming in with the 2016 class, and

the 2017 class is certainly shaping up to be a pretty good one as well. But this year's team was

built on the strength of the 2013, 2014, and 2015 classes, and it's hard to describe those classes as

anything other than a significant failure.

In the 2013 class, UCLA signed Isaac Hamilton (who had to sit out his first year), Wanaah

Bail (who has transferred, and also who probably shouldn't have been playing at this level

anyway), Bryce Alford (the head coach's son who plays too many minutes), Noah Allen (who

probably shouldn't be playing at this level), and Zach LaVine (who played one year and left for

the NBA). You can give them a general pass for this class, since they didn't have much time to do

anything beyond bring in a warm body in Bail and eventually get Hamilton on the bounce-back

from UTEP. Notably, though, they parted ways with Allerik Freeman, who's a key piece at

shooting guard for a pretty good Baylor team this year.

In the 2014 class, UCLA signed Jonah Bolden (who had to sit out his first year), Thomas

Welsh, Kevon Looney (who played one year and left for the NBA), and Gyorgy

Goloman (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team). No, your eyes don't deceive you --

there's not a single guard in that class.

In the 2015 class, UCLA signed Ikenna Okwarabizie (who probably shouldn't be playing at this

level), Alex Olesinski (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team), Prince Ali (who we've

heard will likely transfer after this season), and Aaron Holiday.

In other words, after three years of recruiting, of 13 players UCLA signed, four of those still on

the roster are probably not capable of playing for a very good UCLA team, one has already

transferred, at least one of the remainders is likely to transfer before next season, and two have

moved on for the NBA. The 2015 class is shaping up to be a significant failure, with what looks

like two non-contributors and a transfer out of four players, and that's not even taking into

account what Holiday may decide to do (we've heard he's still uncertain about whether he'll

return to UCLA next season). UCLA did not sign a single guard in the 2014 class, which was a

failure of pretty extreme magnitude given that UCLA had just three guards on the roster for 2014-

15.

Ultimately, just looking at that group of classes, this isn't the way UCLA recruits when the

program is healthy. We've gone over Steve Alford's recruiting strategy from those couple of

years more than enough, but, to hammer it home, pursuing the uber-elite national recruits all over

the country like UCLA did for the first two summers under Alford was a very bad strategy and



not the sort of thing UCLA has historically had a great deal of success doing. When UCLA has

been very good, the Bruins have built their teams around the great amounts of talent you can find

within a 200-mile radius around UCLA. As we wrote at the time, unless you have a firm

connection to a kid across the country, it's usually a waste of time to spend a ton of recruiting

capital recruiting nationally. It just doesn't pay off enough to justify the expense of time and

resources. UCLA spent a ton of time going after guys like Myles Turner, Rashad Vaughn, Justise Winslow, and more, especially in the 2014 class, and it really inhibited the

Bruins' ability to sign local talent. Just look at USC's roster of athletic, talented shooters and keep

in mind that four of those guys from the 2014 and 2015 classes (Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah

Stewart, Chimezie Metu, and Bennie Boatwright) wanted to be Bruins at one time or another.

UCLA showed a tremendous amount of hubris in recruiting through the first two cycles, with

Alford thinking that his name coupled with UCLA was enough to recruit with the Dukes and

Kentuckys of the world.

UCLA is leveraging its connections to the Compton Magic, a local AAU program, significantly more over the next two cycles, which has helped UCLA earn commitments from very talented

pieces in Ike Anigbogu, Jalen Hill, and Jaylen Hands, and landing players like those guys is

exactly what UCLA should be doing going forward, and what UCLA should have done for the

last three cycles. This isn't revisionist history -- everyone who really knew the landscape of

UCLA recruiting was telling the staff that they needed to prioritize local recruiting at the time

when UCLA was flying all over the country following the elites. We wrote it several times here.

Landing a Kevon Looney here or there doesn't justify missing out on the McLaughlins and

Metus of the world.

It's also worth noting that, as good as the next two classes are shaping up to be, they're really built

on two things: the coaching staff's relationship with the Compton Magic and the coaching staff's

relationship with Lavar Ball. Every player committed or signed with UCLA in 2016 and beyond

is either named "Ball" or a member of the Compton Magic. Having a partnership with just one

AAU program and just one family of basketball players is probably not a path to sustained long-

term success. And it’s worth noting as well that one of the few major successes Alford’s staff had

recruiting nationally in its first two cycles (landing Kevon Looney) came about largely through

the school’s relationship with Adidas.

————-

The foundation of the program has rarely been on as shaky ground as this. From a historical

perspective, the last eight years have been pretty close to the nadir for the UCLA program in the

modern, post-Wooden era, and over the last three years, Alford has done little to slow the slide

into mediocrity. Player development has been poor, recruiting has taken an unnecessary amount

of time to get going, and the obvious favoritism shown to his son has alienated certain players



and could help to lead to mass departures this offseason.

The fanbase has also been marginalized and alienated, and it has led to an enormous groundswell

of fan anger over the last several weeks, with a petition to fire Steve Alford gaining over 1500

signatures and an actual banner flown over the UCLA campus this week calling for his ouster.

Even in the waning days of Lavin and Howland, there wasn’t this level of fan anger at the coach.

It’s truly unprecedented, and signals nothing good about the current state of the UCLA basketball

program.

UCLA is a storied program, with the kind of tradition, recruiting base, and name brand to be a

very good to elite college basketball program. As Howland showed just a decade ago, turning the

program around and getting back to elite status at UCLA really only requires a pretty good coach

who’s dedicated to his craft and a smart, sustained recruiting approach.

And that’s the hope for fans, I suppose: perhaps UCLA will one day have both of those things

again.



From: ryan saiyasombat

To: Block, Gene; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: I can no longer support UCLA basketball


Dear Sir:

I have been a Bruin basketball fan since I can remember. My father personally knew Coach Wooden, and I was

raised with frequent reminders of his wisdom and integrity both on and off the basketball court.

As an adult, I graduated from UCLA (in no small part choosing UCLA due to my longtime love of Bruin athletics)

and became a season ticket holder. I have countless fond memories of exciting times at Pauley Pavillion.

In recent years, I have cancelled by season tickets and ceased to watch my beloved Bruins on television. I feel that

Coach Alford has done immeasurable damage to the UCLA brand with his losing style of basketball along with his

lack of integrity and teaching on and off the court.

I will no longer support UCLA basketball either financially or emotionally until a new head coach is hired. I know

many fans and life-long Bruins that feel the same as I do.

Ryan Saiyasombat

Psychology '98



From: Ross heman

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Men"s basketball


I will no longer be a donor or season ticket buyer.



From: Tony Mallord


Subject: Basketball


I have heard a rumor that UCLA AD wants to change some of the Basketball Assistant Coaches, While allowing the real problem

(Steve Alford) to be retained.

I pray there is no truth to this.

If this is true, please reconsider and realize that the Head Coach is ultimately responsible for what happens on a team, and Alford has already admitted he failed.

Is a Coach who knows he is a failure going to shown the door? I would hope so.

Sincerely,

Tony Mallord (WAF Donor)



From: spartanman21insj .

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: New Head Coach Is Answer, Not New Assistants


Dear Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Block, and Mr. Rebholz,

As a diehard fan and supporter of UCLA basketball for over 20 years (along with many UCLA alums in my family who feel the same), I am very concerned with what is going on with the program. A recruiting class and a couple new assistants are not the answer to fix UCLA basketball. All of the signs are there that Steve Alford does not have what it takes to lead UCLA basketball and help it reach it's potential. There are many candidates out there that can bring UCLA back. A solid coach who can focus on recruiting the west, teaching defense and fundamentals, and holding players accountable on and off the court is a recipe for success. It pains me deeply to see this program underachieve so badly since Alford has been here, and the display of nepotism with Steve and Bryce is unacceptable. Please make a change before the program is damaged even further. Now is not the time to wait and hope that all works out-- the signs are there that a change at the head coaching position is absolutely needed now.Like the very high percentage of UCLA supporters are agreeing, I cannot continue to support UCLA basketball with Steve Alford as head coach.

Regards,

Scott Lueke



MIKE PRESSER

PRINCIPAL<image001.jpg>

George Elkins Mortgage Banking [email protected]

949.752.1662 office

cell

949.752.1667 fax

26180 Enterprise Way, No. 300

Lake Forest, CA 92630

BRE #01391972

www gemb.com

From: [email protected]


Subject: New head coach is the Answer, NOT NEW ASSISTANTS!!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 15, 2016, at 11:51 AM, Michael Presser <[email protected]> wrote:

While the right decision is not always an easy one, I find it is usually better to deal with

it sooner rather than later. Better to move on from Steve Alford now rather than 12

months from now. The culture of the basketball program will not improve next year

and the infusion of talent will be wasted if UCLA retains Steve Alford. The culture can’t

be changed if the coach and his son both remain in their current positions. You saw

yesterday the result of that dynamic.

Please do what is in the best interest of UCLA and fire Steve Alford!



From: Andrew Marroquin

To: Guerrero, Dan

Cc: Rebholz, Joshua; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: FIRE ALF NOW!


Sent from Mail on Android



From: Namir Shaba

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: NEW COACH, NOT NEW ASSISTANTS!


Dear Sirs,

Forcing a head coach to change assistants is not going to solve anything. This is admitting failure but not having

the guts to make right decision. Steve Alford is not the man for the job. One or two assistants aren't going to

change the foundation Alford has set.... no defense, no effort, road losses, losing basketball nepotism .....

The amount of money in lost season ticket renewals and donations..... not to mention the continued degradation of

the UCLA brand.... is not worth keeping Alford as head coach.

If this continues, the rhetoric is slowly going to change from Fire Steve Alford to Fire Dan Guerrero.

Sincerely

Namir Shaba Class of 2000



From: Alan Cox


Subject: The State of the UCLA Basketball Program - Ucla - Scout


http://www.scout.com/college/ucla/story/1652435-the-state-of-the-ucla-basketball-program

Sent from my iPhone



From: Kim Luk


Subject: New Head Coach is the Answer, not New Assistants


Steve Alford is the cancer of our Basketball program. He must be got rid off now, not next year.

Go Bruins!Kim Luk

1976

Sent from my iPad




To: Block, Gene; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: New Head Coach Needed! Not assistant coaches!


Dear Sir,

I must emphatically say if you had a clue as to how to run an athletic program you would see that Dan Guerrero is a

horrible athletic director. And Steve Alford is a horrible basketball coach. Do what's right and force this change so

UCLA can get a deserving and better qualified head coach.

If UCLA administration fails to act promptly and shows no care for the athletic programs, especially the men's

basketball program that John Wooden built, you will never have fans, support, financial backing, and more in your

corner.

You should be embarrassed by this failure to act effectively.

UCLA Fan,

Jeffrey Hoover

Sent from my iPhone







Dear Sir,






corner.


UCLA Fan,

Jeffrey Hoover

Sent from my iPhone



From: Nat Plotts


Subject: New Head Coach is Answer, Not New Assistants.


I saw a report that you are telling Alford that he needs to change up his staff. Wow. This just shows how out of touch the Athletic Department really is. You think changing assistant

coaches will somehow magically get the team more prepared, make Bryce accountable, and solve the lockeroom problems (Which if some rumors are true, they make the Howland days look like an elementary school)? Horrible. There is one thing that can be done to fix this situation and save UCLA basketball, firing Steve Alford. You will not get us fans to stand down this time, this is truly unacceptable behavior/performance at a school that is considered to be an elite basketball school. A change must be made. If Alford stays, be prepared for more banners, more petitions, more emails, more tweets, but they won't only be calling for Alford's head...DO THE RIGHT THING.



From: Brad DeJean


Cc: Block, Gene

Subject: New Head Coach Is Answer, Not New Assistants!


Gentlemen,

Further to my email from last Friday (text copied below), I am dismayed by the rumor that you may be considering solving the Coach Alford problem by forcing him to replace some assistants. With due respect, it's too late to rearrange the deck chairs. Saving UCLA basketball demands that the captain of the sinking ship, Coach Alford, be relieved of his duties.

