 Neuheisel at the UCLA spring scrimmage in 2011 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 7 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1961-02-07)February 7, 1961 (age 64) Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | McClintock (Tempe, Arizona) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | UCLA | ||||||||||||||
| Undrafted: | 1984 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||
| Career: | 87–59 (college) 5–3 (AAF) | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching profile at Pro Football Reference | |||||||||||||||
Richard Gerald Neuheisel Jr. (/ˈnuːhaɪzəl/; born February 7, 1961) is anAmerican football analyst, coach, and former player. He served as the head football coach at theUniversity of Colorado Boulder from 1995 to 1999, at theUniversity of Washington from 1999 to 2002, and at his alma mater, theUniversity of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), from 2008 to 2011, compiling a careercollege football coaching record of 87–59. From 2005 to 2007, Neuheisel was an assistant coach with theBaltimore Ravens of theNational Football League (NFL), as quarterbacks coach for two seasons andoffensive coordinator for one. He formerly served ashead coach for theArizona Hotshots of theAlliance of American Football (AAF) before the collapse of the league. Before coaching, Neuheisel playedquarterback for theUCLA Bruins from 1980 to 1983, then spent two seasons with theSan Antonio Gunslingers of theUnited States Football League (USFL) before splitting the1987 NFL season between theSan Diego Chargers and theTampa Bay Buccaneers.
Neuheisel was born inMadison, Wisconsin, one of four children and the only son of Dick and Jane (Jackson) Neuheisel, with sisters Nancy, Katie, and Deborah. Dick is an attorney and Rick grew up inTempe, Arizona, and graduated fromMcClintock High School in 1979. He lettered in three sports (football, basketball, baseball) and was named its outstanding athlete during his senior year.
Neuheisel played hiscollege football atUCLA, beginning his career as awalk-on and holding placekicks forJohn Lee. He was the starting quarterback in his senior year in the1983 season. UCLA opened with a loss atGeorgia, a tie withArizona State and then a 42–10 loss at #1-rankedNebraska. Neuheisel was benched after the Nebraska loss in favor ofSteve Bono. On October 1, the Bruins lost toBYU to start the season 0–3–1. Bono was injured during theStanford game, and Neuheisel came back to finish the season.[1] Neuheisel led the Bruins to an eventual 6–4–1 record, culminating with a win over arch-rivalUSC that, combined withWashington State's upset of Washington, gave UCLA thePac-10 championship in 1983 and sent them to theRose Bowl on January 2, 1984.
Neuheisel led the Bruins to a 45–9 victory over 4th-ranked and heavily favoredIllinois in the1984 Rose Bowl, in which he was named theMVP; two of his four touchdown passes were caught by a sophomore wide receiver from San Diego namedKarl Dorrell, a future Neuheisel assistant coach and later his predecessor as the UCLA head coach.[2] The victory vaulted the Bruins, unranked through most of the season, into the top 25 in wire service polls. Much like his rise to stardom at UCLA, the road to the victory was a bumpy one. Neuheisel and two other players on the defensive side of the ball suffered fromfood poisoning hours before the Rose Bowl and it was unsure that Neuheisel would start. Neuheisel would end up starting the game. He also set an NCAA record that year for single game pass completion percentage (since broken) by completing 25 of 27 passes (92.6%) in a Pac-10 win overWashington. In 1998, Neuheisel was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
Neuheisel was named to thePac-10 All-Academic team and graduated from UCLA in May 1984 with a B.A. inpolitical science and a 3.4 GPA. Neuheisel still holds the UCLA single season record for completion percentage, completed 185 of 267 passes (69.3%) for 2,245 yards in the 1983 season. He was also a member ofSigma Nufraternity while a student.
Neuheisel bypassed the1984 NFL draft and joined theSan Antonio Gunslingers of theUSFL, where he played the1984 and1985 seasons as the Gunslingers' starter. Never considered a major NFL prospect, he went undrafted in the NFL'ssupplemental draft of USFL players and his career in that league was extremely brief, lasting only five weeks. In the1987 season, Neuheisel signed with theSan Diego Chargers as areplacement player during the three-game long players' strike. He spent the last two weeks of that season as a backup with theTampa Bay Buccaneers, not playing in either game.
