| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1963-12-18)December 18, 1963 (age 62) Alameda, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1983–1986 | UCLA |
| Position | Wide receiver |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1989 | UCF (WR) |
| 1990–1991 | Northern Arizona (OC/WR) |
| 1992–1993 | Colorado (WR) |
| 1994 | Arizona State (WR) |
| 1995–1998 | Colorado (OC/WR) |
| 1999 | Washington (OC/WR) |
| 2000–2002 | Denver Broncos (WR) |
| 2003–2007 | UCLA |
| 2008–2010 | Miami Dolphins (WR) |
| 2011 | Miami Dolphins (QB) |
| 2012–2013 | Houston Texans (QB) |
| 2014 | Vanderbilt (OC/QB) |
| 2015–2018 | New York Jets (WR) |
| 2019 | Miami Dolphins (AHC/WR) |
| 2020–2022 | Colorado |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 43–42 |
| Bowls | 1–4 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| 2×Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2005, 2020) | |
Karl James Dorrell (born December 18, 1963) is an Americanfootball coach. He has been thehead coach for theUCLA Bruins andColorado Buffaloes, being named thePac-12 Coach of the Year for both. Dorrell led theUCLA Bruins to five bowl appearances and was the firstAfrican American head football coach in their history.
Karl attendedHelix High School inLa Mesa, California, where he played football. He was a two-time all-league selection and an honorable mentionAll-American as a senior. He led Helix to theCIF San Diego Section second place in 1981.
Karl went on to play football atUCLA, earning fourvarsity letters in football. He was one of the most successfulwide receivers at UCLA with 1,517 receiving yards on 108 receptions. He suffered a shoulder injury in 1984 and was granted an extra year of eligibility by theNCAA. He played on a team that won theRose Bowl in 1983, 1984, and 1986, and that won theFreedom Bowl in 1986.
During the 1983 season, he was a teammate of quarterbackRick Neuheisel, who would be his eventual successor as UCLA head coach. He caught touchdowns from Neuheisel during the season, including two in the1984 Rose Bowl.
In the 1986UCLA vs. USC game, Dorrell was on the receiving end of a play that theLos Angeles Times dubbed "Hail Mary, and in your face."[1] On the last play of the first half, UCLA quarterbackMatt Stevens faked a kneeldown, then pulled up and threw a Hail Mary pass, which was tipped into the hands of the flanker, Dorrell, to put the Bruins up 31–0 at the half. They would go on to win 45–20.
He had a brief career as a player in theNFL with theDallas Cowboys in the 1987 season, but he was placed on the injured reserve.
Dorrell's first job as a coach was in 1988, as a graduate assistant forTerry Donahue at UCLA. That season the Bruins finished the season with a record of 10–2 and defeated theArkansas Razorbacks in theCotton Bowl Classic.
In 1989, he became a wide receivers coach at UCF. In 1990 and 1991 he was theoffensive coordinator and receivers coach atNorthern Arizona. Under his tutelage, the NAU offense set a school record with 255 first downs in 1991, amassing the second-most total offense (4,539 yards) in a season.
From 1992 to 1993, Dorrell coached wide receivers atColorado. In his first year with the Buffaloes, two of his receivers,Charles Johnson andMichael Westbrook, became just the fourth pair of receivers on the same team in NCAA history to each have over 1,000 receiving yards.
He then served as wide receivers coach atArizona State in 1994 before returning to Colorado when they hired his former UCLA teammate, Rick Neuheisel, as their head coach. This time, he would serve as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998. When Neuheisel left Colorado forWashington, he brought four assistant coaches with him – including Dorrell, who served as the Huskies' offensive coordinator and receivers coach in 1999.
In both 1993 and 1999, Dorrell was a recipient ofDenver Broncos Minority Coaching Fellowships, which allowed him to spend time in the Broncos' training camp. He would return to the team in 2000 to serve as the receivers coach under head coachMike Shanahan He held this position for three years, coaching players likeRod Smith, a two-time selection to the NFL'sPro Bowl, andEd McCaffrey, a one time Pro Bowl selection. With the help of Dorrell, Smith and McCaffrey became only the second wide receiver duo to each catch 100 passes in a single season (2000).
Karl Dorrell was hired as the head coach atUCLA, replacingBob Toledo, who was released at the end of the 2002 regular season. Between Toledo and Dorrell,Ed Kezirian, an athletic department official who oversees the academics for the football team, served as interim coach for the 2002Las Vegas Bowl. Under Kezirian, the Bruins won thebowl game overNew Mexico, 27–13. Dorrell's hiring as head coach was announced on December 19, 2002, by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero. Ed Kezirian remained on the football staff. Dorrell was brought in at UCLA to clean up a program marred by off-the-field problems in the final years of Bob Toledo's tenure.[2]
The UCLA Bruins football team under Dorrell recorded a mark of 6–7 in his first season as head coach in 2003, with an appearance in theSilicon Valley Bowl, and a loss toFresno State. In 2004, his second season, the team finished with a record of 6–6 an appearance in theLas Vegas Bowl, with a loss toWyoming.