We're where we are as a program because Coach Alford has failed at too many critical aspects of his job. He has misevaluated talent--several players he recruited are not good enough to play significant minutes on a top-20 team. He has not been able to get the team to play with requisite effort more than sporadically. He has outwardly favored his son to the detriment of the team -- no player can respect a coach who sends him to the bench for a single mistake when another player is allowed to play no matter how many mistakes he makes. He has either not demanded that his team play defense or not taught them how to play defense. He has made strategic misevaluations, most notably in our three losses to USC this year, where he played a large but slow lineup that could not guard USC's quickness no matter how hard they tried (for two halves out of six where they did seem to try, anyway).

Please heed Coach Wooden's wisdom. Any of it will do: "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts." Now is the time for you to show courage by doing what needs to be done to put UCLA basketball back on the path of success.

Replacing assistants would be nothing more than scapegoating them for their boss's failures.

Please be a rightful steward of our beloved and tradition-rich program, and earn the respect of fans, students, donors and alums by replacing Coach Alford with someone who will teach and develop the players, and hold them accountable, and make them into a good team.

It doesn't have to be a big name. Just a high quality, kind person with coaching chops, and tireless work ethic.

Thank you for your consideration

Brad DeJeanClass of '93, Wooden Athletic Fund - Bruin Bench

***

Mr. Guerrero,

You've probably received hundreds of emails from other concerned alums and donors about the poor showing of our men's

basketball team this year and presenting a litany of reasons why you should fire Coach Alford now. To be sure, I agree with

my fellow alums and donors, signed the petition and hope that he has coached his last game at UCLA. But I won't repeat all

of those reasons, other than to say I found the utter lack of effort of this year's team to bean abomination, a black mark on a

championship brand, and a coach who can't get his players to consistently try at defense will never succeed.



From: steve hwang


Subject: Steve Alford must be replaced


Dear Dan,

I have been an avid UCLA basketball fan until this year and all my UCLA graduate friends of 15 stopped attending and watching the UCLA basketball games this year. It is really sad that you would not do anything but let our basketball program to crumble. You are losing more and more die hard UCLA fans everyday. Please do what is right and let go coach Alford!We have suffered long enough.

Thank you.

Steve HwangClass of 1985 ( representing 15 other UCLA grads!)

Danny Byun 1985John Choi 1985Joseph Kwon 1985Young Ryee 1985Charles Rim 1984Frank Noh 1985Young Park 1985Michael Kwon 1985Chan Kim 1985Edward Ju 1985Christie Chu 1989Carole Kim 1985

Bong Chang 1981Timothy Chang 1987Christopher Ro 1985



From: David Gordon


Subject: Re: Plea From a Passionate Bruin


Mr. Guerrero,

It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them.To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows

infirmity of character---Dale Turner

In medical training we always discussed that while it’s important who youve done, ’t’s moreimportant what you do next…

Please admit that you made a mistake by hiring Coach Alford. There is zero change he issuccessful over his tenure. He will be fired within the next couple years if you let him staynow. He is simply not a good coach and is destroying the program from its core. Things willonly get worse. The incoming talent we have next year might make our records slightly better but it will not change the course.

If you admit your mistake and correct it, UCLA fans will forever hold you in admiration andrespect. If you refuse to see the facts and truth and allow decimation of our program and fan base to continue, you will carry that burden with you and the scorn of all Bruins forever.

Please make this right. We are depending on you.

Sincerely,

David GordonClass of ‘95

On Mar 10, 2016, at 7:59 PM, David Gordon <cygnusdave@ > wrote:

I know many others have written so obviously do not expect a reply. My guessit’s questionable whether this gets read at all. While I am not a donor, or a bigname on campus, I feel obligated to write this. My father, James Gordon, whodied in 2014, was not a huge donor, but a lifelong contributor to the athleticdepartment both financially and with his time. I moved to Denver in 1996 but prior to that had been to nearly every single UCLA football and basketball homegame since about age 6, along with multiple olympic events each year.

I am simply writing to implore you to relieve Coach Alford of his dutiesimmediately. I have read many opinions on this matter and have heard from those that feel his firing is not warranted at this time. The letter Mr. Guerrero wrote inresponse to the Restore UCLA Hoops petition echoed some of the arguments I’veheard from others. I find these excuses completely unacceptable. In fact, I thinkif one critically looks at Coach’s time at UCLA, it’s blatantly obvious that our program is doomed for failure. Obviously our record this season was notablyworse than prior years. However, the on court performance this season really was not all that different than the prior 2 years. There are themes that have existed



From: Kevin Deggelman


Subject: Get to the root of the problem, it"s Alford, not his assistants


Each day that goes by, people are unearthing more and more statistics and stories that show just how far the UCLA program has fallen in recent years.

We all know (yourselves included) that the only remedy for the situation is to start fresh with a new head coach.

Make it happen!

Kevin DeggelmanUCLA 2012Wooden Athletic Fund Member Football Season Ticket Holder



From: Trevor Fuller

To: Guerrero, Dan




I'm sending this just in case you didn't read my last email.

Please dismiss Steve Alford from his post as head coach of UCLA men's basketball, not his assistants.




From: Steve Havas




I can only assume that the rumor that you are asking Coach Alford to change assistants is a joke. It is the boss that is the issue. The boss that is treating his kid like some sort of

basketball god, while great talent exits (see Ali .. and whomever is next).

You can't actually think that your decision to hire Alford will be justified next year, because of incoming talent. The freshmen will eventually be good ... but counting on a few freshmen to bring this team to a credible place is absurd on the face of it.

Hope is not a strategy.

--Steve Havas



From: Dorie Iwata

To: Block, Gene

Subject: UCLA should be a place we are all proud of...


instead we've become the laughing stock of the universities in the NCAA. Your priority may not be college

athletics. Stellar academics is certainly one of the ways a school gains a great reputation but you cannot deny the importance of athletics as part of overall reputation of a great university. We are not Ivy League, a small liberal arts

college, we are one of the premiere universities in the world...in part because we have won 114 NCAA

championships! We should be competing for 115...the 12th in basketball. But this will NEVER happen with Steve

Alford at the reins. He is everything that John Wooden wasn't. A poor coach, a bad teacher and a promotor of "me

first" basketball. If you care about your fanbase and the donors, you must see that keeping Mr. Alford at UCLA is

alienating all who want to maintain the world-class image UCLA should always strive for.

Thank you,

Dorie Iwata

UCLA Class of '71

Sent from my iPad



From: David Schaffner




Dear Mr. Guerrero,

Word appears to be getting out that changes in the assistant coaching ranks are being considered and/or implemented by you and the Athletic Department. I must emphatically state that this solution to the current situation is utterly unacceptable and insulting and suffices to be no more than a tiny bandage against the gaping wound that is this basketball program. Do not think for a second that any move like this will ameliorate my or anyone else in the UCLA fan base's view of this terrible situation. We need real change and it starts from the very top, not through a change in Alford's yes men.

Thank you,David Schaffner UCLA Bruin

Class of 2006



From: Sean Corson

To: Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: Transfer #1 is already happening


Prince Ali is leaving. My guess is 1-2 others follow soon after. Can you please take the time to sit with players and understand how and why this season went south and what is pushing

them towards the door? If asked in a private manner they will confirm that Steve Alford's coaching and favoritism of his son have resulted in an atmosphere that does not breed championship (or even mediocre) basketball.

Forcing Alford to make changes to his assistants is not enough. If you do not trust him to hire the correct assistants, how can you trust him to run this program? Please, fire Steve Alford immediately and save this once proud program.

Sean Corson



From: nefkens


Subject: Assistant Coaches are NOT the Problem


Chancellor Block, Mr. Guerrero, and Mr. Rebholz -

Coach Alford clearly said at his last press conference that the buck

stops with him and he is responsible for the product on the court. His

assistant coaches are not to blame and should not be the fall guy for

his poor coaching. UCLA had an historically bad season last year. Coach

Alford did not adequately prepare the team to consistently compete the

entire season. The few notable victories should be evidence of what the

team was capable of, but did not achieve. Coach Alford was not able to

get the team to perform to its potential. The performance of the team

has declined in each year of his tenure. The product on the court is

simply a product of poorly run practices and poor game preparation. In

addition, Coach Alford has lost his effectiveness because of favoritism

towards his son. It is clear to anyone who has any sort of basketball

background that his son is a very bad defender, yet he plays the mostminutes on the team. His son also has a poor shooting percentage, yet he

took the second most shots on the team this season and last. Because

Coach Alford has not been consistent in making players accountable for

defense and poor performance, he has caused friction on the team that

has resulted in some players tuning him out and others considering

transferring.

UCLA alumni, students, donors, and fans are already disenchanted with

the direction the program has taken. A change is assistant coaches will

result in further alienating the fan base, which in turn will result in

more protests, less home game attendance, and fewer donations. Time,

energy, and money that I would normally apply towards supporting and

following the team will not be applied in anyway that supports retainingCoach Alford as head coach. I am just one of thousands of fans that care

enough to write letters, sign petitions, and engage in social media

protest. If there are opportunities to financially contribute to to

flying banners, running ads, and other means of public protest, I will

contribute there. I will still make my normal contributions to academic

and research programs.

As alumni, fans, friends, and non-whale donors, we have a voice in the

decision too. Please do what is right for the program. This is an

unfortunate situation that no one wanted. Tough decisions need to be

made to set the program back on course for long term success. The damage

Coach Alford has done will make it virtually impossible for him to

succeed long term at this point. A change in head coach is needed.

Respectfully,

Chuck Nefkens

Son of Prof. Bernard M.K. Nefkens

Dept of Physics 1966-2011

Please note that I am an alumnus of UCSD. I was accepted to UCLA as an

undergraduate but opted to "leave the nest" and go to UCSD instead. I

was born a Bruin and will always be a Bruin. My father helped bring



millions of research dollars to the university. I completed all the

coursework for my CPA license through UCLA extension. I donate to the

Physics Dept and Mary Easton Center.



From: Greg

To: Block, Gene

Subject: New head coach needed, not new assistants


Rumors abound that the UCLA athletic department is attempting to force Coach Alford into changing assistant

coaches and allow him to continue indefinitely as head coach. As an avid follower of college basketball for 45 years, I can't think of a single instance where this strategy resulted in anything other than the eventual dismissal of

said coach. The best way to view this is to look at how the most successful coaches continue to be very successful

even though they often lose top assistants to head coaching jobs. Retaining Steve Alford as coach at UCLA is

simply delaying the inevitable to the detriment of the UCLA program.

Greg Scofield - class of 1986



From: gabe rothman


Subject: Do you really have this low an opinion of your graduates?


Dear Messrs. Guerrero, Block and Rebholz,

I'm not sure if you all realize this, but your alumni, who are graduates of UCLA, actually have degrees from...you guessed it: none other than UCLA -- one of the preeminent public universities in the world. If you did realize this salient fact, you would probably also realize that with such an elite education comes at least a modicum of intelligence, a fact of which you are all clearly ignorant given your current course of action with respect to the stewardship of the UCLA Men's Basketball program.

I can't imagine that you truly believe that a change of assistant coaches will be effective in remedying the systemic and debilitating problems afflicting the basketball program, all of which start with one Steve Alford. Thus I can only assume that you believe your alumni to be too naive or perhaps stupid to see through your ever so thinly-veiled attempt to tell us to

pound sand.

What I truly do not understand is your loyalty to a man who has torpedoed the UCLA basketball program and done so in a manner that shows an utter lack of respect for our proud traditions.

It's time to own up to the fact that you hired a man who was and is woefully under qualified for this job, and then gave him an unconscionably one-sided contract for utterly no reason whatsoever.

Please do the right thing by your alumni and own up to your errors by firing Steve Alford immediately. No other resolution will be satisfactory.

- Gabriel Rothman (Class of 2000)



From: Jeremy West


Subject: Nepotism affecting other players


Story about Nepotism:

The truth behind this transfer...

During the team film session

immediately after the Cal game late in the

season, CSA began ripping on Ali both offensively and defensively for bad shots, lack of

effort, and lack of help D possession after possession. My source said it was bad. This lead

to a emotional confrontation between CSA and Ali later in the film session during an all-to-

often defensive series for Bryce where CSA did not say a word.

