This is both unfair – because it’s inaccurate and ignores the stretches where defense carried the team – and yet understandable – because of some very high profile defensive disasters and a lack of a consistent defensive identity or a tenured defensive coordinator.
This post will evaluate and rank each of UCLA’s defensive coordinators (DCs) since Terry Donahue left after the 1995 season. I choose this cutoff point because Donahue’s tenure was so long and his personality was so stamped on his teams that it would be difficult to single out any of his coordinators for influencing their unit’s culture and performance.