In 2005, his third season as head football coach, Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent, No. 21Oklahoma, featuringAdrian Peterson.
On October 1, 2005, head coachTyrone Willingham and hisWashington Huskies came to theRose Bowl for aPacific-10 Conference game to play UCLA. This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac-10 conference game. At the time,Sylvester Croom ofMississippi State was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program. Dorrell achieved his first win against a top-ten opponent with a 47–40 upset win over No. 10-ranked Washington.
Three Bruin wins in the 2005 season set new school records for biggest comebacks earning the nickname "The Cardiac Kids." They came thanks largely to the heroics of quarterbackDrew Olson and tailbackMaurice Jones-Drew. In the regular season the Bruins came from down 21 points to win in overtime against both Washington State and Stanford. In the Stanford comeback, the Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7:04 of the fourth quarter.[3] In the2005 Sun Bowl, the Bruins set the record again by coming back from 22 points down.[4] This also is the Sun Bowl record.
The Bruins were ranked No. 7 in the nation until a 52–14 blowout loss to a 3–8 Arizona team. The Bruins came into theUCLA–USC rivalry last regular season game ranked No. 11. They suffered a 66–19 defeat to the No. 12005 USC Trojans football team. This was the largest margin of defeat since the series began in 1929 with a 76–0 defeat. The Bruins finished third in the Pac-10 standings.
On December 30, 2005, his Bruins defeated theNorthwestern Wildcats in the2005 Sun Bowl, 50–38, finishing the season with a 10–2 record. At the end of the 2005 season, Dorrell and fellow UCLA coachBen Howland received pay bonuses for coaching successful seasons. Karl was named Pac-10 co-coach of the year along withUSC head coachPete Carroll.
In 2006, Dorrell's fourth season, he guided the Bruins to a 7–6 season (5–4 in conference) and a fourth-place Pac-10 finish.
UCLA played its first game at theUniversity of Notre Dame since the 1960s and was leading 17–13, but theIrish scored a touchdown in the final minute to win.[5]
The most notable victory of his coaching career at UCLA was a 13–9 defeat of No. 2-ranked andBowl Championship Series title-game-bound USC on December 2, 2006. The win kept the Trojans out of the title game and broke a seven-game UCLA losing streak to the Trojans, thereby preserving the Bruins' eight-game win streak over USC from 1991 to 1998 as the longest run in the history of the rivalry. The victory also clinched a winning season for UCLA.
The Bruins played in theEmerald Bowl in San Francisco against aBobby Bowden-coachedFlorida State team on December 27, 2006, and lost, 44–27.
In Dorrell's fifth season at UCLA, with 20 returning starters and a team of his own recruits, hopes were high for the Bruins in 2007. After starting the season with a couple of wins overStanford andBYU, and achieving a No. 11AP Poll ranking, however, UCLA stumbled against an injured, winless, and unrankedUtah Utes team, 44–6.[6] Four weeks later, Dorrell's Bruins fell again; this time 20–6 to an unranked, winlessNotre Dame team.[7] The Bruins did, however, post wins against seemingly more difficult PAC-10 opponents, including a No. 10 Cal team. However; the bad taste of losses to teams the Bruins were favored to beat (including an embarrassing 27–7 loss toWashington State) raised questions about Dorrell's play-calling and ability to motivate his players.
After the Washington State loss, UCLA Athletic DirectorDan Guerrero addressed UCLA's inconsistent football performances for the first time, stating "I will be very interested to see how we finish the season. And you can use that." Many took this as a hint that Dorrell's job might be in serious jeopardy.[8] The Bruins would go on to lose to Arizona and Arizona State by a combined score of 58–47, but surprisingly shut out an Oregon Ducks team that a week earlier lost starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy Candidate Dennis Dixon to a knee injury. Heading into the final game of the regular season against crosstown-rival USC, the Bruins still had an outside chance at a Rose Bowl berth that might have saved Dorrell's job; with a victory over USC and some help from Arizona (with a win over ASU), the Bruins could have been the first-ever five-loss team to play in the Rose Bowl. It wasn't to be, however, and the Bruins finished the 2007 Regular season with a miserable offensive performance in a 24–7 loss to USC and a record of 6–6.