Prince Ali flat out called Bryce and CSA out in front of the entire team for what is going on

and had to be removed from the film session by an assistant coach. At the next practice a

supposed shoving match between Ali and Bryce occurred where Ali was then removed from

practice (these details were a bit gray so I do not know exactly what happened). Bryce was

allowed to stay. From that point on Ali was benched and was actually encouraged by CSA

sometime after the Oregon game to start looking elsewhere.

Source also told me Bryce is so rarely criticized in film study vs. everyone else it makes

numerous players angry.

Take it FWIW... this source is extremely close to a player on the team...

Listen - For those asking I do not have hard evidence and specific proof of any of this. If I did

I would gladly drive up to the AD office and meet with Block and DG personally

immediately! This is what I was told from a source extremely close to a player on the team. I

will not release the identity of the player out of respect..

Just to let you know what is really happening Behind the scenes at UCLA. GREAT example of nepotism and how it has cancered our basketball team.

Jeremy WestSent from my iPhone

Last edited 1:38 PM by

RobBruinIceCream

12:50 PM



From: Michael Cummings

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Please Fire Steve Alford


Mr. Block,

We've never met, but in the last few days I know you have been deluged with emails about firing the UCLA basketball coach. While I have never done this, I feel the need to add my voice to the chorus.

Since I came to campus and since I graduated I have been a die hard UCLA fan. To show my dedication, when I was deployed to Afghanistan, it means that I woke up at 3am to watch the 2008 Final Four. In Iraq, I woke up at a similar time to watch UCLA play Texas. I've been to a game every year even when I lived around the country.

This season may be the low point in UCLA basketball. I didn't attend a game this year and missed more games on TV than I ever have. If Alford is the coach next year, I won't attend

again or watch any.

--Respectfully,

Michael Cummings

OnViolence.com



From: Frank Damon

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: New Head Coach Is Necessary , Not New Assistants!


Dear Mr. Guerrero:

In case you haven’t seen it, I am attaching an article entitled “The State of the UCLABasketball Program” by David Woods which was published today. It is not necessary for meto reiterate the things mentioned in it as it speaks for itself. I urge all of you to read itcarefully, as I believe it succinctly states woeful state of UCLA basketball.

The UCLA basketball program is in a free fall spiral and in shambles. The foundation hascrumbled and the fan base is vanishing. Before you know it, team members may even leavethe program. What was once a storied and marvelous program has now fallen into a darkabyss of horrible mediocrity. It has become irrelevant.

I have read that the Athletic Department is contemplating asking Coach Alford to replacesome of his assistants. I truly hope that this is incorrect information and the correctinformation is that you have asked Coach Alford to leave UCLA. He, along with the entire basketball program, is truly an embarrassment to our internationally renown university. Itmakes no sense under any scenario why UCLA keeps him as head basketball coach. It is aninsult to those of us who have graduated from UCLA, have contributed money and time overthe years and who revere it.

Please take immediate action and relieve Steve Alford as basketball coach and hire someonewe can respect and who can once again truly represent UCLA in the positive way it sodeserves.

Thank you.

Frank DamonClass of 1965WAF donor Chancellor’s Society-Lifetime Member

The State of the UCLA Basketball Program

DAVID WOODS1:41 PM

Mar. 16 -- UCLA's basketball program has rarely

been on as shaky ground as it is right now...

It has now been 21 seasons since UCLA won a national



championship, and prior to that championship in 1995,

it had been 20 seasons. In other words, in 41 seasons

since John Wooden retired, UCLA has won a single

national championship. In that same time frame,

Kentucky has won four of its eight total titles, Duke has

won all five of its titles, North Carolina has won four

of its five, Indiana has won three of its five,

Connecticut has won four, Louisville has won three,

Kansas has won two, and the list goes on.

Here's a better way to put it: of the 14 schools who have

actually won NCAA basketball championships, UCLA

is tied for 11th for the most since 1975, which puts the

Bruins ahead of basketball powerhouses Cincinnati (last

won in 1962), San Francisco (last won in 1956), and

Oklahoma State (last won in 1946) and tied with North

Carolina State (last won in 1983).

So, when we're writing a piece about the state of the

UCLA basketball program, it's important to understand

what kind of basketball program UCLA actually has.

This is not a program that is among the uber-elite in

college basketball -- unfortunately, that categorization

is reserved for schools like Kentucky, Duke, NorthCarolina, and Kansas these days. UCLA has simply not

won enough to get lumped in with those schools at the

top of the mountain.

Of course, UCLA fading from the category of the elite



The frustrating thing for UCLA fans, though, is that it's

obvious UCLA still has the tools to be an elite program,

with a great recruiting base, an unparalleled tradition,

soon-to-be very good facilities, and a location that

makes the school attractive to players country-wide.

Think about this: it took Lavin, who isn't a real

basketball coach, six whole years to crater the program

-- UCLA had enough natural juice that he managed to

go to an Elite Eight in his first season and Sweet 16s in

his next five! Howland proved that UCLA is just a

smart, sustained recruiting strategy and a good coach

away from being right back in the mix for Final Fours

and national championships.

Now, UCLA has missed the NCAA Tournament again

this year after a very bad season that saw the Bruins

finish 15-17. Under Steve Alford, UCLA has become a

progressively worse team on both offense and defense,and the shocking thing this year was the near total lack

of effort at times, especially over the last three or four

weeks of the season when UCLA needed to put

together a win streak to get an NCAA Tournament bid.

Instead, the team (both coaches and players) folded. It

was an awful season to watch, and, as we wrote lastweek, it is certainly in the conversation for the worst

season UCLA has had since 1948. Alford’s first three

years, as we talked about last week, were the worst first

three years for a coach since Wilbur Johns, and are



comparable to the LAST three years for Walt Hazzard

and Ben Howland.

How’s this for a stat: UCLA has gone unranked in 46 of

57 weeks during Alford’s tenure. That’s just…

irrelevance.

But judging the record and rankings is only a surface-

level way to evaluate a program. Below, we're going to

take a look at the significant factors that have played

into UCLA being in the state it's in: On-Court Issues,

Favoritism, and Recruiting Problems.

On-Court Issues

UCLA showed a stunning lack of effort on defense this

year, and this was easily the worst year for UCLA

under Alford in terms of defensive effort. But what's

especially shocking is the sheer lack of defensive

fundamentals you see from the players on the court.

After four years, Tony Parker still doesn't know howto position himself to avoid fouls, and after three years,

Bryce Alford, and Isaac Hamilton to a lesser extent,

still don't know to consistently get in a stance and keep

their hands up on defense. These aren't even complex

things -- keeping your hands up in a zone defense is

something you can teach a group of third graders.The lack of fundamentals in the program is obvious

from watching any of the games, and from what we've

seen and heard, it stems from a practice culture that is

anything but stringent. Howland's practices during his




From a game preparation and motivation standpoint,

this year specifically, the players and the coaches pretty

much gave up on the season down the stretch. Again,

not to keep comparing things to Howland's years in

Westwood, but when the team would have a losing

streak or just not play well for a while, Howland, who

was already a tireless, 16-hour-day type worker, would

ratchet up the intensity to an altogether new level.

Practices would be tougher, there would be even more

film work, and more often than not, play would

improve.

None of that happened this year. If anything, from what

we've gathered, there was actually more of a sense of

the coaches and players going through the motions over

the last three weeks in practice and film study. If

giving effort is the basic thing to expect from players,then giving motivation is the basic thing to expect from

coaches, and from what we've heard, both parties failed

in those basic jobs.

It’s the consensus from several people around the

program: this staff just isn’t the grinding type. They

don’t put in the kind of time that Howland did, and as ageneral rule, they’re just not putting in that same kind

of effort. Even throwing that out, there’s an open

question whether this staff has the coaching chops to

compete at the highest level of basketball — it certainly



Last year, with only three guards on the roster, Alford

was forced to play all three of Bryce, Powell, and Isaac

Hamilton major minutes, but it’s worth noting that

Bryce played the most minutes on the team at 36.3 per

game, with Powell notching 34 and Hamilton playing

33. This year, with one more guard in the rotation,

Bryce again played 36.3 minutes per game, followed by

Hamilton at 35 and Aaron Holiday at 31.

To give that some context, this year he played a greater

percentage of minutes for UCLA than any Pac-12

player is playing for any Pac-12 team. He played a

greater percentage of minutes for UCLA than Tyler

Ulis is playing for Kentucky. He played a greater

percentage of minutes for UCLA than Buddy Hield is

playing for Oklahoma, and Hield might be the best

player in college basketball this year. He played more

than Hamilton, Welsh, and Parker, who all shot the ball better this year and played more defense, and he played

more than Holiday, who was a significantly better

defender and only a slightly worse shooter. Bryce has

some obvious assets as a player — he doesn’t turn the

ball over much at all and he shoots threes pretty well —

but those two things really do not justify the amount ofminutes he gets. This year, he was the fourth-best

shooter among starters but took the second-most shots.

And from what we understand, the players recognize

this issue as well. From what we’ve heard, the players



don’t have any specific dislike for Bryce — far from it,

actually, as most of what we heard indicates he’s a

pretty likable guy — but there’s a real pronounced

resentment of the obvious favoritism shown to him by

the coaching staff. There will be film sessions where

the defensive issues of certain players will be dissected

ad nauseum, but rarely is there any mention of Bryce’s

defensive issues. There have been a couple of instances

over the last couple of years where we’ve heard, after

one player or another steps up offensively in a

particular game, that the coaching staff’s message is

that it was a result of the opposing team being so

focused on taking away Bryce.

There’s been enough obvious favoritism in the program

that it has contributed to a significant amount of

resentment from the players on the team (and not just

this season), so it’s something that needs to bementioned. Whatever we might feel about Bryce

playing so many minutes and how it might affect

whether the team wins a certain amount of games, our

assessment is nowhere near as important as the

assessment of the players on the team.

UCLA could see at least one player, and possibly more players, leave the program this offseason, and, from

what we’ve gathered, the obvious favoritism, along

with the poor coaching and lack of development, could

be a factor in those decisions.



Recruiting Problems

No one is disputing that UCLA has a good group of

players coming in with the 2016 class, and the 2017

class is certainly shaping up to be a pretty good one aswell. But this year's team was built on the strength of

the 2013, 2014, and 2015 classes, and it's hard to

describe those classes as anything other than a

significant failure.

In the 2013 class, UCLA signed Isaac Hamilton (who

had to sit out his first year), Wanaah Bail (who hastransferred, and also who probably shouldn't have been

playing at this level anyway), Bryce Alford (the head

coach's son who plays too many minutes), Noah Allen

(who probably shouldn't be playing at this level), and

Zach LaVine (who played one year and left for the

NBA). You can give them a general pass for this class,

since they didn't have much time to do anything beyond

bring in a warm body in Bail and eventually get

Hamilton on the bounce-back from UTEP. Notably,

though, they parted ways with Allerik Freeman, who's

a key piece at shooting guard for a pretty good Baylor

team this year.

In the 2014 class, UCLA signed Jonah Bolden (who

had to sit out his first year), Thomas Welsh, Kevon

Looney (who played one year and left for the NBA),

and Gyorgy Goloman (who's a backup, at best, for a

very good team). No, your eyes don't deceive you --




In the 2015 class, UCLA signed Ikenna Okwarabizie

(who probably shouldn't be playing at this level), Alex

Olesinski (who's a backup, at best, for a very good

team), Prince Ali (who we've heard will likely transfer

after this season), and Aaron Holiday.

In other words, after three years of recruiting, of 13

players UCLA signed, four of those still on the roster

are probably not capable of playing for a very good

UCLA team, one has already transferred, at least one of

the remainders is likely to transfer before next season,

and two have moved on for the NBA. The 2015 class is

shaping up to be a significant failure, with what looks

like two non-contributors and a transfer out of four

players, and that's not even taking into account what

Holiday may decide to do (we've heard he's still

uncertain about whether he'll return to UCLA nextseason). UCLA did not sign a single guard in the 2014

class, which was a failure of pretty extreme magnitude

given that UCLA had just three guards on the roster for

2014-15.

