Bob Toledo to Coordinate UCLA Offense

With Bob Toledo as offensive coordinator, Texas A&M; set the Southwest Conference rushing record with 3,629 yards two seasons ago and a school scoring record with 404 points in 1993.

With Toledo as offensive coordinator, Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave finished second in the Pacific 10 Conference in touchdown passes, with 60 for his career, and Chris Miller twice passed for more than 2,200 yards in a season.

So is Toledo a rushing or passing coach?

“I like to throw the ball,” said Toledo, who Saturday was named offensive coordinator at UCLA, replacing Homer Smith, who resigned Jan. 15 to take the same job at Alabama.

“We’re still going to be balanced,” UCLA Coach Terry Donahue said. “We’re not going to change the sets, the structure or nomenclature of the offense. Bob knows that. Every coach comes in with a new idea, but I’m committed to doing what we’ve done successfully since 1980.”

No problem, said Toledo.

“I think it’s easier for one coach to learn a system than for all the players,” he said. “Actually, they’re doing the same things I’ve always done. They just call them something different.”

Toledo, 47, was a quarterback at San Francisco State and has longstanding Southern California ties. He was head coach at UC Riverside from 1973-75 and an assistant at USC from 1975-78 before becoming head coach at Pacific. He was offensive coordinator at Oregon from 1983-88 before going to Texas A&M; in the same position.

He was fired at Texas A&M; two days after a 23-20 Cotton Bowl loss to Notre Dame. Toledo reportedly was made a scapegoat for the Aggies’ third consecutive Cotton Bowl loss, and Donahue said Aggie Coach R.C. Slocum had recommended Toledo for the Bruin job.

It was the second move of the weekend for the Bruins, who on Friday lost offensive line coach Bob Palcic to the Atlanta Falcons, where he joins the staff of new Coach June Jones.