On December 3, 2007, Dorrell was fired during a meeting with athletic director Dan Guerrero.[9] He was offered the choice to coach in the Las Vegas Bowl but decided not to. Defensive coordinatorDeWayne Walker served as interim coach for the game, where UCLA lost to BYU.[10] UCLA eventually selectedRick Neuheisel, a former UCLA teammate of Dorrell, as his successor.
Dorrell interviewed atDuke University and was a finalist along with eventual hireDavid Cutcliffe for the head coaching position vacated byTed Roof.[11] He was also dealt as a candidate for the vacantoffensive coordinator position for theHouston Texans.[12] Former Texans offensive coordinatorMike Sherman left forTexas A&M University in November 2007. That position, however, eventually went toKyle Shanahan.
After rumors that he was a candidate to succeedMike Heimerdinger asDenver Broncos assistant head coach,[13] Dorrell eventually was hired as wide receivers coach for theMiami Dolphins, after having also interviewed with theKansas City Chiefs.[14]
He was named quarterbacks coach on January 26, 2011.[15]
Dorrell was hired as quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans in 2012, coachingMatt Schaub through aPro Bowl season as the Texans went 12–4.[16] He left the team after the 2013 season.
Dorrell was reunited with newly hiredVanderbilt University head coachDerek Mason, joining his staff as theoffensive coordinator in January 2014. Mason was a player atNorthern Arizona while Dorrell was coaching there early in his career.[17]
Dorrell' stint with Vanderbilt lasted only one season. Chris Foster of theLos Angeles Times wrote, "Dorrell's West Coast offense did not fare much better in the East than it did inWestwood. The Commodores averaged 17.2 points a game and finished with a 3–9 record."[18]
On January 23, 2015, Dorrell was named theNew York Jets wide receivers coach.[19] In the2015 New York Jets season, Dorrell established the Jets elite wide receiver duo ofBrandon Marshall andEric Decker. Both of them had one thousand yard seasons (Decker – 1,027) (Marshall – 1,502**), combined for an NFL record 26 touchdowns as a duo (Marshall – 14*) (Decker – 12) and a total of 189 combined catches (Marshall – 109**) (Decker – 80).
Although the2016 New York Jets season was a disastrous season for the Jets, the wide receivers were a bright spot in their offense. Although Brandon Marshall declined, and Eric Decker was injured early in the season, third-string wide receiverQuincy Enunwa had a breakout season for the Jets, with 58 catches for 857 yards and 4 touchdowns. Undrafted rookie wide receiverRobby Anderson also had a good season, with 42 receptions, 587 yards and 2 touchdowns.
** = New York Jets record
* = NFL record
On February 8, 2019, theMiami Dolphins announced they had hired Dorrell as the team's wide receivers coach under new head coachBrian Flores.[20]
On February 23,2020, Dorrell was named the 27th head coach for theUniversity of Colorado.[21] He signed a five-year, $18 million contract that would pay him $3.2 million for the first year with $200,000 annual raises in subsequent years.[22] Dorrell was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year after the Buffaloes finished the 2020 COVID-shortened season with a winning record (4–1) for the first time at Colorado since 2016.[23]
Following a blowout loss at home toUSC in October2021, a frustrated Dorrell shoved a photojournalist's camera while trotting off the field. The next day, Dorrell apologized for the incident in a statement.[24]
Colorado fired Dorrell and defensive coordinatorChris Wilson on October 2, 2022, after an 0–5 start to the 2022 season.[25] Dorrell's contract buyout was reported to be US$11.4 million,[26] minus money he already had been paid, which reduced that amount to US$8.7 million.[27]
Dorrell and his wife, Kim, have two children, Chandler and Lauren.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UCLA Bruins(Pacific-10 Conference)(2003–2007) | |||||||||
| 2003 | UCLA | 6–7 | 4–4 | T–5th | LSilicon Valley | ||||
| 2004 | UCLA | 6–6 | 4–4 | T–5th | LLas Vegas | ||||
| 2005 | UCLA | 10–2 | 6–2 | 3rd | WSun | 13 | 16 | ||
| 2006 | UCLA | 7–6 | 5–4 | 4th | LEmerald | ||||
| 2007 | UCLA | 6–6[a] | 5–4 | T–4th | Las Vegas | ||||
| UCLA: | 35–27 | 24–18 | |||||||
| Colorado Buffaloes(Pac-12 Conference)(2020–present) | |||||||||
| 2020 | Colorado | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2nd(South) | LAlamo | ||||
| 2021 | Colorado | 4–8 | 3–6 | 5th(South) | |||||
| 2022 | Colorado | 0–5[b] | 0–2 | ||||||
| Colorado: | 8–15 | 6–9 | |||||||
| Total: | 43–42 | ||||||||
| |||||||||