While attendingUSC Law School on an NCAA postgraduate scholarship, Neuheisel served as a graduate assistant with UCLA, where he tutoredTroy Aikman. He graduated with aJuris Doctor(J.D.) from USC in 1990[3] and passed the Arizona State Bar in May 1991 and the Washington, D.C. Bar in March 1993.
He later became a full-time assistant coach in 1988, and stayed at UCLA through the 1993 season as the quarterback coach. Hard feelings emerged with UCLA coachTerry Donahue in 1994, when Donahue picked Texas A&M assistantBob Toledo to be the Bruins' offensive coordinator over Neuheisel.[4] In 1994, Neuheisel moved toColorado as an assistant toBill McCartney. Neuheisel and Donahue had a chance meeting at the airport in Dallas in 1999, and resolved their differences.[4]
McCartney retired following the 1994 season and Neuheisel, age 34, was named the head coach. He stayed for four seasons (1995–1998) inBoulder as theBuffs coach. His best season was his first, in which the Buffs tied for second in the final season ofBig Eight Conference play and won theCotton Bowl. His only losing season at Colorado was1997; the Buffs were expected to be national title contenders, but never recovered from a blowout loss toMichigan on national television. After the season, the Buffs were forced to forfeit their five wins due to an ineligible player, though Neuheisel was subsequently ruled to not be affected.
Neuheisel was welcomed into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame before the1999 Rose Bowl.[5] University of Washington athletic directorBarbara Hedges took the opportunity to meet with him. She fired coachJim Lambright and named Neuheisel as his replacement.[6] Neuheisel left forSeattle in January 1999 to coach at theUniversity of Washington for four seasons (1999–2002). His starting salary was $1,000,000 annually, at the time one of the five highest in the nation.[6] One of Neuheisel's first acts was to restore the Huskies' traditional gold helmets; they had worn purple helmets for the previous four seasons.
In the2000 season, the Huskies won thePac-10 title and theRose Bowl overBig Ten champPurdue, led by quarterbackDrew Brees. Their only loss was to the rivalOregon Ducks. Washington, led by senior quarterbackMarques Tuiasosopo, the Rose Bowl MVP, finished the season at 11–1 and was ranked third in the final national polls. Neuheisel became the first (and as of 2016 only) former Rose Bowl MVP to coach a winning Rose Bowl team.
In 2008,The Seattle Times ran a series of articles which accused Neuheisel and athletic director Barbara Hedges of overlooking numerous discipline problems—including outright criminal behavior—during the 2000 season.[7] During that year, UW safety Curtis Williams was allowed to play despite being issued an outstanding arrest warrant for assaulting his wife, Michelle.[7] LinebackerJeremiah Pharms was under investigation for robbing and shooting a drug dealer after police found his fingerprints at the scene, but was not charged until the season was over.[7]Jerramy Stevens, the Huskies star tight end, was under investigation of raping a UW freshman on sorority row.[7] When Stevens later crashed his truck into a retirement home, Neuheisel suspended him for half a game.[7]
In February 2003, Neuheisel had secretly interviewed for theSan Francisco 49ers coaching job without telling anyone at UW about it. The 49ers'general manager at the time,Terry Donahue, had been Neuheisel's head coach as a player and assistant coach at UCLA. A day after his interview, he issued a statement through UW's athletic department saying he wasn't interested in the job. However, a few days later, a Seattle newspaper reporter wrote that he'd eavesdropped on a private conversation of Neuheisel discussing the 49ers job on his cell phone while the two were waiting for a flight atSan Francisco International Airport. When Hedges found out about it, she and school presidentLee Huntsman warned him that further lies would not be tolerated.[8]
