Let's get to the news and notes from the big Monday. As bruinhoo outlined below DG hit all the right notes in yesterday's press conference.  Wanted to pick out three bits from the LAT report on firing. First, DG said he was going to take as much time as it takes to make sure we hire the "right coach":

Also I was encouraged to not hear the name - Bob Field - anywhere in this sentence: From what I hear the athletic department officials DG will be paying close attention will probably not include Bob Fields, who came up with the finalist list of Riley, Robinson, and Dorrell last time around.

And as to one of the main reason why DG let Dorrell go: In other words just winning 60 percent of football games will not be enough at UCLA. The next step here means winning Pac-10 championships and being one of the main contenders in the BCS discussions in early December not in late August.

Meanwhile, Chris Dufresne in the LA Times hit all the right notes in his observations that Dorrell absolutely received a fair shake at UCLA: Chris also connected when he wrote that why it is more than reasonable for DG to go another route than hiring an unproven assistant coach like DeWayne Walker with zero years of head coaching experience: Unfortunately Dufresne's common sense is missing from Mark Whicker's UCLA "wish list," which has the DyNoMite at the top. Then again Mark was defending Dorrell till the very last day. So his words don't count for much. He has no credibility when it comes to matter of UCLA football.

Moving on over at the recruiting front there has been no mass decommittments. In fact the LA Times is reporting that some kids reasonably are now on a holding pattern, while others are going a step forward and remaining committed to UCLA: Larimore sounds like a veteran Bruin. As for concerns about defensive coaches leaving, Kuwada also had these notes from two current players: I appreciate the concerns of Price and Carter. But we have to remember they are still kids. And some of these reactions are expected. If DG executes a good search process (which I think he will) and gets us the right coach, not only the recruits will remain in fold, I believe the concerns of our current players will be addressed, and everyone will look forward to a new beginning starting.

All in all, I think Monday went really well. Once again I will say how encouraging it was to hear DG strike all the right notes. It's pretty clear to me that he is in line with the thoughts and vision we have been laying out here on BN for almost three years.
Now as grok451 pointed out below as we go through a coaching search (which could be a long one), we have to be patient. I know we all have our own favorite candidates. However, there is no absolute in this business. Every coach has their own flaws, while each of them is unique in their own way. I am just encouraged by the names that we are hearing publicly, which I believe is a huge improvement from the names we heard last go around, and to me I am sensing a breaking away from the era of Terry Donahue, which is a huge relief in my book. So let's all buckle up a little and enjoy the search.

I really liked how Quickhands stepped up and shared the article he found on Mike Leach (and BTW our friends at Double-T Nation are worried to say the least). If you like a particular coach and are doing research on him, feel free to share with rest of us, and articulate why you think he would be a good fit for Westwood. This is a great time for all of us to enlighten each other about new coaches, personalities, philosophies/approaches to the game etc.

It's a great time to be a UCLA football fan. There is a sense of hope as everyone is hitting our notes. The right notes.

GO BRUINS.