UCLA Football: Over the Wall and Off the Field

Stephen Dunn, Getty Images

Scott Robinson

T.S. Eliot once said,

A tradition without intelligence is not worth having.

Well you have to wonder what a 6-7 football team is thinking, especially after just losing their coach, when they ditch practice in a renewed sense of “team spirit.” I’d be willing to bet newly instilled coach Jim L. Mora’s objectives of team discipline will not be one to let such a fruitless tradition survive. But what does Mora have to say about “Over the Wall?”

From Jon Gold:

“…I can tell you that my general feeling is that if they want to skip out of practice and jump over a wall, then they might as well just keep going… It's completely unacceptable and it will not be part of the program going forward. It's a [privilege] not a [right] to play football for the UCLA Bruins”

A just response. Clear. Direct. Diligent. Welcome to the new face of UCLA Football: “Mora, grit.” I would venture to say that Mora understands that the kids at Western Kentucky would be salivating at a chance to practice for one more game. Mora gets it:


UCLA’s football players might not, not just yet.

Any team without the understanding that practice can only be to their benefit will learn sooner or later that great programs are built on the foundations of the practice field, not on game-day. Regardless if ditching practice is justified as within the vein of “team bonding,” a good coach will always tell you the best players are those who want to play, those that need to play. A player who strives to always get better and has that innate hunger is what moves the “needle” for any squad. It might be a question of motivation—but does this roster have any? Hopefully Mora’s response will catalyze the changes required to relay what is otherwise a captain-state-the-obvious statement: practice is an opportunity.

With Mora’s hire comes a fresh opportunity to separate those who have that want, that need, and with some luck that will deliver the best coaching product we’ve seen in Westwood in over ten years.

The Little Details

So what sort of traditions should these players be looking to embody? As a history major, I am akin to reviewing the past. With this in mind, I look back to UCLA’s most successful coach in history: Ten-time Men’s Basketball National Champion, Coach John Wooden.

From They Call Me Coach (105; Wooden, Tobin):

“Over the years I have become convinced that every detail is important and that success usually accompanies attention to little details. It is this, in my judgment, that makes for the difference between champion and near champion.”