Ultimately, just looking at that group of classes, this

isn't the way UCLA recruits when the program ishealthy. We've gone over Steve Alford's recruiting

strategy from those couple of years more than enough,

but, to hammer it home, pursuing the uber-elite national

recruits all over the country like UCLA did for the first



two summers under Alford was a very bad strategy and

not the sort of thing UCLA has historically had a great

deal of success doing. When UCLA has been very

good, the Bruins have built their teams around the great

amounts of talent you can find within a 200-mile radius

around UCLA. As we wrote at the time, unless you

have a firm connection to a kid across the country, it's

usually a waste of time to spend a ton of recruiting

capital recruiting nationally. It just doesn't pay off

enough to justify the expense of time and resources.

UCLA spent a ton of time going after guys like Myles

Turner, Rashad Vaughn, Justise Winslow, and more,

especially in the 2014 class, and it really inhibited the

Bruins' ability to sign local talent. Just look at USC's

roster of athletic, talented shooters and keep in mind

that four of those guys from the 2014 and 2015 classes

(Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah Stewart, ChimezieMetu, and Bennie Boatwright) wanted to be Bruins at

one time or another. UCLA showed a tremendous

amount of hubris in recruiting through the first two

cycles, with Alford thinking that his name coupled with

UCLA was enough to recruit with the Dukes and

Kentuckys of the world.UCLA is leveraging its connections to the Compton

Magic, a local AAU program, significantly more over

the next two cycles, which has helped UCLA earn

commitments from very talented pieces in Ike



Anigbogu, Jalen Hill, and Jaylen Hands, and landing

players like those guys is exactly what UCLA should be

doing going forward, and what UCLA should have

done for the last three cycles. This isn't revisionist

history -- everyone who really knew the landscape of

UCLA recruiting was telling the staff that they needed

to prioritize local recruiting at the time when UCLA

was flying all over the country following the elites. We

wrote it several times here. Landing a Kevon Looney

here or there doesn't justify missing out on the

McLaughlins and Metus of the world.

It's also worth noting that, as good as the next two

classes are shaping up to be, they're really built on two

things: the coaching staff's relationship with the

Compton Magic and the coaching staff's relationship

with Lavar Ball. Every player committed or signed with

UCLA in 2016 and beyond is either named "Ball" or amember of the Compton Magic. Having a partnership

with just one AAU program and just one family of

basketball players is probably not a path to sustained

long-term success. And it’s worth noting as well that

one of the few major successes Alford’s staff had

recruiting nationally in its first two cycles (landingKevon Looney) came about largely through the

school’s relationship with Adidas.

————-

The foundation of the program has rarely been on as



shaky ground as this. From a historical perspective, the

last eight years have been pretty close to the nadir for

the UCLA program in the modern, post-Wooden era,

and over the last three years, Alford has done little to

slow the slide into mediocrity. Player development has

been poor, recruiting has taken an unnecessary amount

of time to get going, and the obvious favoritism shown

to his son has alienated certain players and could help

to lead to mass departures this offseason.

The fanbase has also been marginalized and alienated,

and it has led to an enormous groundswell of fan anger

over the last several weeks, with a petition to fire Steve

Alford gaining over 1500 signatures and an actual

banner flown over the UCLA campus this week calling

for his ouster. Even in the waning days of Lavin and

Howland, there wasn’t this level of fan anger at the

coach. It’s truly unprecedented, and signals nothinggood about the current state of the UCLA basketball

program.

UCLA is a storied program, with the kind of tradition,

recruiting base, and name brand to be a very good to

elite college basketball program. As Howland showed

just a decade ago, turning the program around andgetting back to elite status at UCLA really only requires

a pretty good coach who’s dedicated to his craft and a

smart, sustained recruiting approach.



And that’s the hope for fans, I suppose: perhaps UCLA

will one day have both of those things again.



From: Mike

To: Block, Gene



Dear Chancellor Block,

The reports that are coming out to the extent of how Steve Alford handled the team is flat out unacceptable and this man should be removed from his position at once. It is obvious that there has been no one there to protect the

players and the schools best interests and prevent this man from his own agenda which has directly pushed this

great program to an all time low. The answer is not to give him new assistants but to remove him at once. We will

see transfers from this team due to his poor leadership and lack of accountability and fairness. This wonderful

institution and storied program doesn't need a new splashy hire but a solid up and coming coach that can actually

coach the game rather that just being a name but a fraud underneath like Alford. Please act now so we can get

things back moving in the right direction. All the recruits will stay on, they all chose the school and not the coach.

Best regards,

Mike Mendoza

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 14, 2016, at 1:50 PM, Mike <mikemen2425@ > wrote:

>

> Hello Chancellor Block,

> It is in my opinion overall the Athletic Department has done an excellent job through tough times to get things

done within the Administration and have the sports programs in a great position, all except basketball. I do feel that

Steve Alford doesn't understand the importance and honor it is to be the Head Basketball Coach at UCLA. He has

used this platform to showcase his son and with doing this there is no accountability and stability in the program.

Steve Alford doesn't understand the importance that UCLA basketball is to many people beyond, donors, students

and alumni. Please this is the time to act and restore our great tradition by removing Steve Alford and replacing

him with someone that will understand the value of the position and remove the nepotism factor plaguing this

storied program.

>

> Sincerely> Mike Mendoza

>

> Sent from my iPhone



From: ALAN WINTERS




Hello...

Over the past 3 years I have gone from season ticket holder to occasional TV viewing to noTV viewing whatsoever.

Coach Steve Alford and the program are on a clear, downward trajectory. This is not a“progress doesn’t come in a straight line” scenario. This is worse than the Lavin years, andLavin as we all know today is a media personality, not a coach.

I will buy season tickets again when Alford is deservedly replaced. I can’t stand the nepotism(Bryce Alford would be, at best, the 10th man on most PAC 12 teams), awful game preparation, poor in-game coaching, no interest in defense, lack of effort/motivation amongstmany players. This all falls on the head coach. And Alford, unlike Jim Mora, represents the

university horribly.

Changing one or even two assistants won’t make a difference at all. The fish rots from thehead.

Do we really need to wait another one, two or three years for this debacle to end?

Read this article - totally fact-based. Not a pleasant read, but sometimes the truth needs to seethe light of day.

http://www.scout.com/college/ucla/story/1652435-the-state-of-the-ucla-basketball-

program

Regards,

Alan WintersFormer Long-time UCLA Basketball Season Ticket Holder

UCLA Anderson MBA Class of '81



From: Brian Iriye


Subject: Coach Alford

Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016 6:32:35 AM

To All,

Respectfully again I must state my ongoing dissatisfaction with the current status of retaining

coach Alford. Apparently yesterday Prince Ali submitted his transfer papers and there is a

perception among players of uneven discipline due to the appearance of nepotism.

The results under coach Alford have been dismal for a UCLA coach with a recent report calling

it the worst season possibly since 1948. The coach is a top 20 paid coach and has been out of

the top 20 polls 80% of the time while at one of the top programs in college basketball

history.

The average termination in the US in the workforce is 6-18 months after the employer

believes the person cannot do the job. This fits this situation well. The evidence is clear. The

current recruiting class will stay due to the power of UCLA, not coach Alford. In addition, to

see us beat 3 times by USC by a team full of players that wanted to come to UCLA but were

not wanted by this coaching staff. A change in assistants will bring nothing. Further

continuation of his employment will poison the fanbase. Pauley will become even more

empty and the financial implications of this will continue and a generation of fans is being

lost.

Please fire coach Alford now.

Sincerely,

Brian Iriye, MD

Class of 85

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he'd been wired a little differently, it's actually kind of easy to imagine that UCLA might have

been able to ascend firmly back into that elite category, and pull in a 12th or 13th banner.

But Howland wasn't able to sustain the success, and UCLA probably waited a year too long to fire

him, and that has long been part of UCLA's problem -- waiting too long to fire a guy. Of course,

the more significant issue has been hiring the wrong guy in the first place, as UCLA did with

Steve Lavin after Jim Harrick was fired. By hiring Lavin, UCLA wasn't able to parlay the 1995

championship into any kind of meaningful, sustained winning, and Howland's own issues

squandered the window that yawned open after the three-straight Final Fours.

Now, as we talked about in the last piece, UCLA has had four losing seasons in the last 14, and

has missed the NCAA Tournament altogether in five of the last 14 years. As far as college

basketball goes, that's the mark of an average-ish high-major program, and certainly not anything

close to elite.

The frustrating thing for UCLA fans, though, is that it's obvious UCLA still has the tools to be an elite program, with a great recruiting base, an unparalleled tradition, soon-to-be very good

facilities, and a location that makes the school attractive to players country-wide. Think about

this: it took Lavin, who isn't a real basketball coach, six whole years to crater the program --

UCLA had enough natural juice that he managed to go to an Elite Eight in his first season and

Sweet 16s in his next five! Howland proved that UCLA is just a smart, sustained recruiting

strategy and a good coach away from being right back in the mix for Final Fours and national

championships.

Now, UCLA has missed the NCAA Tournament again this year after a very bad season that saw the Bruins finish 15-17. Under Steve Alford, UCLA has become a progressively worse team

on both offense and defense, and the shocking thing this year was the near total lack of effort at

times, especially over the last three or four weeks of the season when UCLA needed to put

together a win streak to get an NCAA Tournament bid. Instead, the team (both coaches and

players) folded. It was an awful season to watch, and, as we wrote last week, it is certainly in the

conversation for the worst season UCLA has had since 1948. Alford’s first three years, as we

talked about last week, were the worst first three years for a coach since Wilbur Johns, and are

comparable to the LAST three years for Walt Hazzard and Ben Howland.

How’s this for a stat: UCLA has gone unranked in 46 of 57 weeks during Alford’s tenure. That’s

just…irrelevance.

But judging the record and rankings is only a surface-level way to evaluate a program. Below,

we're going to take a look at the significant factors that have played into UCLA being in the state

it's in: On-Court Issues, Favoritism, and Recruiting Problems.



The lack of fundamentals in the program is obvious from watching any of the games, and from

what we've seen and heard, it stems from a practice culture that is anything but stringent.

Howland's practices during his time in Westwood were the stuff of legend, with players having to

spend long hours off-court preparing for what they'd have to do on the court. They were

extremely tough practices with a ton of time spent on minute attention to detail -- how to

space your feet, how to position your hands, the proper angle to bend your knee in a defensive stance.

Alford's practices are lackadaisical affairs from what we've heard, and from what we've seen.

There's little attention to detail and little time spent on specific tactics for a given

opponent. They're also not close to as rigorous as Howland's practices, which often left players

physically exhausted (which was, of course, sometimes detrimental). When it comes to film work

and developing game plans, what we've heard is that this staff really has a hard time developing

effective game plans, and, what's more, has a pronounced inability to adjust game plans mid-

game.

Universally, even if players didn't like him at times, they had a profound respect for Howland's

hoops acumen, and what we've heard over the last three years is that it's pretty much the opposite

for the overall assessment of Alford. The feeling is that there isn't an emphasis on player

development, at least not to the extent there was under Howland, and that's another thing that's

pretty obvious watching the team, especially from a physical perspective, where all of these guys


From a game preparation and motivation standpoint, this year specifically, the players and the

coaches pretty much gave up on the season down the stretch. Again, not to keep comparing things

to Howland's years in Westwood, but when the team would have a losing streak or just not play

well for a while, Howland, who was already a tireless, 16-hour-day type worker, would ratchet up

the intensity to an altogether new level. Practices would be tougher, there would be even more

film work, and more often than not, play would improve.

None of that happened this year. If anything, from what we've gathered, there was actually more

of a sense of the coaches and players going through the motions over the last three weeks in

practice and film study. If giving effort is the basic thing to expect from players, then giving

motivation is the basic thing to expect from coaches, and from what we've heard, both parties

failed in those basic jobs.

It’s the consensus from several people around the program: this staff just isn’t the grinding type.