Before Neuheisel coached his first game for the Huskies, he had already violated NCAA recruiting rules by visiting high school players before the NCAA approved date to do so.[9] In the summer of 2003, Neuheisel came under fire for taking part in a neighborhood pool for the2003 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and lies he told about his actions. He first denied the accusation to investigators before admitting to it after consultation with school officials. Thegambling 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. UW athletic director Barbara Hedges learned that the NCAA was considering giving Neuheisel a two-yearshow-cause order, which would have effectively blacklisted him from the coaching ranks for two years. She then gave Neuheisel an ultimatum—resign or be fired for cause. He refused, and was fired on June 11.[10]
That fall, the NCAA infractions committee found Neuheisel violated NCAA rules against gambling but didn't sanction him, citing the memo by Washington's then compliance officer, Dana Richardson, that mistakenly identified this type of action as a permissible exception to NCAA gambling sanctions.[11] It also became apparent that the NCAA violated its own rules when questioning Neuheisel about the gambling. UW had its probation extended for failing to monitor its football program.[12][13]
Neuheisel sued both the NCAA and the University of Washington concerning the termination of his employment contract. Toward the end of trial, it was revealed that the NCAA had failed to turn over certain crucial evidence to Neuheisel's attorneys. The new evidence (updated NCAA bylaws pertaining to rules investigations) bolstered Neuheisel's claim that the NCAA acted improperly during its investigation that eventually led to his firing. With the new evidence revealed, the NCAA and University of Washington requested to settle before the case went to the jury. The settlement awarded Neuheisel $4.5 million, consisting of cash payments and some loan forgiveness. He served as a volunteer coach forRainier Beach High School in Seattle for two seasons (2003–2004).
Neuheisel became an assistant coach (quarterbacks) with the NFL'sBaltimore Ravens in January 2005. In 2006, the Ravens acquired quarterbackSteve McNair and won theAFC North division with a 13–3 record. After the season, Neuheisel was promoted tooffensive coordinator.
Neuheisel was invited to two interviews regarding the head coaching position at hisalma mater UCLA, following the firing of his former UCLA teammate,Karl Dorrell.[14] Ravens head coachBrian Billick assured that he would allow Neuheisel to leave the team before the completion of the2007 NFL season.[15] Other candidates in which UCLA showed interest and interviewed included:Oregon Ducks CoachMike Bellotti,Temple Owls CoachAl Golden, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinatorNorm Chow, UCLA's defensive coordinator and interim coachDeWayne Walker, and then-Philadelphia Eagles assistantJohn Harbaugh.[16]
On December 29, 2007, Neuheisel was introduced as thehead coach of the UCLA Bruins in a five-year contract that paid him $1.25 million per season and included incentives that could add $500,000 a year.[17] He immediately began to consolidate his coaching staff by retainingDeWayne Walker, Karl Dorrell's defensive coordinator and interim coach for the Bruins 2007 bowl game.[18] He made a major move by hiringNorm Chow, offensive coordinator of theTennessee Titans and previously the offensive coordinator ofcrosstown rival USC's2003 and2004 national championship seasons.[19] He also began to make himself highly visible to the media, including appearing at the2008 Rose Bowl[20] and coining the phrase "Passion Bucket" during an interview onThe Dan Patrick Show by saying, "When you're at UCLA, you have to have your passion bucket full when you play the Trojans." He also appeared in an ad created by the UCLA athletics marketing department that declared, "The Football Monopoly in L.A. Is Officially Over"[21] and engineered an agreement withPete Carroll that allows both UCLA and USC to wear their home jerseys during the annual game.[22] This home jersey arrangement begat a rule change for the2009 football season.[23]
Neuheisel had his first win on September 1 with the Bruins as they defeated #18Tennessee, 27–24. The win came in overtime as Tennessee's field goal try sailed wide left.[24] However, the team's momentum came to a halt in successive weeks. A brutal 59–0 defeat on the road at the hands of #15BYU was followed by a disappointing 31–10 loss at home to unrankedArizona in the Bruins' Pac-10 opener. The UCLA offense failed to score a touchdown in either contest. The team finished the season 4–8 overall and 3–6 in conference.
