UCLA enduring the times

Monday, Dec. 23, 2002 | 10:11 a.m.

NEXT UP

What: Las Vegas Bowl, UCLA vs. New Mexico

When: Wednesday, 1:30 p.m.

Where: Sam Boyd Stadium

TV: ESPN (Ch. 30)

Radio: KBAD 920-AM

Line: UCLA by 10 points

UCLA interim football coach Ed Kezirian smiled at defensive linemen before knocking them on their tails. Unless that foe wore the dreaded crimson uniform from that school on the other side of Interstate 10, he often politely helped them to their feet.

When UCLA ripped off those eight consecutive victories over USC, from 1991-98, a UCLA fan printed blue Christmas cards, with the final scores embossed in gold, every December. Kezirian annually, and proudly, tacked the new one next to the others, all in public view.

It utterly pains him to even say "USC, and he's aware of how dreadful the Trojans played a year ago in a Las Vegas Bowl defeat to Utah. On Christmas Day, the Bruins (7-5) will play the New Mexico Lobos (7-6) at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"I'm not worried about that," Kezirian said of the potential letdown for a Pac-10 team against a Mountain West squad in a relatively minor bowl game. "I think I know the difference. I've gone to enough bowls to know what the trappings are.

"So far, we've been able to overcome some of the things that last year's Pac-10 team ... give credit to Utah. We'll try to avoid the distractions and letdowns that come. Mentally, we're on track."

Until a couple of weeks ago, Kezirian, 50, was the former UCLA lineman and assistant coach who has been an assistant director for academic services -- an academic liaison for the football team -- for the last 10 years.

He has kept a high profile, however, over that span as he has fired up the Bruins with his rousing, overhead towel-whipping sideline antics. Woe to the opposing player who dared to cross Kezirian's menacing growl.

As an offensive linemen in 1973, he helped a dominant Wishbone-T attack that set a single-season school record with 4,403 rushing yards. They ran over Stanford for 621 yards on the ground, a mark that still stands.

Two weeks ago, Kezirian became the most prominent UCLA football figure when athletic director Dan Guerrero, on the job barely six months, sacked coach Bob Toledo. Two of Guerrero's lieutenants coaxed Kezirian into wearing the interim coaching tag for the Las Vegas Bowl.

Last week, Guerrero hired former UCLA wide receiver Karl Dorrell to replace Toledo, but Dorrell will not assume control until after Christmas. He finished his duties as a Denver Broncos assistant coach Sunday against Oakland.

"We're very excited about Karl Dorrell," Kezirian said.

Kezirian will either be the most successful coach in the program's history, with a perfect record, or the worst, winless. He admitted that these are unusual times. Soon after he accepted the temporary position, he quoted a proverb that stated, May you live in interesting times.

"We certainly are going through an experience," Kezirian said. "The last two and a half weeks have been interesting times."

He has ensured certain UCLA officials that he will not have a white towel anywhere near him come Wednesday.

"Won't happen," Kezirian said.

In a Thursday meeting with coordinators Kelly Skipper (offense) and Phil Snow (defense), and the rest of his staff, Kezirian outlined responsibilities for a game in which some of his assistants will be coaching to save their jobs.

Snow, though, has already stated that he will be seeking employment elsewhere.

Kezirian wanted to recognize the professionalism that Skipper and Snow have displayed, and Kezirian will handle timeouts, substitutions, four-down strategy and two-point situations as they develop against the Lobos.

"We'll talk it through," Kezirian said, "so I manage the game properly and don't hurt our efforts to win the game."

A few days before the Bruins ended their regular season by getting blown out by Washington State in the Rose Bowl, Kezirian said he sensed trouble for Toledo.

"You could feel a groundswell, like something might happen," Kezirian said.

Seven years of off-field shenanigans contributed to the end of the Toledo era. Not even a winning record and a bowl berth, during a season of injuries, could save him from The Guerrero Guillotine.

Toledo peaked in 1998, when a make-up game at Miami in December stood between UCLA and the national championship game. It was a debacle, an offensive slugfest that Toledo, an offensive-minded coach, lost.

Since then, the Bruins had gone 24-23 until Guerrero nodded to his firing squad.

"With coach Toledo gone, it has forced us to come together," said UCLA tailback Tyler Ebell. "We don't have any true head coach, but our chemistry is good. It's kind of weird without him. It will be weird not having him on the field.

"But, you know, I'm sure Guerrero made the decision for the betterment of the team. A lot goes on."

As Guerrero canned Toledo in Guerrero's third-floor office in the J.D. Morgan Center, assistant athletic director Bob Field and associate athletic director Betsy Stephenson descended a flight of stairs to ask Kezirian to lead the team against New Mexico.

Kezirian balked, saying it might be better to go with an assistant coach.

Field, a longtime assistant to former UCLA coach Terry Donahue who, in 1995, was passed over for the top job in favor of Toledo, told Kezirian the administration believed it would be best to let the coordinators and assistants focus on their tasks.

For his abilities as a support liaison, a facilitator, a stickler for follow-up detail, and as someone who could provide leadership and spirit, Kezirian was thought to be perfect for the interim role.

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Kezirian said.

"You're not saying no," Field said. "You're not saying no."

"I love UCLA," Kezirian said, eventually. "I'll do whatever is needed to help the program."

Fifteen minutes later, Field and Stephenson returned to Kezirian's office, where he agreed to a one-game career as a head football coach. Two aunts from Pahrump, Alice and Evelyn, will be among his many relatives and friends who will attend the game.

Kezirian noted that the game has already been played. At a pre-bowl function, Sega, the bowl's sponsor, played it out on its computer game, and it was 23-23 at the end of regulation.

"Fun is important, but I think the fun of a bowl game is to win the game, that's what is going to leave a lasting memory down the road," Kezirian said. "We'll have fun being in Las Vegas, but we'll keep sight of the fact that the fun in a bowl game is to win."