They don’t put in the kind of time that Howland did, and as a general rule, they’re just not putting

in that same kind of effort. Even throwing that out, there’s an open question whether this staff has

the coaching chops to compete at the highest level of basketball — it certainly hasn’t shown up

on the court or in practice.



It's not really even up for debate. In 2014, Bryce played 23 minutes per game, almost all of them

at point guard, and that was a misallocation of the ball responsibilities, for one, since Kyle

Anderson was a far better option initiating the offense (Anderson's assist rate that year was a

ridiculous 34.1 while Bryce's was a fine, unspectacular 19.1). Alford played just three fewer

minutes per game than Norman Powell, who was a significantly better offensive and defensive

option and should have played more than 25 minutes per game. Heck, Anderson only played 33 minutes per game, and given that we've seen Alford is more than willing to play Bryce 36+

minutes per game, Anderson probably should have played a few more as well.

Last year, with only three guards on the roster, Alford was forced to play all three of Bryce,

Powell, and Isaac Hamilton major minutes, but it’s worth noting that Bryce played the most

minutes on the team at 36.3 per game, with Powell notching 34 and Hamilton playing 33. This

year, with one more guard in the rotation, Bryce again played 36.3 minutes per game, followed

by Hamilton at 35 and Aaron Holiday at 31.

To give that some context, this year he played a greater percentage of minutes for UCLA than any

Pac-12 player is playing for any Pac-12 team. He played a greater percentage of minutes for

UCLA than Tyler Ulis is playing for Kentucky. He played a greater percentage of minutes for

UCLA than Buddy Hield is playing for Oklahoma, and Hield might be the best player in college

basketball this year. He played more than Hamilton, Welsh, and Parker, who all shot the ball

better this year and played more defense, and he played more than Holiday, who was a

significantly better defender and only a slightly worse shooter. Bryce has some obvious assets as

a player — he doesn’t turn the ball over much at all and he shoots threes pretty well — but those

two things really do not justify the amount of minutes he gets. This year, he was the fourth-best shooter among starters but took the second-most shots.

And from what we understand, the players recognize this issue as well. From what we’ve heard,

the players don’t have any specific dislike for Bryce — far from it, actually, as most of what we

heard indicates he’s a pretty likable guy — but there’s a real pronounced resentment of the

obvious favoritism shown to him by the coaching staff. There will be film sessions where the

defensive issues of certain players will be dissected ad nauseum, but rarely is there any mention

of Bryce’s defensive issues. There have been a couple of instances over the last couple of years

where we’ve heard, after one player or another steps up offensively in a particular game, that the coaching staff’s message is that it was a result of the opposing team being so focused on taking

away Bryce.

There’s been enough obvious favoritism in the program that it has contributed to a significant

amount of resentment from the players on the team (and not just this season), so it’s something

that needs to be mentioned. Whatever we might feel about Bryce playing so many minutes and

how it might affect whether the team wins a certain amount of games, our assessment is nowhere



built on the strength of the 2013, 2014, and 2015 classes, and it's hard to describe those classes as

anything other than a significant failure.

In the 2013 class, UCLA signed Isaac Hamilton (who had to sit out his first year), Wanaah

Bail (who has transferred, and also who probably shouldn't have been playing at this level

anyway), Bryce Alford (the head coach's son who plays too many minutes), Noah Allen (who

probably shouldn't be playing at this level), and Zach LaVine (who played one year and left for

the NBA). You can give them a general pass for this class, since they didn't have much time to do

anything beyond bring in a warm body in Bail and eventually get Hamilton on the bounce-back

from UTEP. Notably, though, they parted ways with Allerik Freeman, who's a key piece at

shooting guard for a pretty good Baylor team this year.

In the 2014 class, UCLA signed Jonah Bolden (who had to sit out his first year), Thomas

Welsh, Kevon Looney (who played one year and left for the NBA), and Gyorgy

Goloman (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team). No, your eyes don't deceive you --


In the 2015 class, UCLA signed Ikenna Okwarabizie (who probably shouldn't be playing at this

level), Alex Olesinski (who's a backup, at best, for a very good team), Prince Ali (who we've

heard will likely transfer after this season), and Aaron Holiday.

In other words, after three years of recruiting, of 13 players UCLA signed, four of those still on

the roster are probably not capable of playing for a very good UCLA team, one has already

transferred, at least one of the remainders is likely to transfer before next season, and two have

moved on for the NBA. The 2015 class is shaping up to be a significant failure, with what looks like two non-contributors and a transfer out of four players, and that's not even taking into

account what Holiday may decide to do (we've heard he's still uncertain about whether he'll

return to UCLA next season). UCLA did not sign a single guard in the 2014 class, which was a

failure of pretty extreme magnitude given that UCLA had just three guards on the roster for 2014-

15.

Ultimately, just looking at that group of classes, this isn't the way UCLA recruits when the

program is healthy. We've gone over Steve Alford's recruiting strategy from those couple of

years more than enough, but, to hammer it home, pursuing the uber-elite national recruits all over the country like UCLA did for the first two summers under Alford was a very bad strategy and

not the sort of thing UCLA has historically had a great deal of success doing. When UCLA has

been very good, the Bruins have built their teams around the great amounts of talent you can find

within a 200-mile radius around UCLA. As we wrote at the time, unless you have a firm

connection to a kid across the country, it's usually a waste of time to spend a ton of recruiting

capital recruiting nationally. It just doesn't pay off enough to justify the expense of time and

resources. UCLA spent a ton of time going after guys like Myles Turner, Rashad



Vaughn, Justise Winslow, and more, especially in the 2014 class, and it really inhibited the

Bruins' ability to sign local talent. Just look at USC's roster of athletic, talented shooters and keep

in mind that four of those guys from the 2014 and 2015 classes (Jordan McLaughlin, Elijah

Stewart, Chimezie Metu, and Bennie Boatwright) wanted to be Bruins at one time or another.

UCLA showed a tremendous amount of hubris in recruiting through the first two cycles, with

Alford thinking that his name coupled with UCLA was enough to recruit with the Dukes and

Kentuckys of the world.

UCLA is leveraging its connections to the Compton Magic, a local AAU program, significantly

more over the next two cycles, which has helped UCLA earn commitments from very talented

pieces in Ike Anigbogu, Jalen Hill, and Jaylen Hands, and landing players like those guys is

exactly what UCLA should be doing going forward, and what UCLA should have done for the

last three cycles. This isn't revisionist history -- everyone who really knew the landscape of

UCLA recruiting was telling the staff that they needed to prioritize local recruiting at the time

when UCLA was flying all over the country following the elites. We wrote it several times here.

Landing a Kevon Looney here or there doesn't justify missing out on the McLaughlins and

Metus of the world.

It's also worth noting that, as good as the next two classes are shaping up to be, they're really built

on two things: the coaching staff's relationship with the Compton Magic and the coaching staff's

relationship with Lavar Ball. Every player committed or signed with UCLA in 2016 and beyond

is either named "Ball" or a member of the Compton Magic. Having a partnership with just one

AAU program and just one family of basketball players is probably not a path to sustained long-

term success. And it’s worth noting as well that one of the few major successes Alford’s staff had

recruiting nationally in its first two cycles (landing Kevon Looney) came about largely through

the school’s relationship with Adidas.

————-

The foundation of the program has rarely been on as shaky ground as this. From a historical

perspective, the last eight years have been pretty close to the nadir for the UCLA program in the

modern, post-Wooden era, and over the last three years, Alford has done little to slow the slide

into mediocrity. Player development has been poor, recruiting has taken an unnecessary amount

of time to get going, and the obvious favoritism shown to his son has alienated certain players

and could help to lead to mass departures this offseason.

The fanbase has also been marginalized and alienated, and it has led to an enormous groundswell

of fan anger over the last several weeks, with a petition to fire Steve Alford gaining over 1500

signatures and an actual banner flown over the UCLA campus this week calling for his ouster.

Even in the waning days of Lavin and Howland, there wasn’t this level of fan anger at the coach.



It’s truly unprecedented, and signals nothing good about the current state of the UCLA basketball

program.

UCLA is a storied program, with the kind of tradition, recruiting base, and name brand to be a

very good to elite college basketball program. As Howland showed just a decade ago, turning the

program around and getting back to elite status at UCLA really only requires a pretty good coach

who’s dedicated to his craft and a smart, sustained recruiting approach.

And that’s the hope for fans, I suppose: perhaps UCLA will one day have both of those things

again.

On Mon, Mar 14, 2016 at 12:35 PM, Josh Kaplan < jkaplan21@ > wrote:Gentlemen,

Please see the link below. Whether you think it is time to let Steve go or not, this can't be a good thing for UCLA sports.

https://twitter.com/ewcorpuz/status/709434171995717632

-Josh KaplanUCLA Undergraduate Class of 2000



From: Huang, Gary


Cc: AD; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: UCLA"s National Brand


Dr. Block,

I would like to provide a different perspective from all the emails you have been receiving about

Coach Alford and the Athletics Department.

I don’t live in California. I live in New York City. The UCLA name and brand is less relevant here but

still highly respected. That respect, however, is clearly declining. UCLA’s overall brand and

reputation is directly correlated to our performance in basketball and football. Simply put, people in

NYC don’t care about our US News academic ranking, but they will notice when we struggle in major

sports and they will notice when our program is in turmoil. The typical college sports fan at my

workplace takes pity on me because it is well known to even them that Coach Alford is an immoral,

nepotistic, and incompetent coach. We must remain cognizant of the fact that Coach Alford is not only a coach of our team but a representative of UCLA and of UCLA’s brand. He has been tarnishing

how others view our university and our program, and this is unacceptable.

I am not making any recommendations or suggestions regarding Coach Alford and/or our athletics

department. However, please consider how the nation and the world views our University and how

the lack of change at the top may lead to further ramifications for our reputation and brand.


Best,

Gary Huang

UCLA ’08



From: Mitchell Austin

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Re: Removal of Coach Steve Alford


Mr. Guerrero,

I'm writing, again, to urge you to terminate UCLA's relationship with Coach Alford immediately.

Requesting that Coach Alford hire new assistants will not resolve the problems surrounding his stewardship of the UCLA basketball program. Every day that Coach Alford is retained inflicts more damage upon the reputation and health of the program. This is most recently evidenced by the rumors that Prince Ali will be transferring (as a result of his limited playing time due to Bryce's unprecedented minutes).

Please act now. There is still time to find a replacement for the upcoming season.

Sincerely,Mitchell Austin (UCLA B.A. 2008, UCLA J.D. 2013)

On Mar 11, 2016, at 4:08 PM, Mitchell Austin <mitchellaustin@ > wrote:

Mr. Guerrero,

I've seen the latest news reports that indicate that UCLA plans to retain Coach Alford. I hope this is entirely false.

The UCLA Men's Basketball Program is not owned by a few of the biggest donors. Especially those donors who were involved with the hiring of Coach Alford and may feel that their reputation is at stake if Alford is fired.

Rather, the UCLA Men's Basketball Program is owned by all of the fans, alumni and others who hold the Program close to our hearts.

Please perform your duties as AD and listen to the fanbase. We have spoken loudly and clearly and will continue to do until Coach Alford is fired.

Sincerely,

Mitchell Austin (UCLA B.A. 2008, UCLA J.D. 2013)

On Mar 10, 2016, at 10:50 AM, Mitchell Austin <mitchellaustin@ > wrote:

Messrs. Guerrero, Block and Rebholz,

I am writing to urge you to immediately remove Coach Steve Alford as the Men’s Basketball Head Coach. While, as Mr. Guerrero has



From: apollo1987@ on behalf of Kyle Noble

To: Rebholz, Joshua; Guerrero, Dan; Block, Gene

Subject: Restore UCLA Basketball Now


Chancellor Block, Mr. Guerrero, Mr. Rebholz,

First, I'd like to thank you for your hard work supporting UCLA and making it the great institution that is is today. I wear my blue and gold with pride every day and I have you in part to thank for that. Your work in retaining Coach Mora despite multiple suitors for his services has kept the football program on a great upward trajectory and I am proud of that.

