Karl Dorrell Karl Dorrell ( born December 18 , 1963 ) is an American football coach and former player . He is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Houston Texans of the National Football League ( NFL ) , a position he assumed in February 2012 . Dorrell served as the head football coach of the University of California , Los Angeles ( UCLA ) from 2003 to 2007 , compiling a record of 35 – 27 . He led the UCLA Bruins to five bowl appearance in five seasons , but did not coach in the fifth after he was fired in December 2007 . Dorrell was the first African American head football coach in UCLA ' s history . Early life and playing career . Karl attended Helix High School in La Mesa , California , where he played football . He was a two - time all - league selection and an honorable mention All - American as a senior . He led Helix to the CIF San Diego Section second place in 1981 . Karl went on to play football at UCLA , earning four varsity letters in football . He was one of the most successful wide receivers at UCLA with 1 , 517 receiving yards on 108 receptions . He suffered a shoulder injury in 1984 and was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA . He played on a team that won the Rose Bowl in 1983 , 1984 , and 1986 , and that won the Freedom Bowl in 1986 . During the 1983 season , he was a teammate of quarterback Rick Neuheisel , who would be his eventual successor as UCLA head coach . He caught touchdowns from Neuheisel during the season , including two in the 1984 Rose Bowl . In the 1986 UCLA vs . USC game , Dorrell was on the receiving end of a play that the Los Angeles Times dubbed " Hail Mary , and in your face . . " " On the last play of the first half , UCLA quarterback Matt Stevens faked a kneeldown , then pulled up and threw a Hail Mary pass , which was tipped into the hands of the flanker , Dorrell , to put the Bruins up 31 – 0 at the half . They would go on to win 45 - 20 . He had a brief career as a player in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys in the 1987 season , but he was placed on the injured reserve . Coaching career . Assistant coach . Dorrell ' s first job as a coach was in 1988 , as a graduate assistant for Terry Donahue at UCLA . That season the Bruins finished the season with a record of 10 - 2 and defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Cotton Bowl Classic . In 1989 , he became a wide receivers coach at Central Florida . In 1990 and 1991 he was the offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Northern Arizona . Under his tutelage , the NAU offense set a school record with 255 first downs in 1991 , amassing the second - most total offense ( 4 , 539 yards ) in a season . From 1992 to 1993 , Dorrell coached wide receivers at Colorado . In his first year with the Buffaloes , two of his receivers , Charles Johnson and Michael Westbrook , became just the fourth pair of receivers on the same team in NCAA history to each have over 1 , 000 receiving yards . He then served as wide receivers coach at Arizona State in 1994 before returning to Colorado when they hired his former UCLA teammate , Rick Neuheisel , as their head coach . This time , he would serve as wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator from 1995 to 1998 . When Neuheisel left Colorado for Washington , he brought four assistant coaches with him - including Dorrell , who served as the Huskies ' offensive coordinator and receivers coach in 1999 . In both 1993 and 1999 , Dorrell was a recipient of Denver Broncos Minority Coaching Fellowships , which allowed him to spend time in the Broncos ' training camp . He would return to the team in 2000 to serve as the receivers coach under head coach Mike Shanahan He held this position for three years , coaching players like Rod Smith , a two time selection to the NFL ' s Pro Bowl , and Ed McCaffrey , a one time Pro Bowl selection . With the help of Dorrell , Smith and McCaffrey became only the second wide receiver duo to each catch 100 passes in a single season ( 2000 ) . UCLA . Karl Dorrell was hired as the head coach at UCLA , replacing Bob Toledo , who was released at the end of the 2002 regular season . Between Toledo and Dorrell , Ed Kezirian , an athletic department official who oversees the academics for the football team , served as interim coach for the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl . Under Kezirian , the Bruins won the bowl game over New Mexico , 27 – 13 . Dorrell ' s hiring as head coach was announced on December 19 , 2002 by UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero . Ed Kezirian remained on the football staff . Dorrell was brought in at UCLA to clean up a program marred by off - the - field problems in the final years of Bob Toledo ' s tenure . 2003 – 2004 seasons . The UCLA Bruins football team under Dorrell recorded a mark of 6 – 7 in his first season as head coach in 2003 , with an appearance in the Silicon Valley Bowl , and a loss to Fresno State . In 2004 , his second season , the team finished with a record of 6 – 6 an appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl , with a loss to Wyoming . 2005 season . In 2005 , his third season as head football coach , Dorrell was able get his first win against a ranked opponent , No . 21 Oklahoma , featuring Adrian Peterson . On October 1 , 2005 , head coach Tyrone Willingham and his Washington Huskies came to the Rose Bowl for a Pacific - 10 Conference game to play UCLA . This was the first time two black head coaches faced each other in a Pac - 10 conference game . At the time , Sylvester Croom of Mississippi State was the only other black coach heading an NCAA Division I football program . Dorrell achieved his first win against a top - ten opponent with a 47 – 40 upset win over No . 