Neuheisel II: "This is one of those ‘pinch-me’ days"

In a 31-minute question-and-answer session, new UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel impressed a capacity crowd inside the Press Room of the Morgan Center on campus with his sincerity and wit. Highlights:

>> "This is one of those pinch-me days because I have been in the wilderness, so to speak. You leave home, you kind of find your way, you lose your way and here I am back home. I couldn’t ask for a better scenario for myself in terms of wanting the chance to prove that I can do this job, that I can do it in the right way and to do it with my friends and my family."

>> "I was a young coach when I got the [Colorado] job at age 33. Maybe in an effort to prove that I belonged to my older peer group, I did some things that probably weren’t necessary in an effort to try to compete, to show everybody that was going to out-hustle them and so forth. And the mistakes have been well documented, but I certainly take ownership in them and I have learned from them. I can’t change the past, but I can learn from the past. I made sure that both Dan [Guerrero] and Chancellor [Gene] Block realize that if given this opportunity that I would never, ever do anything to tarnish the great reputation of UCLA, the integrity of this program and it would be a thrill to have the opportunity to prove that."

>> "I do know how to lead a program. I do know how to put the pieces together. It doesn’t happen overnight. There are a lot of great kids in this room who are excited about the future, and I just met a few of them out in the hallway before we walked in here. And the message is this: guys, we’re all the same. We got recruited by UCLA – me for the first time! [big laugh in the room] – we got recruited by UCLA for one reason: to come and make the most of this experience. Yes, we want to win and go to the Rose Bowls and do all of those things that bring great honor to this football program, but we would be remiss if we missed out on all the other pieces of the experience, meaning the chance to have this first-class education, a chance to meet a student body that’s as diverse as any in the world, to walk the same grounds that Jackie Robinson walked, that Arthur Ashe walked, that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar walked and go on down the list: Kenny Easley, Freeman McNeil, Troy Aikman, you can go on down the list of great Bruins that not only made a mark as a student and as an athlete, but also making a mark in society."

>> "I owe [Brian Billick, fired today as coach of the Baltimore Ravens] a great debt. He gave me a chance to get back into football. He was very, very helpful in getting my family situated and getting us jump-started if you will. I learned a great amount of technical football in the NFL; it’s a great game. The relationships there are even more important to me, to the players that I got to be a part of. Our family will always be indebted to him."

>> On when he will be re-locating his family: "Susan is going to make all those decisions, she’s the head coach in the moving department. She’s the head coach in most of the things, if you really want to talk about it. She and I will figure out what’s best for the boys in terms of schools and getting themselves situated and make sure they’re on the right path. As soon as its prudent to do so, we’ll do it. We want to be part of this Southern California scene as quickly as is possible. I don’t know if you knew this, but the weather is better here [big laugh in the room]."

>> On his discussions thus far with defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker: "DeWayne is a great, great coach, a great ambassador for this university and he has proven that he’s a capable defensive coordinator. The Bruins have played outstanding defense each of the last two seasons and I know he’s excited about his first chance as a coordinator and would like to continue in that stead. Obviously, with that being said, he is coveted. When you make your mark like he has over the last couple of seasons, there are other suitors out there who would love for him to come and spin his magic for them. So it is a little bit of a recruiting battle, but I’ve got one great thing on my side: UCLA. I don’t have to sell it to him because he has been here and he knows it. We’re in dialogue, we’re going to continue to talk because I would love for him to be a part of this program going forward. I know the defensive players on the team feel the same way in terms of really believing in his leadership. So hopefully that can happen here sooner than later.

"But it’s important for DeWayne to take the amount of time that’s necessary for him to feel really good about the decision, because it’s exciting to be coveted. But we’re going to make him feel like a blue-chipper."

>> On how the process of being hired worked: "I called Bobby Field, an old colleague of mine and Dan’s right-hand man here in the [football] program. I just wanted to let it be known that should UCLA have an interest in me at all that I would love the opportunity to talk to them. I certainly understood if they felt like there was another direction they needed to go.

"I begged, pleaded and all that other stuff and basically let them know who I was. I said to Dan [Guerrero], ‘I know there was a moment when you got this job as the athletic director of your alma mater where you closed the door, sat down and probably put your feet up on the desk for the first time and just kind of leaned back in awe about what kind of an opportunity this was and what kind of an awesome responsibility you were undertaking. And somewhere in that thought process, you made yourself a promise that you were never going to do anything to tarnish the great reputation of UCLA.’ I’m no different. I’m hopeful that I get to have that same moment.

"While doing that, I will fight, scratch and claw to get us back to the national scene. That’s a solemn promise and I looked him in the eye and fortunately, he listened.

"There was a second interview. I was called and asked to come out to California, on a Monday. In the NFL regimen, Tuesdays are player’s day off. So it was the day to do it where it would make the least amount of commotion. So I got on an early morning flight which was cancelled at BWI, so I got in a cab to try to get to Dulles in Washington, D.C. and there were two accidents along the way, so I missed that flight and then I got onto a flight that got in at 2 o’clock and then I had a meeting with some of Dan’s support staff at about 3:30 that day and then had the opportunity to meet Chancellor Block and share my vision for the program at his home, which was a thrill.