However, the current state of the basketball program is something of which I cannot be proud. I used to make time in my day to watch the Bruins play, stop anything I was doing so I could support the team for those 2-3 hours twice a week. I attended almost every home game as a student in the band and many more even after I moved back to San Diego.This season, however, I barely watched, only casually following on social media or checking a score while busy with something else.

It was apparent early on in the year that the team had inconsistent effort, poor discipline, and poor game preparation. It's hard not to be motivated when Kentucky and Arizona are in town. My main concern however is the blatant nepotism and disrespect the Alford's are allowing to continue within the program. I admit I'm not in the locker room so I don't know the truth, but when more than one respected media source is reporting it it's hard to ignore. Coach Alford's preferential treatment of his sons has created a lack of accountability, lack of discipline, and a lack of trust within the program. Not to mention the early departures that are rumored to be continuing this offseason.

Coach Alford may have achieved 2 Sweet 16s and a great incoming recruiting class for next year, but I strongly believe that UCLA has natural advantages thanks to it's location and

prestige that any coach with an ability to maintain relationships with local high schools and a plan can recruit at UCLA. As for the Sweet 16s, it was pretty fortunate that we got double digit seeds in the round of 32 both times.

The Alfords must be let go immediately and not be given another chance to disrespect this university. Why not give a new coach an opportunity with a great group of players to show that proper accountability and coaching can make a difference?

I have always been a donor to UCLA since my graduation in 2009, and I have proudly donated to the football facility, the Pauley renovation, the engineering school, and the WAF. However, I cannot continue to support the Alford regime. My donations will have to change

and go towards areas of the school and athletic program that I believe represent the school with pride.

I truly hope the athletic department does not let this 3 year downward tumble of UCLA basketball continue. This is not going to blow over. A temporary band-aid of a good recruiting class or assistant coach changes will not fix the problem of the head coach's disrespect for the program that Coach Wooden built. Change must come soon.

Thank you for your time and Go Bruins



Respectfully,

Kyle NobleUCLA B.S. '09 M.S. '11



From: Mark D. Hurwitz

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Real change, not just shuffling of assistants, is needed before we can pay for season tickets again


Dear Mr. Guerrero:

The start of the NCAA Tournament is a painful reminder of the unacceptable state of our men's basketball program. While it was enjoyable to watch our top incoming recruits play each other in the state high school playoffs on Tuesday, we were both (1) bothered that we looked forward to that game more than to the Pac-12 Tournament and (2) concerned that the new talent we will be adding next season will be wasted by inadequate coaching, instruction and guidance.

Not that UCLA should have to look to Southern Cal as a measuring stick, but it was appalling to see our team, in three games, not even compete against the crosstown rival, several of whose players wanted to be Bruins. Considering the relative states of our program and theirs

three years ago, it is inexcusable for our Bruins to fall so far short of being the best team in LA, let alone the Pac-12, the West or the country.

When we received our season ticket renewal we noticed that as an apparent result of the declining interest in our team, our seats no longer require a Wooden Athletic Fund donation. Not only are we not going to renew our donation until we have a new head coach worthy of the opportunity to lead the program that Coach Wooden built, but we are not prepared to pay for next season's seats, even at the reduced price.

We are not spoiled fans and do not have unreasonable expectations. During my seven years on campus as an undergraduate and post-graduate student in the 1980s, I experienced some of

the lowest points of the modern era of UCLA basketball, with only a single win in the NCAA Tournament (over Central Michigan) in an eight-year span from 1981 through 1988. But we cannot recall ever feeling such pessimism about the future of the program. And this is not being fed by rumors--it's the result of what we've seen and the unmistakably disturbing trends. We need change now.

Thank you for your consideration.

Mark Hurwitz (1987, 1990)



From: Patrick


Subject: Nepotism is Deplorable


"During the team film session immediately after the Cal game late in the season, CSA began

ripping on Ali both offensively and defensively for bad shots, lack of effort, and lack of help D

possession after possession. My source said it was bad. This lead to a emotional

confrontation between CSA and Ali later in the film session during an all-to-often defensive

series for Bryce where CSA did not say a word.

Prince Ali flat out called Bryce and CSA out in front of the entire team for what is going on and

had to be removed from the film session by an assistant coach. At the next practice a

supposed shoving match between Ali and Bryce occurred where Ali was then removed from

practice (these details were a bit gray so I do not know exactly what happened). Bryce was

allowed to stay. From that point on Ali was benched and was actually encouraged by CSA

sometime after the Oregon game to start looking elsewhere.

Source also told me Bryce is so rarely criticized in film study vs. everyone else it makes

numerous players angry.

Take it FWIW... this source is extremely close to a player on the team..."

Coach Alford and his nepotistic ways are tearing this team apart. Ali is probably transferring.

Is this the kind of culture you want for UCLA basketball?

UCLA DESERVES BETTER. FIRE ALFORD!!



From: LoDuca, Paul

To: Block, Gene


Subject: National Media and the Steve Alford Mess


Chancellor Block:

The groundswell of protest against Steve Alford is getting stronger. The longer it continues

the more likely it is that national media outlets will pick up the story and run with it.

From a sports perspective the story is damaging enough: storied basketball program,

mediocre coach, nepotism and the ADs role in the whole mess. I’m sure George

Dohrman, of Sports Illustrated, can’t wait to get his hands on this one.

Worse, what if this story is picked up by real news organizations that want to look at

nepotism from a UCLA institutional perspective? After all if UCLA is condoning a coach,

who is all about promoting his son at the expense of the team, then what else is being

permitted? What if every faculty member and administrator had to defend the hiring of a spouse or family member to the detriment of other qualified candidates? I’m not saying

this is rampant at UCLA but I’m not naïve enough to believe it hasn’t happened. In any

event such a story would be damning to the university in terms of negative coverage and

the expense of responding to countless inquiries.

Why is this administration willing to risk so much to protect a coach that should never have

been hired in the first place? What aspect of ‘cut your losses’ is so hard to understand?

Paul LoDuca














From: Kirk Crawford

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Basketball Program


Dear Dr. Block:

Please work with Mr. Guerrero to replace Mr. Alford with a qualified head coach.Nepotism and total disregard for the tradition of excellence of the basketball program

by the head coach are grounds for his termination. I realize that your responsibilities

are vast and varied and go far beyond athletics. However, the basketball program at

UCLA is sacred to many and does much for the "UCLA brand". Please take the

necessary action.


Kirk Crawford



From: Jonathan Lee

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: UCLA Mens Basketball: Coach Alford Must Go


Dear Sirs,

It was reported yesterday by Bruin Report Online, that the Athletic Department made recent attempts to force changes to Coach Alford's staff, or accept a lower buyout terms. I can only imagine that the sole reason for having done so, was in order to try and placate the masses. I think it is important for the three of you to realize that the UCLA fanbase is a sophisticated bunch, and we are united in our opinion that unless Coach Alford is removed, our anger will not dissipate, we will not attend games, and probably more importantly, we will withhold our donations.

Please do the right thing and terminate Coach Alford's contract immediately.

Your Friend,

Jonathan Lee Esq.

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Law Offices of Jonathan Lee

90 New Montgomery St., Suite 1250

San Francisco, CA 94105

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forwarding, printing, or copying is strictly prohibited. Thank you.



From: Matthew Crytzer

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Re: UCLA Men"s Basketball - Change Needed


Hello Mr. Guerrero,

It has been a few days, so I thought I would check in to see if you are close to

dismissing Steve Alford?

I understand that you might have brought up the idea of changing the assistant

coaches, but retaining coach Alford.

If you think the assistant coaches are that bad and Steve Alford hired them, then it is

best to just dismiss them all (including Steve Alford).


Sincerely,

Matthew Crytzer

From: Matthew Crytzer <mdcrytzer@ >

To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>

Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; "[email protected]"

<[email protected]>


Subject: UCLA Men's Basketball - Change Needed

Hello Mr. Guerrero,

Since no official announcement has been made, I thought I would try one more time

to convince you that Steve Alford needs to be dismissed right away.

1) The terrible way he handled the Pierre Pierce incident.

2) The way he favors his son, Bryce, over other players.

3) Due to the nepotism, he has caused unhappiness with the other members of the

team. This will likely lead to transfers.

4) He has the lowest winning percentage of any UCLA men's basketball coach since

the Wilbur Johns.

5) He lost to USC three times in one season.

6) His record this season was 15-17.

7) Attendance is low and UCLA is losing donations.

We would like to bring our young children to a basketball game at Pauley Pavilion, but

we won't feel comfortable doing that until Steve Alford is dismissed.

Please terminate Steve Alford's contract immediately.




Sincerely,

Matthew Crytzer

From: Matthew Crytzer <mdcrytzer@ >To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>;

"[email protected]" <[email protected]>Sent: Friday, March 11, 2016 9:09 AMSubject: Re: UCLA Men's Basketball - Change Needed

Hello Mr. Guerrero,

I just heard that you decided to retain Steve Alford for next season.

As you can imagine, this is supremely disappointing.

It saddens me that I won't be able to pass along UCLA basketball to our kids, like my

mother and father did with me.

Good luck with your program.

Sincerely,

Matthew Crytzer

From: Matthew Crytzer <mdcrytzer@ >To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>;

"[email protected]" <[email protected]>Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 11:27 AMSubject: UCLA Men's Basketball - Change Needed

Hello Mr. Guerrero,

My wife and I graduated from UCLA in 1997. While students at UCLA, we attended

many men's basketball games. We have very fond memories of these times.

After graduating, we still attended a few games each year, and I watched every other

game on TV.

We were both disappointed when Steve Alford was hired as the coach to replace Ben



Howland. We decided to give him a chance, but unfortunately, our fears have been

realized.

UCLA records for the past three years have steadily declined:

28-9

22-1415-17

This season, we were blown out three times by bitter rival USC (in basketball...).

We have stopped attending games and sadly, I don't even watch them on TV any

longer. We won't be attending games or watching them on TV until a new head

coach is hired.

Please don't look to the 2016 recruiting class as the savior. It is fool's gold. They

won't be able to overcome the eventual transfers, the bad chemistry (Coach Alford

featuring his son), and Coach Alford's lack of coaching acumen.

Please don't fear the national media backlash at replacing a coach after three

seasons. Regardless of when a coaching change is made in UCLA men’s

basketball, the media will always say that it is due to UCLA's unreasonably high

expectations. No championships in 20 years and missing the tournament 5 out of

the last 14 seasons... Does that say "High Expectations" to you?

Please don't worry about the curiously high buyout clause for Steve Alford. UCLA

fans will return as soon as the coaching change is made, and the revenue from the

increased attendance will help offset the cost of the buyout.

Please don't wait.

The time is now.

Sincerely,

Matthew Crytzer



From: Cliff Sakata

To: Block, Gene



Hi Mr. Block,

Some of my earliest and fondest memories as a child was watching UCLA basketball on TV. I was enamored with

UCLA, not for the education or the international renown, but for the basketball team. It was my dream to make it

into UCLA and I did and experienced the national championship winning season in 1995.

I watched UCLA basketball religiously. I would schedule my day around watching UCLA basketball and in recent

years, I would be sure to record the game. Steve Alford has been the worst UCLA basketball coach since I've been

a UCLA. He doesn't inspire confidence or passion. I am sure you've heard all the reasons why many in the UCLA

community are against him as a coach and I am not going to bore you with the details.

Let me just say that I no longer watch UCLA basketball. I no longer attend games and I no longer watch the games

on TV. I feel bad for the kids, but I feel apathetic towards the program. Alford made me not care about UCLA

basketball, which is the worst possible thing I can say about any coach. UCLA basketball needs new leadership.

Please ask Dan Guerrero to replace Alford as the basketball coach.

Sincerely,

Cliff

Clifford Sakata

Attorney At Law

www.KSVISALAW.com

4909 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite 400

San Diego, CA 92123

(t) 858-874-0711

(f) 858-874-0775This e-mail and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain

legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are

hereby notified any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, and any attachments thereto, is strictly

prohibited. If you receive this email in error please immediately notify me at (858) 874-0711 and permanently

delete the original copy and any copy of any e-mail, and any printout thereof. Further information about the firm, a

list of the Partners and their professional qualifications will be provided upon request.



