Who’s the mystery guest?
UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is, we are told, interviewing a potential head football coach today whose name has not come up in the last few days as one of the top candidates for the job.
Who is he? There are suspicions, but no hard facts yet.
To clarify: This is someone other than Rick Neuheisel; someone whose name has not been in the conversation.

We want Rick. Proven winning coach and a great Bruin!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Tony Boychenko | December 19, 2007 at 01:32 PM
It's Rick Neuheisel! A shady character, who would undermine all the integrity Dorell built into the program.
Posted by: Marco | December 19, 2007 at 02:25 PM
are you referring to neuheisel or someone else?
Posted by: george the bruin fan | December 19, 2007 at 02:31 PM
neuheisel?
LA times
Posted by: george the bruin fan | December 19, 2007 at 02:36 PM
Who needs facts? I'll take the suspicions!
Posted by: JoeBruin | December 19, 2007 at 02:59 PM
Rich, which candidate do you suspect it is? Mariucci?
Posted by: Sam | December 19, 2007 at 03:05 PM
There is no way image conscious Ucla hires Skippy. The AD had to interview him because of the pressure from some former players and wealthy alum, but he's not going to get the job. If Neuheisel wasn't an alum, he wouldn't get any consideration for the job.
Neuheisel's teams got worse while he was there. He took over CU when it was one of the top programs in the country. CU was 11-1 the year before Neuheisel. Skippy went 10-2, 10-2, 5-6 and 8-4 and left them on 2 years NCAA probation and in complete disarray.
At UW he went 7-5, 11-1, 8-4, 7-6 and left them with an NCAA investigation and sued the university. Neither program has recovered.
In Neuheisel's first year as OC for the Ravens, they went from 13-3 to currently 4-10 and the offense is horrible. I know McNair is hurt, but nobody cut Dorrell any slack for injuries. If Neuheisel doesn't leave for another job, he will be fired from the Ravens in 2 weeks.
If you were hiring someone to run a multimillion dollar enterprise and were going to sign them up for several years and several million dollars would you even consider someone with that resume? Either is Dan Guerrero.
Posted by: Phil Lawrence | December 19, 2007 at 04:23 PM
I think it's Kragthorpe, the coach from Louisville.
Posted by: Bay Area Bruin | December 19, 2007 at 04:42 PM
"At UW he went 7-5, 11-1, 8-4, 7-6 and left them with an NCAA investigation and sued the university. Neither program has recovered."
The AD was all over him like white on rice because of an office betting pool. He sued UW for wrongful termination and won; the incompetent AD left her job subsequently.
From his Wiki entery:
"Neuheisel was fired in the summer of 2003 from the University of Washington for participating in a neighborhood pool for the NCAA Basketball Tournament. He first denied the accusation to investigators, and before admitting to it after consultation with school officials. The gambling case became a local sensation when it was revealed that he had received an internal UW memo which authorized gambling in off-campus tournament basketball pools. That fall, the NCAA infractions committee found Neuheisel violated NCAA rules against gambling but didn't sanction him, citing the memo by Washington's former compliance officer that mistakenly authorized this type of gambling. It also became apparent that the NCAA violated its own rules when questioning Neuheisel about the gambling.
Legal proceedings enabled Neuheisel to collect a $4.5 million settlement and essentially clear him of wrongdoing as the NCAA and University of Washington were forced to abandon their case.
Posted by: W. H. Phinizy | December 19, 2007 at 05:56 PM
According to Brian Dohn, the mystery guest is Al Golden, current football coach at Temple. The guy went 5-19 in two seasons as the Owl master. If this is true, this is quite scary. May God have mercy on UCLA football.
Posted by: ucla2k3 | December 19, 2007 at 07:23 PM
its Al Golden the coach at temple
who imho is the best candidate and a long term hire that would FINALLY put us where we belong at the TOP
you dont understand this guy is being groomed for the Penn State Job
he is THE BEST CANDIDATE
Posted by: Montebello Warrior | December 19, 2007 at 07:37 PM
The mystery coach is Al Golden from Temple. Rich, if you want this blog to take off a little speculation goes a long way.
Posted by: Sam | December 19, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Golden is the wrong choice. The D is solid as long a they keep walker what they we need is a offensive minded coach who uses the spread offense and can recruit the skilled athletes on offense that they need.
Posted by: tjg | December 20, 2007 at 01:57 AM