He Didn’t Have to Be Plugged In to Win

UCLA is headed back to the Las Vegas Bowl where, two years ago, the Bruins defeated New Mexico with Ed Kezirian serving as interim coach after Bob Toledo had been fired. But did Kezirian, who is UCLA’s assistant director of academic services, really coach the Bruins?

“He’s the only coach I know of who wore a headset that wasn’t plugged in,” quipped Tina Kunzer-Murphy, Las Vegas Bowl executive director, at a Pasadena Quarterbacks Club luncheon last month.

Maybe offensive coordinator Kelly Skipper and defensive coordinator Phil Snow were the real coaches.

Trivia time: Which Bruin, then a sophomore, had a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown in the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl?

The spice of their lives: As noted in Morning Briefing Saturday, former Bruins Terry Donahue, Floyd Reese and Carl Peterson are NFL general managers.

Former UCLA coach Pepper Rodgers, who attended Saturday’s USC-UCLA game, said the three had something else in common. He hired all three as assistant coaches -- Donahue at Kansas, Peterson at UCLA and Reese at Georgia Tech.

“When I hired Donahue at Kansas, he got no money,” Rodgers said. “And that’s about what he was worth at the time.”

More Pepper: His hiring practices were a little different.

“I told Reese he could have the Georgia Tech job if he could identify the school’s fight song,” Rodgers said. “I played about four or five fight songs, and he picked the right one.”

Exposed: Kobe Bryant was on XTRA Monday with Steve Hartman, Mychal Thompson and Vic “the Brick” Jacobs.

Hartman, calling Thompson and Jacobs kiss-ups, said, “I see the glass as half full.”

Said Bryant: “So you’re a Laker hater.”

Hartman said he had been a lifelong Laker fan. “But my problem with the Lakers is ... “

Bryant: “So you’re a bandwagoner.”

Oops: Doug Krikorian was interviewing Dan Fouts on KSPN Monday when he told Fouts: “As a kid growing up in the Fresno area, I used to listen to your late father announcing 49er games.”

Said Fouts: “Gee, I just talked to my father 15 minutes ago, and he seemed fine.”

Bob Fouts is alive and well in Florida at 83.

Looking back: On this date in 1973, Jerry West had 10 steals for the Lakers in a game against Seattle, setting an NBA record. The record is now 11 steals, set by Larry Kenon of San Antonio in 1976 and tied by Kendall Gill of New Jersey in 1999.

Trivia answer: Craig Bragg, who had a school-record 96-yard punt return for a touchdown against USC Saturday.

And finally: Harvey Hyde, former Nevada Las Vegas and Pasadena City College football coach, says that there are some things that are the same for coaches at any level.

“You always read what the newspapers have to say,” he said. “Except that sometimes you run out to get it, and other times you wait until someone else goes and gets it.”

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].