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RICK NEUHEISEL
Age:
47
School:
UCLA
Alma Mater:
UCLA,
1983
Conference:
Pac-10
Salary:
$1,250,000
Official Bio:
www.ucla.cstv.com
Years Coaching:
8
Career Record:
66 - 30 .688
Years at School:
1
Record at UCLA:
0 - 0 .000
2007 Record: 0 - 0 .000
2007 Cost per Win:
$0
Attorney/Agent: Unknown
Contract:
Not Available
December 2008 Buyout:
$2,000,000
COACHING
RECORD -
WINNING
- LOSING
RECORDS
|
Year |
School |
Record |
Bowl |
|
1995 |
Colorado |
10-2 |
Cotton |
|
1996 |
Colorado |
10-2 |
Holiday |
|
1997 |
Colorado |
5-6 |
|
|
1998 |
Colorado |
8-4 |
Aloha |
|
1999 |
Washington |
7-5 |
Holiday |
|
2000 |
Washington
|
11-1 |
Rose |
|
2001 |
Washington |
8-4 |
Holiday |
|
2002 |
Washington |
7-6 |
Sun |
|
Career |
|
66-30 |
.688 |
|
|
UCLA |
0-0 |
.000 |
2008
SCHEDULE
|
Date |
Opponent |
Location |
2008 CHS Prediction |
Result |
|
8/30/08 |
Fresno State |
Pasadena, CA |
W |
|
|
9/06/08 |
Tennessee |
Pasadena, CA |
L |
|
|
9/13/08 |
at BYU |
Provo, UT |
L |
|
|
9/20/08 |
Arizona |
Pasadena, CA |
W |
|
|
10/04/08 |
Washington State |
Pasadena, CA |
W |
|
|
10/11/08 |
at Oregon |
Eugene, OR |
L |
|
|
10/18/08 |
Stanford |
Pasadena, CA |
W |
|
|
10/25/08 |
at California |
Berkeley, CA |
L |
|
|
11/08/08 |
Oregon State |
Pasadena, CA |
L |
|
|
11/15/08 |
at Washington |
Seattle, WA |
L |
|
|
11/28/08 |
at Arizona State |
Tempe, AZ |
L |
|
|
12/06/08 |
Southern Cal |
Pasadena, CA |
L |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Coaches Hot
Seat Prediction |
|
4-8 |
|
Coaches Hot Seat Analysis
Welcome back to big-time college
football Rick Neuheisel! Wow!
Washington and Willingham are playing a tough schedule
in '08, but right out of the chute for Neuheisel and
the Bruins are Pat Hill's Fresno State team, which
promises to get Neuheisel's attention in a hurry.
After Fresno State the Tennessee Volunteers arrive at
the Rose Bowl for their 2nd straight trip to the state
of California, and this time they are going to want to
take a win back to Knoxville. Then a trip to Provo
to play a BYU team that will be shooting for undefeated
season and a BCS bowl berth, and you start to get the
idea that 2008 could be a very long season for UCLA
fans. The real question is how much of an impact
can Neuheisel have on the psyche of the UCLA players
with only spring practice and fall camp between now and
the opening kickoff. DeWayne Walker and Norm Chow
know how to coach the game of football, but can they
find a way to work with Neuheisel calling the shots,
when deep down both men probably believe they would have
been a better head coach. Of course, at the core
of this conundrum is what kind of talent does UCLA
really have on its roster, because under Dorrell it was
always hard to discern why and who was playing at any
given time. From all appearances, and from
checking the UCLA roster, the Bruins should have enough
talent to be in every game this year save Southern Cal,
but it is going to take a little something extra to
actually close the deal with wins. Therein likes
the "X" factor, and for people that discount the
importance and influence of a head football coach, UCLA
in 2008 is the type of situation that separates a great
coach from a mediocre one. By almost any measure
an average football coach would win 4 or 5 games in his
first year with this UCLA team and schedule, but a great
one would win 7 or 8. Yes, a great coach can have
that much of an impact, because a great coach inspires
confidence in his players that he is going to put them
in the best position to win football games.
Average coaches never gain the confidence of their
players, usually because of incompetence or lack of
leadership skills, and that is the terms of the debate
for Neuheisel in Westwood: Is Neuheisel average,
great, or just merely good? In 8 years of being a
head coach Neuheisel has won 10 or more games in a
season 3 times, but he has also lost 4 or more games in
the other 5 years. It doesn't take a genius to see
a very clear trend that Neuheisel tends to start strong
(he inspires confidence in is players and staff), but
then tends to trail off (the players and staff lose
confidence and begin to doubt him), which makes UCLA's
very difficult 2008 season that much tougher to predict.
The word out of Westwood is "so far so good" about
Neuheisel, but just by someone choosing to make that
statement, implies that their is a shoe to drop sometime
in the future. Neuheisel's will get the
opportunity at his alma mater to prove he can coach, and
it is going to great fun to watch this experiment play
out over the next few seasons.
Coaches Hot Seat
Bottom Line
We predict that
Neuheisel and UCLA will have a record of 4-8 in 2008.
The out-of-conference schedule is tough, the Pac-10 is
getting tougher and more competitive all the time, and
the Bruins end the season with Southern Cal. That
says it all, and it is also why Neuheisel and UCLA will
struggle mightily in 2008. After a 4-3 start, we
see UCLA stumbling home with 5 losses to end the season,
and that should make great theater for the UCLA-USC game
at the Rose Bowl on December 6, with the Bruins needing
a win to get to .500. If there is one game in 2008
that Pete Carroll and the Trojans are not going to lose,
it is to UCLA in Neuheisel's first year back, and all of
that adds up to 4-8 for the Bruins in '08.
2008
Coaches Hot Seat Prediction:
4-8
Will Neuheisel be back for the
2009 season?
YES
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