"In all my years, I’d never been in the Chancellor’s home, so that was kind of a cool thing. Really cool artwork in there [big laugh in the room]. I think it’s a Warhol picture of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, right? Just a monster one; you just want to stare at it. Then I got on a 10:45 flight back, landed at 7 and went right to the office to start the next day’s practice and just go on.

"You’re hinging on every phone call, hoping that it’s good news, hoping you’re still in it. You have to give them their chance to do the process, but you’re also in this island waiting for good news. Fortunately, this past Saturday, the good news came. I never stared at a fax machine longer in my life. ‘The fax is coming Rick’ and I just stared at it. All of a sudden it started to click on and the agreement came across the deal and it didn’t take me long to sign. And it went back and you stare again. I hope they didn’t change their mind. I wish everybody could have the thrill."

>> On whether he will ask for a relaxation of the entrance requirements on behalf of specific players: "My job is to work within the framework of the institution and to do everything I can to compete successfully in a great conference. I certainly understand there’s frustration at times when you see somebody you believe in and they don’t meet the necessary requirements. But rather than spend my time worrying about that, I want to spend my time worrying about all that’s good with UCLA. You only have a limited amount of time. So use it to focus on that which can help you rather than focus on things which will be difficult. The powers-that-be will make those decisions and they will make them with the best interests of this institution. And it’s my job to work within that framework."

>> On whether UCLA should be concerned about taking a chance on him? "No, because I know how I am going to go about this. I know the mistakes I’ve made, I know how I made them and I’m not going to make them again. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to make a mistake. But it’s not going to be because I’m trying to do anything that’s shady or under the table. I’m going to do everything I can as aggressively as I can because this program deserves that.

"As Dan said to me in our talk, ‘I don’t want some robot coach. I want your swagger, if that’s the right term, I want you, but you have to understand you’re going to be under a microscope.’ I said, ‘Dan, I’ve been under a microscope now for a long time and I understand it. Rather than being upset about it, I’m trying to look introspectively about what I can do better the next time.’ Did they take a chance? Only time will tell. I’m hoping it was a really good decision."

>> On whether he will continue to recruit in inner-city Los Angeles: "If I sat in one meeting with Terry Donahue, I sat in 100 . . . ‘there’s no reason to travel to the ends of the Earth if everything we ever needed was right here at home.’ In our meeting with Chancellor Block, he really wants to reconnect with Los Angeles. So I think it’s just a ready-made goal of all of ours to have UCLA be Los Angeles’s university, to be a place where the great student-athletes want to come to compete in the same places that Jackie Robinsons and the Arthur Ashes and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbars and the Kenny Easleys and the Freeman McNeils, where they competed. That’s the job, and I have great relationships with the high school coaches in this area. I’m hopeful of re-connecting very quickly and make sure that this is an open place, that we want very best and brightest."

>> "On the subject of recruit calls – you’re going to be impressed that I know these rules [big laugh in the room] – we’re in a ‘dead period’ currently, though there can only be one phone call. Dan and Bobby made sure the coaches left that phone call to the new head coach and so I get to make those calls this week. This coming weekend becomes a ‘quiet period’ that you can see recruits on campus, but not off-campus. So I’m hopeful that we can encourage a lot of them and their families to come to campus this weekend and so I can get to meet everybody, kind of share my vision for what this is going to be all about and why it makes a heck of a lot of sense for them to stay with their commitment and come to this great institution and that they’re going to have the ultimate college experience.

In the meantime, I’m going to be taking a test to make sure that I’m current with the NCAA rules so that when the time presents, I can get off-campus and go about the work of recruiting."

>> "I got a chance to meet a lot of [the assistant coaches] this morning. Obviously, there are some anxious moments in terms of what their future holds and we just have to deal with that. The hope is that we’ll get a chance to meet with everybody Wednesday and Thursday, certainly no later than Friday and we’ll hopefully have some moves. You don’t need to go so fast that you make hasty decisions. I’ve made hasty decisions in my past and as I said, I learned from them. We’ll take the necessary amount of time and do this the right way."

Comments

[Steve]

Rick set exactly the right tone with his answer to the question about inner-city recruiting. UCLA wants the Brian Prices and other outstanding LA athletes, and to give them the opportunity to play alongside other outstanding athletes from near and far like Banning's Freeman NcNeil, Pasadena's Jackie Robinson, Kareem from New York City's Power Memorial, Kenny Easley from Chesapeake (Va), and Arthur Ashe from Richmond (Va).

[sailinlove]

Just the other day, the nay sayers were all condemning Neuheisel's hire while waving goodbye to Walker. Interesting that their forecast departure for our defensive coordinator was premature, and I believe their negative response to Rick is ill advised as well. I am excited about the potential for success with this new energy for the coaching staff. Go Bruins!

[Jon K.]

sailinlove,

Rick won me over by saying all the right things, showing extreme enthusiasm and optimism for the program, humbly admitting his mistakes, communicating maturity, and, above all, retaining DeWayne Walker and much of the defensive staff.

I was hesitant, but now I'm not.

GO BRUINS!