Despite this record, Neuheisel was still able secure the fifth-best recruiting class in the nation in 2009 as rated byScout.com. The class was headlined by two formerUSC commits, Morrell Presley and Randall Carroll, offensive linemen Xavier Sua-Filo and Stan Hasiak, and running back Damien Thigpen. Nevertheless, the Bruins fell to 4–8 in 2010, losing six of their last seven games and failing to receive a bowl berth. Player injuries and other attrition depleted UCLA of its roster depth, while true freshmen were forced into action and seniors who were previously reserves became starters; a quarterback who had attempted only 17 passes in his career became the starter.[25] At the end of the season Neuheisel fired two assistant coaches, including Chow, and said he would "be crushed ... if we're not going to a bowl game a year from now."[26]
The2011 season record improved to 6–6 in regular season play. The Bruins won the first Pac-12 South Division title, as crosstown rival USC was ineligible due to NCAA sanctions. A shocking 50–0 shutout loss to USC to end the regular season—UCLA's fifth consecutive loss to the Trojans—prompted speculation that Neuheisel would be fired.
Neuheisel was fired as head coach of UCLA on November 28, 2011. He was allowed to coach his final game at the December 2,Pac-12 Conference football Championship game, where the team lost by a score of 49–31 to the Oregon Ducks.[27]
In May 2018, Neuheisel was announced as head coach for theArizona Hotshots, aPhoenix-based team for the plannedAlliance of American Football. The team played atSun Devil Stadium in Neuheisel's home state of Arizona.[28]
In December 2011, Neuheisel joined theCBS Sports Network as a guest analyst for their "Inside College Football" show.[29]
In May 2012, thePac-12 Network announced that he would be joining their networks as a studio analyst and a football game analyst starting with the 2012 football season.[30]
In March 2015, Neuheisel was hired byCBS Sports to be an analyst onCollege Football Today, the pre-game show for theSEC on CBS.[31]
Neuheisel and his wife, Susan (née Wilkinson), have three sons: Jerry (b. April 1992), Jack (b. August 1994), and Joe (b. January 1997). Jerry was a quarterback at UCLA[32] and is now an assistant coach at UCLA,[33] and Jack was a wide receiver atSouthern Methodist University.[34] Both Jerry and Jack graduated fromLoyola High School in Los Angeles, Joe attended UCLA. Rick's father, Richard "Dick" Gerald Neuheisel Sr., is an attorney and past president ofSister Cities International.[35][36] During Neuheisel's years as a quarterback for UCLA, his sister, Nancy, was a cheerleader for conference rivalArizona.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Buffaloes(Big Eight Conference)(1995) | |||||||||
| 1995 | Colorado | 10–2 | 5–2 | T–2nd | WCotton | 4 | 5 | ||
| Colorado Buffaloes(Big 12 Conference)(1996–1998) | |||||||||
| 1996 | Colorado | 10–2 | 7–1 | 2nd(North) | WHoliday | 8 | 8 | ||
| 1997 | Colorado | 5–6[n 1] | 3–5 | T–4th(North) | |||||
| 1998 | Colorado | 8–4 | 4–4 | 4th(North) | WAloha | ||||
| Colorado: | 33–14 | 19–12 | |||||||
| Washington Huskies(Pacific-10 Conference)(1999–2002) | |||||||||
| 1999 | Washington | 7–5 | 6–2 | 2nd | LHoliday | ||||
| 2000 | Washington | 11–1 | 7–1 | T–1st | WRose† | 3 | 3 | ||
| 2001 | Washington | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–2nd | LHoliday | 19 | 19 | ||
| 2002 | Washington | 7–6 | 4–4 | T–4th | LSun | ||||
| Washington: | 33–16 | 23–9 | |||||||
| UCLA Bruins(Pacific-10/Pac-12 Conference)(2008–2011) | |||||||||
| 2008 | UCLA | 4–8 | 3–6 | 8th | |||||
| 2009 | UCLA | 7–6 | 3–6 | 8th | WEagleBank | ||||
| 2010 | UCLA | 4–8 | 2–7 | 9th | |||||
| 2011 | UCLA | 6–7[n 2] | 5–4 | 1st(South)[37][n 3] | Fight Hunger[n 2] | ||||
| UCLA: | 21–29 | 13–23 | |||||||
| Total: | 87–59 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| ARI | 2019 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .625 | |||||