Editor’s note: One of a series about Pac-12 football programs as CU gets ready for its new conference. Today: Rick Neuheisel’s hot seat.
LOS ANGELES — UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel had just finished a battery of TV interviews when he finally grabbed some lunch. You had to figure, at the Fox Studios where the Pac-12 held its media day, he would run into some kind of comedian.
Sure enough, he took his plate of food to UCLA’s sun-splashed outdoor table, where the Southern California writers waited for him. He sat down.
“We saved you a seat in the shade,” one scribe said, “so it wouldn’t be hotter than it already is.”
Huh-bump-bum! But seriously, folks . . .
You Colorado fans still fuming about Neuheisel bolting Boulder after two 10-2 seasons (and subsequent 5-6 and 8-4 marks) probably laughed at that joke. Neuheisel cracked a wry smile too.
He knows. His star-crossed coaching career has reached a crossroads. He either wins this year or he’s plucked his last guitar string in Westwood. Athletic director Dan Guerrero hasn’t said anything. The boosters haven’t organized a posse.
No need. Everyone understands. Neuheisel, 50, is 15-22 and 8-19 in conference. His blond locks are thinning. His patience is waning. Failing his dream job at his alma mater was not what he had in mind when he entered this business.
“This has been the biggest challenge of my coaching career,” he said. “No question about it. Colorado, at the very young age that I was, it was great. But we had Koy Detmer.”
Ironically, the position that’s crippling Neuheisel’s career is the position on which he built his resume. In the past four years, UCLA’s quarterback position has been a combination of injuries, interceptions, missed reads and sacks. Lots of sacks.
The Bruins, 4-8 last season, finished 100th in total offense (316.7 yards per game), 104th in scoring (20.2 points per game) and 116th in passing (141.1 yards per game). Only Army and Utah State threw fewer than UCLA’s nine TD passes.
In what became arguably the longest offseason in college football, Neuheisel jettisoned both coordinators and took a geological eon to hire replacements.
“I’m not one who enjoys that,” Neuheisel said. “But it’s certainly necessary when the chemistry’s not right.”
When hired in 2008, Neuheisel brought in famed offensive coordinator Norm Chow, whose glossy resume includes Heisman Trophy winners in quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart, two national titles at Southern California and another star pupil at North Carolina State by the name of Philip Rivers.
Neuheisel and Chow waltzed into a packed, uproarious Pauley Pavilion at halftime of a basketball game and talked of national championships. Three years later, Chow is at Utah, his alma mater. What happened?
“I like Norm,” Neuheisel said. “Norm and I got along fine. For whatever reason, it didn’t work. It may have just been timing.”
In their first spring, senior quarterbacks Pat Cowan and Ben Olson went down with season-ending injuries, and junior Kevin Craft got sacked 35 times and threw 20 interceptions that fall.
In 2009, freshman Kevin Prince played most of the year with a broken jaw wired shut and led UCLA to a 7-6 mark and an EagleBank Bowl win. Neuheisel had his quarterback. Only one problem.
The Bruins couldn’t run. They finished 10th and ninth in rushing in the Pac-10 his first two years.
“For Norm’s offense to work, he needs to run the ball,” Neuheisel said. “We weren’t able to. We flat out weren’t able to.”
So Neuheisel made Chow dump his pro-set offense for Nevada’s successful pistol attack, a hybrid of the shotgun and single-back formations in which the quarterback is only 4 yards behind center instead of 7 as in the shotgun. Poof! Johnathan Franklin rushes for 1,127 yards.
Only one more problem.
“We forgot how to throw,” Neuheisel said.
Prince, who had missed his senior year at Crespi High in Encino, Calif., with a knee injury, turned into an old man before Neuheisel’s eyes. He missed most of fall camp with an oblique strain, beat Houston and then Texas, against whom he hurt his knee. He stumbled through a horrid loss at California and missed the last six games after knee surgery.
His replacement, sophomore Richard Brehaut, wasn’t ready, and the Bruins finished 1-5 with 17 season-ending injuries.
Neuheisel brought in an old buddy from the Baltimore Ravens’ staff, Mike Johnson, to run the offense and hired running backs coach Jim Mastro away from Nevada to fine- tune the pistol.
Sixteen starters return, but the key may be Prince, a proven leader and winner who can’t stay upright.
“When Prince is healthy, he’s an elite quarterback,” said senior wide receiver Taylor Embree, son of Colorado coach Jon Embree. “He’s in the top three in the Pac-10 when he’s healthy. I’m excited. He has the ability to take us to the championship if he stays healthy and our line stays healthy.”
Neuheisel’s job depends on it. He knows it. He says all the right things: “I haven’t lost confidence. I don’t wonder about my ability. I know I can do this.” But he also knows what he needs more than confidence.
“We need some magic,” he said. “We need somebody to throw a touchdown pass to win a game. And then it’ll take over.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
