SoCalHoops Recruiting News

UCLA Hires Dan Guerrero As The New AD &
Gets Morrison From UNC--(April 25, 2002)

UCLA announced today that the search for a new Athletic Director to replace the retiring Peter Dalis has been completed.  UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced today that the job will go to Dan Guerrero, who is currently the AD at UC Irvine.  Guerrero is a former UCLA athlete, and he was a member of the Bruins baseball team for four years during the early to mid-1970's, and is a member of the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.    We've reproduced the press release issued by UCLA below, and it can also be accessed directly at the official UCLA athletics website. Given the range of candidates for the job, Guerrero is an excellent choice and we wish him well in his new duties at UCLA.

UCLA has also picked up  a new transfer player, Brian Morrison, a 6'-2" So. SG who is transferring from the University of North Carolina. Morrison, played his high school basketball Lake Washington HS, in Kirkland, WA, and was one of the standout players in the class of 2000.  Given the dismal season he and the rest of the team at UNC had this past year, most people who remember watching Morrison play, including those of us who marvelled at his shooting during the summer camps and tournaments, long-ago forgot that Morrison can be one heck of a shooter.  Little facts that slip away, like the fact that he was the MVP of the Sonny Vaccaro Roundball Classic.   Morrison will reportedly redshirt this season and attend UCLA as a walk-on player and will then have two more seasons to play for the Bruins. 

Here's the official press release announcing the signing of Guerrero as the new UCLA Athletic Director:

Daniel G. Guerrero Named Director Of Athletics At UCLA
Served as Athletic Director at UC Irvine for past nine years.

April 25, 2002

UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale announced today that Daniel G. Guerrero has been named UCLA's eighth Director of Athletics, succeeding the retiring Peter Dalis. A former Bruin baseball player, Guerrero will assume his new duties on July 1, 2002. 

A press conference has been scheduled for Friday at noon in the Press Room of the J.D. Morgan Center. 

"Dan will do an outstanding job as UCLA's next Director of Athletics," said Chancellor Carnesale. "He has established himself as a successful athletic director in over 14 years at UC Irvine and Cal State Dominguez Hills, and I know that he is ready and eager to take on this new and exciting challenge. Dan knows that an athletic program must be successful in the classroom as well as on the field of competition. He is a former Bruin athlete and it's wonderful to welcome him home. We look forward to him making his mark in the unmatched athletic tradition of this university." 

"I am honored to accept the position of Director of Athletics at UCLA," said Guerrero. "Having the chance to return to my alma mater and lead such a prestigious athletic program are the reasons I embrace this opportunity. I commend the outstanding work my predecessors have done in guiding UCLA to the upper echelon of intercollegiate athletics, and I look forward to building upon the established excellence of the program." 

Guerrero has agreed to a five-year contract with a salary of $235,000 per year, pending approval by the Regents of the University of California. Details for other contract provisions have not been finalized. 

Guerrero comes to UCLA from UC Irvine, where he had served as UCI's fifth permanent Director of Athletics since December 17, 1992. The broad competitive success of its athletic teams and the academic excellence  of its student-athletes, along with the development of new and improved facilities and enhanced relations with the UCI community, reflect the progress UC Irvine Athletics experienced under Guerrero's direction. During his tenure, the program continued to accumulate conference championship titles, garner national rankings, feature graduation rates among the nation's best, and win numerous post-season honors for its student-athletes. 

Belief in conducting a program of integrity and substance has been the cornerstone of Guerrero's leadership throughout his career. Named as a 1999 Sports Ethics Fellow by the Institute for International Sport, Guerrero has fostered a strong sense of commitment and dedication among his coaches and staff to the development of the total student-athlete experience. A strong academic support and "Life Skills" program established under Guerrero's tutelage has resulted in UCI producing Academic All-Americans and post-graduate scholars on a perennial basis. 

Resulting from Guerrero's resourcefulness and creativity, UCI also experienced unprecedented activity in the area of athletic facilities development. In the past five years, Guerrero was the driving force behind $38 million of newly constructed or renovated facilities. These projects include a newly renovated track and soccer complex, with a new scoreboard and state-of the-art lighting; the construction of a 64-meter competitive swimming pool, one of the best of its kind on the west coast; an extensive baseball stadium renovation, serving as the home for the newly reinstated program; and the Anteater Recreation Center, one of the premier recreation centers in the country. In addition, Guerrero was in the process of moving forward on another $22 million in facility enhancements, including the development of an additional 26.8 acres of athletic field space and tennis courts adjacent to the recreation center, an expansion of the sports medicine center and strength and conditioning center, the development of a new academic study center for student-athletes and a new boathouse for the crew program, and future phases of the aquatics center and baseball stadium. 

Guerrero was also instrumental in fostering two successful student referendums that helped provide funding for enhanced scholarship funding for all sports and the addition of women's water polo, women's golf, women's indoor track and the reintroduction of baseball earlier this year. To complement support from the students, Guerrero rallied tremendous assistance from the campus administration and the external community, spearheading record-setting numbers for donations, corporate sponsorships and endowment contributions. Under Guerrero's direction, the UCI Varsity Club, an exclusive organization designed as a support group for current student-athletes, debuted this year. This group, which includes former student-athletes, coaches, and student team support staff, is a great avenue for staying actively involved in UCI Athletics. 

Guerrero has extensive experience in committee work at both the NCAA and Big West Conference level and had been serving as the second vice-president of the NCAA Division IAAA Athletic Director's Association. Prior to arriving at UC Irvine, Dan came from Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he led that program to national prominence while serving as Athletic Director for five years. 

Guerrero, 50, received his Bachelor's degree from UCLA in 1974 and played second base in the Bruin baseball program for four years. His batting average in Pacific-8 Conference games over three seasons as a varsity performer was .343. Guerrero was inducted into the UCLA Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996. He earned a Master's degree in Public Administration in 1982 from Cal State Dominguez Hills and was named to the Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society for Public Affairs that same year. Guerrero, born on November 10, 1951 in Tucson, AZ, is married to the former Anne Marie Aniello and they have two daughters: Jenna (20) and Katie (15). 

Guerrero's Highlights as Athletic Director at UC Irvine:  

Facilities · $1.8 million track/soccer stadium and tennis complex renovation · $3 million aquatic center construction · $3.9 million baseball stadium renovation · $35 million Anteater Recreation Center construction · $22 million academic study center, strength and conditioning center, sports medicine center, crew boathouse, and additional phases of aquatic center and baseball stadium projected to be complete by 2003

Programming · UC Irvine Athletics Hall of Fame tradition re-established · Academic Support and Life Skills programs established · Varsity Club program established · Community and Youth Programs division established · Added the sports of women's water polo, women's golf, women's indoor track and baseball 

Development · $1.9 million in yearly athletic scholarship funding through student referendum and other sources (300% increase since 1992) · $1.28 million gift for crew (largest gift in UC Irvine Athletics history) · $1.5 million increase in athletic endowment program · Achieved all-time highs in number of members and funds raised through UC Irvine Athletic Association 

Accolades · 139 Big West Scholar-Athletes in 2001 · National ranking for UC Irvine in Title IX/gender equity status · 1999 Institute for International Sport "Sports Ethics Fellow"· 40 All-America, 10 Academic All-America, 334 All-Conference honorees since 1992 · 50 all-conference honorees in 2000-01 

Committees · Member of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport Executive Board · Second Vice President NCAA Division I-AAA Athletic Directors Association · Board member of National Minority Opportunities Athletic Association · Member of Big West Conference Executive Committee · Member of Big West Conference Long-Range Planning Committee

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