From: Andy Wing


Subject: Done as Bruins Basketball Fan


Dear Dan,

I have been a die-hard Bruins basketball fan since 1990. Been through good and bad, and

some mediocre in between, but I have remained faithful and loyal until now.

I am done as UCLA Basketball fan and have quit following the team since 2015. It was brutal

and embarrassing watching my be-loved Bruins playing the ways it had this whole season;

lack of effort and focuses at times; horrendous and stubbornness coaching, and playing

without "SPIRIT" and "HEART". It's just not the brand of basketball representing UCLA

basketball.

Dear Dan, enough is enough. It's time to make the right choice by firing CSA. We will all stand

behind you when you make the RIGHT choice by firing CSA.

Sincerely,

Andy W.



From: Alex Zalkin

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Please do the right thing and fire Coach Alford

Date: Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:00:21 PM

Chancellor Block,

The current state of our men's basketball program is an embarrassment. New rumors are surfacing suggesting that players are

transferring due to blatant favoritism displayed by Coach Alford towards his son, Bryce. Further, the rumors suggesting that

Mr. Guerroro is negotiating with Coach Alford to force him to hire a new staff are particularly disturbing. This will do

nothing to alleviate the toxic environment created by Coach Alford. Every UCLA supported knows that the only way to

begin to rehabilitiate our program is to terminate Coach Alford.

Please do the right thing and fire Coach Alford.

Best,

Alex Zalkin

Class of 2006



From: Mike


Subject: Dan Guerrero"s foxhole


Dan is a person not interested in doing what is right, but in saving himself. He's a bad guy, he is not willing to protect the institution that is UCLA basketball but more willing to save his

lazy as hell (he never vetted Alford) bureaucratic ass. He's a selfish guy putting himself over UCLA basketball.

“Gene, thanks for taking the time to be there and, again, for all your support during this

difficult time,” Guerrero said in the April 19 email. “Often when things go smoothly (which

they generally do), we forget that there may come a time when we all need to be in the

foxhole together. Believe me, I never want to be in there again"

Sent from my iPhone



From: Trevor Fuller

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: Need New Head Basketball Coach, Not New Assistants!


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

I'd just like to point you to this article to see how we, the fan base, are feeling right now: http://kennedy-cosgrove.squarespace.com/blog/2016/3/12/nej1ryucw4qiyjmfh0j78384qo42a3.

Please, dismiss Steve Alford from his post as head coach of UCLA men's basketball. New assistants will not solve the problem, and none of us will be fooled into thinking they will.






Subject: Alford must be dismissed


This is a blight upon our beloved university.

Every UCLA alum I've spoken to--and they have been many--is disgusted and demoralized and,

frankly, angry, at our athletic department and by extension our university as a whole.

Please get Dan Guerrero to do the right thing and dismiss Alford.

The damage that this is doing is real, and ongoing.

Respectfully,

Kennedy Cosgrove, MD

Class of 1992



From: Michael Mendoza

To: Block, Gene

Subject: UCLA basketball


UCLA has been ranked 19% of the time during Steve Alford's three-year tenure.

Compare that to the last three years of these programs:

Providence -- 25%

Xavier -- 31%

Baylor -- 73%

Utah -- 54%

Absolutely pathetic, it's time for a change!

Mike Mendoza

Sent from my iPad



From: Dan Brisket

To: Guerrero, Dan; Block, Gene

Subject: Sad to see the state of UCLA... Please fire Alford


Today it really hits home when I see teams with less talent but better coaching. Please fire Coach Alford.

Sent from my iPhone



From: James Krug

To: Block, Gene

Subject: Agents son hired by Alford



In addition to the below I just learned that Steve Alford also has hired his agents son as part of the

UCLA basketball program. This is shameful that a public university would allow this behavior and

not open jobs up to the most qualified candidates- not Steve Alford’s AGENTS child. Plus he hires is

son as delineated below.

I really think that this type of behavior needs to be stopped and reprimanded and is indicative of a

program riddled with nepotism.

I would greatly appreciate a response.

Sincerely,James Krug

From: James Krug [mailto:jamesbaileykrug@ ]Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2016 4:43 PMTo: '[email protected]'Subject: Appearance of Nepotism


With the decision to bring back Steve Alford I think you have heard from both Bruin fans and many in

the media their displeasure.

As you are no doubt aware much of the vitriol comes from the perception, right or wrong , of

nepotism. Whether Bryce Alford deserves the playing time he receives is subject to good faith

arguments on both sides.

However, when Coach Alford hires his son Cory as the video coordinator the line is clearly crossed.

UCLA is a public institution. I am sure there are hundreds of former UCLA students who would

desperately want that job and I assume many would be much more qualified. Maybe Cory is the

next Steven Spielberg as a video coordinator. However, no one can argue that the only reason he got the job is because his father is the coach. For a public institution to allow such a hire just fuels

the fire and to me is just wrong.

I would appreciate your thoughts on the matter.

James Krug

Lifelong Bruin Fan and Co- Sports Editor, UCLA Daily Bruin, 1975



From: Tony Rossi

To: Chancellor Gene D. Block ; Guerrero, Dan; Rebholz, Joshua

Subject: Disturbing reports regarding nepotism


Gentlemen,

There are disturbing reports regarding how nepotism has created tension and discord within the men's basketball program. The environment and culture that has been created in the program by

Coach Alford are not conducive to playing winning basketball. Nepotism should not be tolerated

at a place like UCLA.

Steve Alford has taken advantage of UCLA. He is not the coach that you thought he was when he

was hired. The presence of his son on the roster has made him a completely different coach

from his tenure at New Mexico. He does not deserve your loyalty. Please take decisive action

and remove him as head coach.

Sincerely,

Tony RossiUCLA Class of 1993



From: Chai, Andrew U. MD, FACC


Subject: How to alienate your fan base


http://kennedy-cosgrove.squarespace.com/blog/2016/3/12/nej1ryucw4qiyjmfh0j78384qo42a3

"This message is intended for the use of the person or entity to which it is addressed and maycontain information that is confidential or privileged, the disclosure of which is governed byapplicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are herebynotified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message by error, please notify us immediately anddestroy the related message."



From: David & Amy Madeo


Subject: We"re not going anywhere


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

The NCAA Men’s Tournament started today, and UCLA is nowhere to be found. Fans who are disgusted with Alford are not going anywhere. The only way to fix this intolerable situation is remove Alford. I personally know 12 current WAF members who will not be renewing if Alford remains as coach. Please do the right thing and protect UCLA’s reputation and legacy.

David MadeoClass of 1992

Current WAF member Former season ticket holder



From: David & Amy Madeo


Subject: UCLA is synonymous with nepotism, thanks to Alford


Dear Mr. Guerrero,

Alford’s starting point guard is his son, a 3-star who was not highly recruited. He plays more

minutes than anyone in UCLA history, while playing zero defense and shooting at one of the

poorest rates of any UCLA point guard ever.

Alford’s assistant is his other son.

Another assistant is the son of Alford’s agent.

Do you honestly not see a problem here?

Alford has made UCLA synonymous with nepotism, and it is embarrassing.

David Madeo

Class of 1992

Current WAF member

Former season ticket holder



From: Jaime Goldfarb


Cc: Block, Gene

Subject: Another Metric for Consideration


Continuing my life earlier thread on metrics to be used in evaluating our coach's performance I have seen recent

reports regarding our relative NCAA rankings; specifically our time sitting in the top 25 falls below that of

Providence, Xavier, Baylor and Utah over Coach Alford's three year tenure at UCLA; no one of whom I believe

you would agree should have a higher performing program than UCLA. Again, I ask has this been taken into

consideration on the decision whether to dismiss or retain Coach Alford. As the data mounts it would seem the case

for retention is completely untenable.

Regards. Jaime Goldfarb

Providence -- 25%

Xavier -- 31%

Baylor -- 73%

Utah -- 54%

Jaime Goldfarb, Ph.D.

CEO

Goldfarb Educational Consulting



From: Namir Shaba

To: Guerrero, Dan


Subject: NCAA Tourney and No UCLA


Dear Sirs,

I am sitting here watching all these teams playing in the best sporting event in the world. But UCLA is sitting at

home. How is this possible.

Steve Alford makes a Top 20 national salary with a 10 million dollar buyout. You would think that would put

UCLA in the top 25 rankings regularly. Instead we have a team in dissarray, players transfering, no defense and a

coach who is oblivious and blinded by his son.

Please fire Alford now. This is your job. You cannot let this go on.

Sincerely,

Namir Shaba class of 2000







Dear Sir,






corner.


UCLA Fan,

Jeffrey Hoover

Sent from my iPhone



From: Kenji Kumara

To: Guerrero, Dan

Subject: Really bad coaching attitude


Normally I don't post premium BRO stuff because you're not supposed to but since

they're posting it all over the internet right now I will post it.

A guy yesterday posted a rumor he got from a "friend" close to the team. He says

after the Cal game during the film meeting CSA called out Prince Ali more than

once for bad shots(0-2) and bad defense. It was bad enough that Ali felt picked on.

Later during the same film session, there was a sequence where Bryce took a bad

shot and played no defense, and CSA didn't say a thing.

At that point Ali effectively called CSA out, you went off on me a few minutes ago

but now when it's your son, you don't say a thing. They apparently exchanged

words, it got heated, and Ali had to be removed from the film study. He of course played less than 5 minutes in each of his last 3 games.

No idea if true, but remember, Cal was the game where late in the game Bryce

effectively watched Jabari Bird hit the nail in the coffin jumper right in front of him

because he appeared to not know what defense we were in. CSA called timeout and

Bryce walked to the bench with Shilling yelling at him and him throwing his hands

up and clearly saying "not my man" twice. The other 4 Bruins appeared to be in a

zone, the shooter was right there but Bryce ignored him.

So my guess is that was the sequence that led to Ali calling out CSA in the film session if that rumor is true.

Apparently the end result of all this was a meeting with CSA and Ali where he was

told he should look for another program he's not part of UCLA's plans. Now to be

clear, the guy who posted the film argument rumor did NOT say Ali was told to

transfer, taht came from someone else and has been backed up by others but who

knows.



From: Julian Mintz


Subject: Re: UCLA Basketball


Gentlemen,

This is a follow up note to my original two emails from last week to express my displeasure with the state of the basketball program. The current state is unacceptable, and it needs to change. And guessing by your silence for the 9 days after the season ended, you deep down know that this is true.

Recent reports on fan sites, specifically Bruin Report Online (who has a sterling reputation in being right about happenings inside the program, both the good and bad), have exposed some half hearted attempts at rectifying the situation. Those reported solutions not only fail to recognize the true source of the problem, but are frankly insulting to us fans who have been so loyal to Coach Wooden's program.

Issues such as nepotism from our head basketball coach, especially when it's so plain for even the casual fan to see, are a disgrace to the program and a black eye for the university. It's flat out embarrassing to tell people I support UCLA Basketball.

Please do the right thing and restore our program to respectability.

Best,Julian MintzClass of 2006

On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 8:52 PM, Julian Mintz < jemintz@ > wrote:Mr. Block, Mr Guerrero, and Mr Rebholz,

I'm writing to express my displeasure and concern with the state of our basketball program and it's current leadership.

I won't belabor the various facts and opinions about our program that lead to this concern - I know many other fellow fans will already be doing that.

But it's important that you know that I'm among the many that won't be participating in the UCLA Basketball experience - an experience that has meant so much to me since I was a young kid - until big changes are made that show that you guys care half as much as we fans do.

I started attending games when I was 7. Some of my fondest sports memories happened with my family and friends in Pauley.

I remember in '95, I was 10 years old and had a basketball game of my own during the Missouri game in the tournament. A large group of players, coaches, and parents had gathered around a small TV in the corner of the gym in the games final minutes, and exploded with joy when Tyus made his famous layup. I remember that for probably the only time in my childhood playing days, I could have cared less about the game that I was



in, and still to this day am sad that I didn't get to experience that moment with the rest of the UCLA community.

I was a Senior at UCLA during Coach Howland's first Final Four run. I attended all 6 tournament games with friends that year; those 3 weekends make up some of my fondest memories as a student in Westwood.

