By By JOEDY McCREARY, AP Sports Writer
DURHAM — Former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell was spotted on the Duke campus Monday, while the Blue Devils’ search for a coach dragged into its third week.
Dorrell, who was fired last week after the Bruins finished 6-6 this season, was seen in the passenger seat of a convertible near Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Don Yee, Dorrell’s Los Angeles-based agent, declined to comment, while athletic director Joe Alleva did not return a telephone message left by The Associated Press.
Duke is looking for a replacement for Ted Roof, who was fired Nov. 26 after wrapping up a 1-11 season with a ninth straight loss. The Blue Devils went 6-45 during Roof’s four-plus seasons in Durham.
Dorrell, who will be 44 on Dec. 18, surfaced as a possible candidate late last week. Others believed to be under consideration include Vanderbilt’s Bobby Johnson, and former East Carolina coach and Boston College assistant Steve Logan.
One of Duke’s top choices, former Navy coach Paul Johnson, was hired last week by Georgia Tech. Former North Carolina Central and current Grambling State coach Rod Broadway also is known to have interviewed for the Duke job.
If hired, Dorrell would become Duke’s first black head coach in any sport. He went 35-27 with five bowl appearances during his five-year tenure at UCLA.
Alleva has said he wants to hire someone with head coaching experience in the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, and with a reputation for developing offenses.
Under Dorrell, the 2005 Pac-10 coach of the year, Drew Olson set four school passing records and led the Bruins to a 10-2 finish and a No. 16 national ranking that season.
Their 7-6 record a year ago was marked by an upset of then-No. 2 Southern California that knocked the Trojans from the national title game.
The Bruins closed this season with losses in five of seven games — yet entered the annual season finale against USC with an outside chance at a Rose Bowl berth. But two days after USC’s 24-7 victory, Dorrell was fired, and he announced later last week that he would not coach the team in its Las Vegas Bowl appearance against BYU.