10 - ranked Cal . Three Bruin wins in the 2005 season set new school records for biggest comebacks earning the nickname " The Cardiac Kids . " They came thanks largely to the heroics of quarterback Drew Olson and tailback Maurice Jones - Drew . In the regular season the Bruins came from down 21 points to win in overtime against both Washington State and Stanford . In the Stanford comeback , the Bruins scored 21 points in the final 7 : 04 of the fourth quarter . In the Sun Bowl , the Bruins set the record again by coming back from 22 points down . The Bruins were ranked No . 7 in the nation until a 52 – 14 blowout loss to a 3 – 8 Arizona team . The Bruins came into the UCLA - USC rivalry last regular season game ranked No . 11 . They suffered a 66 – 19 defeat to the No . 1 2005 USC Trojans football team . This was the largest margin of defeat since the series began in 1929 with a 76 – 0 defeat . The Bruins finished third in the Pac - 10 standings . On December 30 , 2005 his Bruins defeated the Northwestern Wildcats in the Sun Bowl , 50 – 38 , finishing the season with a 10 – 2 record . At the end of the 2005 season , Dorrell and fellow UCLA coach Ben Howland received pay bonuses for coaching successful seasons . Karl was named Pac - 10 co - coach of the year along with USC head coach Pete Carroll . 2006 season . In 2006 , Dorrell ' s fourth season , he guided the Bruins to a 7 – 6 season ( 5 - 4 in conference ) and a fourth - place Pac - 10 finish . UCLA played its first game at the University of Notre Dame since the 1960s and was leading 17 – 13 , but the Irish scored a touchdown in the final minute to win . The most notable victory of his coaching career at UCLA was a 13 – 9 defeat of No . 2 - ranked and Bowl Championship Series title - game - bound USC on December 2 , 2006 . The win kept the Trojans out of the title game and broke a seven - game UCLA losing streak to the Trojans , thereby preserving the Bruins ' eight - game win streak over USC from 1991 to 1998 as the longest run in the history of the rivalry . The victory also clinched a winning season for UCLA . The Bruins played in the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco against a Bobby Bowden - coached Florida State team on December 27 , 2006 and lost , 44 – 27 . 2007 season . In Dorrell ' s fifth season at UCLA , with 20 returning starters and a team of his own recruits , hopes were high for the Bruins in 2007 . After starting the season with a couple of wins over Stanford and BYU , and achieving a No . 11 AP Poll ranking , however , UCLA stumbled against an injured , winless , and unranked Utah Utes team , 44 – 6 . Four weeks later , Dorrell ' s Bruins fell again ; this time 20 – 6 to an unranked , winless Notre Dame team . The Bruins did , however , post wins against seemingly more difficult PAC - 10 opponents , including a No . 10 Cal team . However ; the bad taste of losses to teams the Bruins were favored to beat ( including an embarrassing 27 – 7 loss to Washington State ) raised questions about Dorrell ' s play - calling and ability to motivate his players . After the Washington State loss , UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero addressed UCLA ' s inconsistent football performances for the first time , stating " I will be very interested to see how we finish the season . And you can use that . " Many took this as a hint that Dorrell ' s job might be in serious jeopardy . The Bruins would go on to lose to Arizona and Arizona State by a combined score of 58 – 47 , but surprisingly shut out an Oregon Ducks team that a week earlier lost starting quarterback and Heisman Trophy Candidate Dennis Dixon to a knee injury . Heading into the final game of the regular season against crosstown - rival USC , the Bruins still had an outside chance at a Rose Bowl berth that might have saved Dorrell ' s job ; with a victory over USC and some help from Arizona ( with a win over ASU ) , the Bruins could have been the first - ever five - loss team to play in the Rose Bowl . It wasn ' t to be , however , and the Bruins finished the 2007 Regular season with a miserable offensive performance in a 24 – 7 loss to USC and a record of 6 – 6 . On December 3 , 2007 , Los Angeles papers and the Associated Press reported that Karl Dorrell was fired during a meeting with athletic director Dan Guerrero . Dorrell was offered the choice , but decided not to coach in the Las Vegas Bowl . Defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker served as interim coach for the game , where UCLA lost to BYU . UCLA selected a former teammate , Rick Neuheisel , as his successor . Miami Dolphins . Dorrell interviewed at Duke University and was a finalist along with eventual hire David Cutcliffe for the head coaching position vacated by Ted Roof . He was also dealt as a candidate for the vacant offensive coordinator position for the Houston Texans . Former Texans offensive coordinator Mike Sherman left for Texas A & M University in November 2007 . That position , however , eventually went to Kyle Shanahan . After rumors that he was a candidate to succeed Mike Heimerdinger as Denver Broncos assistant head coach , Dorrell eventually was hired as wide receivers coach for the Miami Dolphins , after having also interviewed with the Kansas City Chiefs . He was named quarterbacks coach on January 26 , 2011 . Family . Dorrell and his wife , Kim , have two children , Chandler and Lauren .