UCLA basketball was a big part of my life as a kid, and while it's importance in my life has decreased as I've gotten older and real priorities have set in, it still holds a special place in my heart. I have two young kids now, and I always dreamed that they'd get to experience the glory of a rocking Pauley Pavilion with their dad. As it stands today, I wonder when that moment will finally come, if it ever comes.

I get that sustained excellence in college hoops is hard. I don't expect UCLA to win at the highest levels at all times. Us UCLA fans get a bad rap for our unrealistic expectations, but that's a fallacy. All we want is a product on the floor that we can be proud of, one that reflects the tenets of the University that it represents: smart, tough, resilient, and honest.

It's my and many other Bruin fans opinion that the current leadership of the program, and the subsequent product put on the floor, does not reflect those tenets. Specifically, I'm concerned that the leadership doesn't have the best interests of the program at heart. That alone is enough to walk away from Bruin basketball until a change is made. But combined with the inarguably mediocre basketball coaching skills (.500 record at the high major level), and you have a recipe for disaster (see: overall season record; Pac12 record; results vs USC).

I'm in a great place in my life. I have two wonderful kids, a loving and supportive wife, and an already successful career with a really promising future. I don't NEED basketball to make me happy liked I did as a kid. But I've always dreamed of having season tickets; of

sharing them with friends; of taking my two kids and my dad to games to watch my Alma Mater; and of my kids one day growing up to love Coach Wooden's program and the University that it represents. I stayed at arms distance after the questionable head coaching hire 3 years ago, and have only increased my distance after seeing the results. Until changes are made, we'll all be staying away from Pauley and UCLA broadcasts.

Thanks for your time.

Respectfully,Julian MintzClass of 2006



I’m not a season ticket holder but for the past 40 years, three friends and I have attended six mens’

basketball games at Pauley each year. This year we attended only one game because the product

on the court was so poor and difficult to watch. I’m emailing you to urge the immediate

termination of Steve Alford as head basketball coach at UCLA.

His first year, Coach Alford inherited three first round NBA draft picks. That level of talent, not his coaching acumen, was largely responsible for the 28 wins. Beginning with his second year it was

crystal clear Alford was at best a mediocre coach. His record of 22 wins last year, 15 wins this year

witnessed by a half full Pauley Pavilion clearly demonstrates a lack of support from the UCLA

basketball community. John Wooden taught us what high quality basketball looks like. In good

conscience, I know you can’t believe the product Coach Alford is giving us is anything close to high

quality. The team is fundamentally unsound. The players do not play hard. The games are no fun

to watch. The sinking attendance speaks volumes. I also trust that the disgusting nepotism Coach

Alford consistently shows with his son bothers you just as much as it bothers the UCLA fan base.

Bryce possesses marginal basketball skills. In addition to never being held accountable on the court,

he is on pace to play more minutes than any player in UCLA basketball history and to attempt more shots per game than any Guard in the storied history of UCLA basketball. This is coaching

malpractice! Is there any real question why there is such a chemistry problem with the team. To

any knowledgeable UCLA basketball fan, it appears that Coach Alford’s number one priority is to

showcase his son.

I challenge you to not forget to remember the lesson we painfully learned from the Steve Lavin.

That lesson was not even the most superior recruiting can compensate for mediocre coaching. I

know Coach Alford signed a top recruiting class last November. I know he has verbal commitments

from two highly regarding players for 2017. Steve Alford just like Steve Lavin is at best a mediocre

basketball coach. His record of over two decades speaks for itself. He has never coached a team

past the Sweet 16. At most universities the Sweet 16 is a reasonable goal. The Sweet 16 is Steve

Alford’s ceiling. If and when he gets UCLA back to the Sweet 16, the elite coaches he will meet there

will coach circles around him. The basketball program at UCLA is special! I’m counting mon you!! I

miss coming to Pauley with my friends, sitting behind to bench and basking in the high quality

basketball being played by the team wearing Blue & Gold. Fire Steve Alford

immediately!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



From: Vu Duong

To: Block, Gene

Subject: New Direction for UCLA Athletics

Date: Friday, March 18, 2016 3:55:38 AM

Dear Chancellor.

I am sure you are very busy and thank you for your time that you daily put into the University.

I am writing because it is so frustrating to see the UCLA Basketball and other sports aspire to apathy and not even

mediocrity under the direction of the Athletic Director Dan Guerrero. Granted he has done some good things in

fundraising, I would think a more competent athletic director could do better. As PRO scouts evaluate talent, you

have to look at the overall ceiling of the talent as well. The weaknesses in anticipating and preparation for coaching

hires is appalling. The fact that he allows a very poor culture of leadership to stay is APPALLING. The current

state of NEPOTISM and poor CULTURE that does not represent UCLA Basketball is too much to stomach. If the

University that I love and try to represent with the best intentions on a daily basis ignores the pleas of alumni and

fans because of the lack of accountability and repeated lack of preparation then expect things to become more

public. Any donations that I would otherwise donate to UCLA will then go towards banners and ads exposing some

of these truths. This is not something that I want to do but I will. I have the money to do it as well.

Do you think our alumni, Bob Myers, regrets firing Mack Jackson for Steve Kerr? Sometimes you have to ask what

you want out of a leader and see a higher ceiling.

Thanks for your time. Go Bruins!

Vu Duong MD

Class of 1997



From: Andrew Ansoorian


Subject: Leadership Reflection


Ask yourself, what will your replacement(s) think about your leadership decisions during this crisis?

Ten years from now will you wish you handled things differently?

If your best friend was going through a similar situation at work what suggestions would you give him or her?

What does your choice in communication strategy say about your leadership character?

"See the genius in every student and teach to set that genius free" Adapted from Michelangelo

Andrew Ansoorian, SPHR Executive Director of Human ResourcesHarrisonburg City Public SchoolsCell #[email protected]@HCPSCheck us out on LinkedIn....HCPSonLinkedIn



From: LoDuca, Paul

To: Block, Gene


Subject: I read Dan Guerrero"s online plea last night


Chancellor Block:

Through an intermediary, Dan Guerrero floated two proposals for the readers of Bruin

Report Online to review.

One option was to relieve Alford now, but this was offered with the understanding that the

AD is not prepared to make a new basketball coaching hire and as such the AD shouldn’t

be held responsible if the new hire isn’t the right one. The second option was to give Alford

another year and put in place a professional search group to find the right coach — it was

also mentioned that even then he might not get it the new hire right but the odds would be

better.

I sat back in my chair after reading this and felt completely disheartened. Why is

everything that this AD does framed with built in excuses? Why does he find it so hard to

lead? How could the AD not have a short list of coaches in his back pocket for either of

the two revenue generating sports at UCLA (basketball and football)? How could the AD

not realize, as early as Alford’s first year here, that he was not the solution and that a

replacement would be needed sooner than later?

How is keeping the most divisive coach in UCLA history even an option? How is blatant

nepotism tolerated at one of the finest academic institutions in the world? How is

mediocrity tolerated and rewarded by being allowed to continue?

Here, I’ll save you twelve months and millions of dollars in professional search fees:

1. Reach out to Bryce Drew, currently the coach at Valparaiso University, to verify his interest

2. Vet Drew from here to eternity (I’m sure he’s clean but do your due diligence)

3.

Fire Steve Alford

4. Hire Bryce Drew

The crime isn’t in acknowledging the mistake it’s in when you ignore it and don’t take steps

to correct it.

I urge you to ask Dan Guerrero to lead.

Thank you

Paul LoDuca











http://www.morganstanley.com/disclaimers/mssbemail.html. If you cannot access this link, please notify us by reply message and we will send the contents to you. By messaging with Morgan Stanley you




From: Mike


Subject: Dan Guerrero trying to destroy UCLA


-----------------------------------------

The AD is currently encountering something he hasn't yet in his tenure at UCLA. Maybe 50-0 compares, I don't

know, but he is up against relentless, overwhelming, unified opposition to his position. There isn't going to be a

quitting of the storm absent firing Alford. All of these attempts to stem the tide only prolong and intensity the

storm.

Doc Barry talk about the nuclear option. That's pretty much what he's doing by prolonging this.

Steve Alford at UCLA is untenable in practice, and unacceptable to the fans and donors who buy the tickets and

make the donations and go to the games and buy UCLA merchandise and do the 8-clap.

It's entirely up to Guerrreo when this ends. It's entirely up to Guerrreo if this turns into a war with his one fan-base.

It's entirely up to Guerrero if the fan-base pivots (as it is already starting to) and comes after him.

There is no option #2.

Fire Alford and then work prudently with the fan-base to find an acceptable successor.

That's it.

Sent from my iPhone





Subject: Fire Alford! Save UCLA Basketball!


Dear Sir,






corner.


UCLA Fan,

Jeffrey Hoover

Sent from my iPhone



From: John Galloway



Subject: Changes Needed in Athletic Department



I’m writing to you again to please consider accelerating a change in leadership in the UCLA

Athletic Department. The poor management is evident, and recent mis-steps involving

basketball coach Steve Alford, his own poor performance, and Dan Guerrero’s terribly

crafted buy-out clause for Alford, has caused great dissent around the UCLA community.

National press has not been kind to the school, further damaging it’s leadership

reputation. A letter and email campaign continues, and many fans and supporter are now

receiving canned email responses. This is yet another indication of indignation and

dismissal of how UCLA supporters – and donors to the school – feel about this growing

problem.

The school is risking losing further monetary support as well. Many have backed-out of

donations and/or their season seats. Lastly, I want to remind to that my wife (class of 1989)

and I and our family has purchased season seats for UCLA football since 1992.

Regards,

John G. Galloway




Los Angeles, CA

(323) 564-6651 ext. 6800

www.verbumdei.us



From: michael mccaffrey

To: Guerrero, Dan

Cc: Rebholz, Joshua; Chancellor Gene D. Block

Subject: Fire Steve Alford Now!

Date: Friday, March 18, 2016 12:22:32 PM

Mr. Guerrero,

In my two decades as a UCLA fan, and a proud graduate, I have never been as

disillusioned and angry at the Athletic Department as I am now.

Steve Alford has been a horrible coach and lousy fit to lead UCLA Basketball. I am

not going to recite all the various reasons here, as I know you have received many

passionate emails out lining Mr. Alford's failures. But come on, the lack of discipline,

lack of defense and the blatant favoritism towards his son? Are you blind?

“Success may not be linear,” to quote you, but the death spiral of UCLA Basketball

obvious to any knowledgeable follower of UCLA Basketball.

Why wait a year to fire him? Do it now!

And for the record, you should have never given that hick Alford such a rich buyout.

What the hell were you thinking?

I will not watch or attend another UCLA Basketball game as long as Mr. Alford is

coach. Nor will we contribute to the WAF or purchase and UCLA gear or products.

Nor will my family of 3 generations of UCLA graduates. If Mr. Alford is not removed as coach, I will cancel my season Football tickets when they are due for payment

July 1

st

.

This is your legacy Dan. You are in danger of being remembered as the man who

alienated the UCLA fan base and destroyed UCLA Basketball. IF you don't fire Alford

- YOU SHOULD BE FIRED!

Michael McCaffrey Class of 2012



From: Mike


Subject: Dan Guerrero is a scumbag


Who is cheating UCLA...he's a disgusting bureaucrat who I would love to spit in his face if I saw him but gets inside

his foxhole. He's a piece of human refuse who is the biggest disgrace in UCLA history. He's a scumbag pure and simple.

Sent from my iPhone



From: Alex Mokover


Subject: New Beginning


Chancellor Block,

It is absolutely insane that Steve Alford is still the coach at UCLA. The arena is half empty for all but the biggest games, nobody on campus feels any closeness to the coach, the team went 6-12 in what the NCAA tournament has proven to be a weak league, and Lonzo Ball is playing to larger crowds in high school than he will see at UCLA.

If Mr. Guerrero will not make the change that everybody knows must be made, then you must remove Mr. Guerrero. I am 28 years old and UCLA has won one basketball championship

Gene Block's Emails on Steve Alford - Part 3

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Transcript of Gene Block's Emails on Steve Alford - Part 3