Meet the dream candidate

Does the UCLA football program truly seek greatness?

This is its chance.

After years of plodding along underneath the giant shadow of that soaring team from across town, does the UCLA football program really want to fly?

This is its moment.

Are the gutty little Bruins ready to shed that mantle and become the seething giant Bruins?

This could be now.

A question that has quietly plagued Bruins football followers for decades -- does our school really care about our sport? -- finally has an answer.

His name is Mike Bellotti.

He is one of the best offensive minds in the country, probably the toughest coach in the Pacific 10 Conference and, by many accounts, a builder of teams that I believe were good enough to win two national titles in the last seven years.

Teams that played in a place known as Eugene.

Can you imagine the kind of team he could build in a place known as Los Angeles?

Mike Bellotti reportedly is imagining that this very minute.

Does the UCLA football program hold the same sized dreams?

Time to find out.

Yes, as of Thursday afternoon, the Oregon coach is talking seriously with UCLA officials about becoming the Bruins’ new head football coach.

After 13 years in a fishbowl where his celebrity affords him scant privacy, Bellotti reportedly is ready for a place that already has its own movie stars.

After struggling to deal with publicity surrounding a son with two DUI convictions and a wife who recently launched a profane tirade against a Portland columnist in a press box, he reportedly is interested in going somewhere he can be just a football coach.

Works for us.

In this town, on the fame scale, the UCLA football coach ranks somewhere below a Dodgers middle reliever.

And, really, nobody cares what happens when that coach drives home, all of us being too busy watching Lindsay and Britney drive home, hoping we’re not driving anywhere near them.

In a town of Hollywood nuts, college football is an escape from those nuts.

So, yeah, Bellotti can come here and just coach.

And, man, can he coach.

Thirteen seasons in the woods, 11 bowl games in the spotlight, including the Rose, Fiesta and Cotton.

Only USC has won more conference championships during that time, and no other coach has been less afraid of the Trojans.

Remember how the Bruins spent a year celebrating Karl Dorrell’s lone victory against Pete Carroll?

Mike Bellotti is 5-3 against Pete Carroll.

His teams have won 42 of 52 games decided by a touchdown or less, so he teaches them to be cool.

His teams are 26-13 after Oct. 31, so he teaches them to be strong.

He taught this year’s team to be the best in the country, and it was, until quarterback Dennis Dixon suffered a knee injury in the final weeks against Arizona State and the season came off the tracks.

Yeah, yeah, Dorrell’s team shut out Bellotti’s team, 16-0.

But Bellotti was playing without arguably the nation’s best quarterback and one of its best running backs, so shush.

As with Dorrell, don’t judge him on a few games, judge him on a body of work, and his body is like few others.

Today is his 57th birthday, and he can celebrate it with an Oregon record of 105-50.

Considering earlier this week UCLA interviewed a coaching candidate whose career record was 5-19, the Bruins should be doing cartwheels here.

For a job that is not considered worth the time of most big-name coaches, Bellotti is not only the Bruins’ top candidate, he should be their only candidate.

Rick Neuheisel is a nice guy, but he is still shedding NCAA baggage. DeWayne Walker would have been my choice until Bellotti showed up, and now I’m hoping that Walker will agree to work for Bellotti.

And Temple’s Al Golden, well, that’s the dude who was 5-19.

This is a no-brainer moment, but a career-carving moment for Dan Guerrero, who must show that the athletic director of a basketball school can make the biggest football hire in its history.

It’s funny, but Mike Bellotti is like a football version of Ben Howland.

There’s little nonsense, few laughs, a steely seriousness that is in direct contrast to the fun that Carroll seems to always be having across town.

The question is, if this approach didn’t work for Dorrell, why will it work for Bellotti?

The thought is that Bellotti’s history of 400-yard offenses that send players to the NFL will overshadow any lack of pizzaz.

In other words, he’ll do his charming on the field.

There are issues, of course.

His teams have lost their last four bowl games, which might mean that he hasn’t figured out how to keep them interested. Then again, he is 13-2 after bye weeks, so it’s not about preparation.

There is also a concern that, while he is escaping a media market that follows his every personal step, he is coming to a market that will debate his every football move.

He will face more criticism here. Greater access will be demanded here. Winning will bring more problems here. He’s escaping one sort of pressure for a different sort, and there are concerns that his small-town vision can adjust to it.

Imagine that. Concern that a prospective UCLA football coach can handle success.

Here’s guessing Dan Guerrero will take that chance.

--

Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.