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As a University of Washington graduate, I am part of one of the PAC 10 fanbases who have an emotional tie or opinion on UCLA’s new coach, Rick Neuheisel.  While I do not like Neuheisel very much, I find myself conflicted in certain respects and do not share the outright hatred for the coach that many Husky fans do.  On the other side of the coin, the UCLA fanbase has been rejuvenated after years of emotion-less football at the hands of Karl Dorrell. Now, Neuheisel has returned to his alma mater and is intent on reeking havoc on USC and the Trojans stranglehold on the city of LA, and the Pac-10 conference.   Whether you praise him or curse him, Neuheisel is a coaching enigma at this stage in his career and spurs optimism, criticism, and pessimism with his presence.

Neuheisel’s Past

If the mark of a man’s character is whether he leaves a situation in a better position than where he found it, then Rick Neuheisel’s character is dark indeed.  Both at Colorado and Washington Neuheisel left amidst scandal, investigation, and deception.  He left both once proud programs burning in rubble and was non-apologetic about doing so, casting himself as the victim.  As being misunderstood and underappreciated.  Both programs have struggled to regain their status amongst the college football elite since Neuheisel’s departure.  Neither has made it all the way back (although Colorado is much closer). 

I cannot speak to Colorado, but from a Washington perspective, Neuheisel’s biggest crime was the manner in which he treated the job as head coach.  A crime for which he has never apologized.  Almost from day one at UW he began scanning the horizon.  After leading the Huskies to an 11-1 record in 2000-2001 and capturing a Rose Bowl crown, Neuheisel stood in front of the purple and gold throngs and said the right things, acted the right way, thanked the right people.  But it seems that no sooner  than he had walked off the field and into the tunnel, his thoughts turned to something bigger, something better.  Rose Bowls at the University of Washington were not enough. 

During his time at Washington Neuheisel interviewed with Notre Dame, and with the San Francisco 49er’s.  He was not truthful about his intentions and always insisted that he was UW’s coach and planned on being there for years to come.  When he was finally fired following a NCAA college basketball gambling scandal, it was as much because the UW administration could no longer believe a word he said as anything else.  Yes there were numerous NCAA violations, but for the most part they were all minor.  They were a by-product of carelessness more than anything.  Indicative of a coach who didn’t care all that much about the NCAA recruiting manual because he was too busy updating his resume.  Had Neuheisel spent half the time studying the NCAA guidelines as he did crafting his public image, most of those violations never would have occurred.  But he did not.  The NCAA gambling pool and lies to the administration concerning his interviews are another story.  Those incidents were blatant arrogance.  Neuheisel flaunting his perception of invincibility.  He knew it was wrong but he did it anyways.

(And I don’t want to hear about the Richardson memo saying NCAA pools were ok.  Any head coach at any D1 program who gets a memo from the compliance office telling him or her that it’s ok to gamble on college sports should immediately walk down the hall to the compliance director and ask a lot of tough questions.  Yes the email was Neuheisel’s golden parachute in Court and allowed him to claim plausible deniability, but in the court of common sense it is absolutely worthless.)

When Neuheisel was fired by UW, it was undisputed that he had lied to the administration, that he had gambled on NCAA Basketball, and that he had allowed numerous minor violations to occur under his watch.  So he did the right thing and took responsibility for his actions, apologized to fans, and set about rebuilding his reputation.  Actually he didn’t do that at all.  He sued UW.  Literally sued the institution under the notion that his actions did not amount to “cause” for termination.  Neuheisel was under the misconception that because he had always said he was loyal to UW, that he should be believed.  That his actions suggesting otherwise was inconsequential.  He forgot the old saying about actions and words.  However, he won his court case (I think technically it was settled, but he was paid a lot of money).  While he was in the process of winning his money, the team he had once coach was in the process of winning 1 football game for an entire season.  With his money and his legal vindication, Neuheisel went to the Baltimore Ravens to work as a coach.

UCLA Neuheisel - What will be?

After firing Karl Dorrell, the UCLA football program was in seek of a spark.  They needed passion and fire.  They needed powder blue Pete Carroll.  The Bruins have not competed with USC football for a long time.  Yes they have won a game or two against their hated rival, but year in and year out they are not on the level.  This is to say nothing of their position within the rest of the conference, which can accurately be described as ‘middling.’  They finish in the middle and get to mid-range bowl games most seasons, even win them occasionally, but there has long been the notion that they have not taken advantage of to many things.  They have not exploited their campus and the Westwood mystique (compared to say, USC’s campus location).  They have not gotten enough blue chip talent out of California, a state with an embarassment of football riches.  They have not tapped the National Title spring that most othe UCLA athletic programs have found.  They have not seen the talent that does arrive, almost by default, translate into dominance on the field. 

And so in search of a fire, they looked for smoke.  They saw smoke to the north and smoke wisping up over the Rockies, and tapped the source of that smoke Rick Neuheisel (for where there’s smoke….).  But this is different. This is Neuheisel’s alma mater.  The place where he went from walk-on Quarterback to Rose Bowl MVP.  This is LA, a big enough pond to hold a big ego.  This is Pete Carroll country, a place where Rick can roil emotions and stir the pot as he once did with Oregon’s Mike Belotti (remember the famed Neueheisel proclamation, Oregon is a “propoganda machine”).  This could work.   Neuheisel is charismatic, passionate, and a man seeking redemption.  He has success coaching on the PAC-10 level and may have his ‘dream’ job coaching the school he once played for.  His time in the NFL may have quenched his thirst to ascend to the next level and he may now realize that college is the best place for him.  The trials and tribulations of Bobby Petrino may have opened his eyes a little.  Watching Charlie Weis struggle under the immense pressure of Notre Dame may cool his desire to leave Southern California.  In short:  Neuheisel may be home.  

His previous indiscretions can easily be solved at UCLA.  He can read the rulebook.  He can steer clear of the buddy/buddy booster relationships.  He can open a line of honest communication between his office and the Adminstration.  By simply doing that, he will find himself clear of the NCAA investigators, free from the pitfalls of mixing money and football, and on the same page as his employer.  The only remaining question will be football.  Can he dethrone Carroll and bring Roses to a school that has long measured its success by March Madness. 

What makes the situation so compelling to me is that I have no idea.  Can you just ignore the Colorado and Washington debacles?  Chalk it up to experience?  That experience came at quite a cost.  At the same time, can you ignore the success and charisma?  The fact that the man can inspire and lead when he is so compelled to do so?  Who will be right?  Will it be the UCLA fanbase who will have the last laugh and say they found the spark that ignited at Bruin dynasty? Or the Washington’s of the world who will have the last word, and be able to say, careful when you play with fire…. you might get burned. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.