Story Photos
 A young Washington fan holds up a sign showing UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel before Saturday's game. John Froschauer / AP
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Mixed reaction to Neuheisel's return
Monday, November 17, 2008 2:38 PM PST
By Gregg Bell
The Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleSEATTLE — The smarmy critter theme began about two hours before the game.
"There he is! Neu-weasel!" a 20-something man said as the first UCLA bus, the one carrying Rick Neuheisel, pulled up outside Husky Stadium on Saturday.
Just before kickoff of the otherwise ho-hum game between coach Neuheisel's Bruins (3-6) and his former, now flat-lining Washington Huskies (0-9), Neuheisel walked down a long, familiar tunnel from the locker rooms. As Neuheisel waited for his team to run onto the field, a grade-school boy in a purple Huskies jersey held a large sign at the railing above the tunnel. On one half was a picture of a weasel. The other had a photo of Neuheisel pointing confidently while he was the UW's coach earlier this decade.
In block letters below the pictures: "Separated at birth."
Neuheisel briefly said something to his 11-year-old son Joe, who was wearing dad's powder-blue, No. 10 jersey from when Neuheisel was the Bruins' quarterback in the early 1980s. Then Neuheisel stepped into Husky Stadium for the first time since Washington fired him and then gave him a $4.5 million settlement to go away in 2003.
It was raining yet again in Seattle — with boos.
This was the first time Washington had faced a former coach since 1975 when Darrell Royal returned with Texas. But Royal didn't stir nearly the emotion Neuheisel has. After all, Royal spent just one season with the Huskies, going 5-5 in 1956.
Angry Washington fans blame Neuheisel for turning the Huskies into one of the nation's worst programs, the only winless major college team entering Saturday.
His tenure started out rosy. From 1999-2002, he befriended his players and brought his enthusiastic, always-sunny attitude to the program. Then he guided Washington to the 2001 Rose Bowl and finished the season ranked No. 3. He went 33-16, beat archrival Washington State each time and went to bowl games in all four of his seasons.
Huskies fans would take half that right now. Since his firing in 2003, Washington is 18-50. It hasn't had a winning season with coaches Keith Gilbertson and Tyrone Willingham since he left.
"4-0 vs. WSU. 33-16 record. 11-1 2001 Rose Bowl. I'm with Rick," read a sign to Neuheisel's right as he walked out of that tunnel.
But these were Neuheisel's final chapters at Washington: violating NCAA rules by betting in a NCAA tournament basketball pool — hence the sign behind UCLA's bench Saturday night: "Hey, Slick Rick! Should I take UW and the points?" and lying about a job interview with the San Francisco 49ers; his subsequent firing by athletic director Barbara Hedges; and his lawsuit against the university and the NCAA that resulted in the settlement.
"Some people are going to be angry. They call me the cause of the problems that exist," Neuheisel acknowledged during the week.
Alabama coach Nick Saban had a dozen troopers flanking him in Baton Rouge, La., last week when he returned for the first time to LSU. Neuheisel had just two University of California system police officers with him as he took the field Saturday.
And he didn't even need two, as anger of some Huskies fans was balanced by a surprising amount of sympathy. Or was it apathy?
"No, it's not his fault," a middle-aged fan wearing UW purple said to no one in particular beside tunnel just before Neuheisel walked past.
About 90 minutes before kickoff, Neuheisel chatted breezily with Huskies fans in the stands then at midfield with Willingham, his counterpart who has already been fired effective at season's end.
A half hour before that, Neuheisel stepped off the bus wearing a dark gray suit and silver tie. He looked immediately at about two dozen fans standing behind metal barricades. His facial expression made it seem he was bracing for a torrent of hate.
Instead, he got love.
"Welcome back, coach! Remember the good! Remember the good!" yelled Fred Gorham, prompting a startled Neuheisel to accept the offer of a firm handshake over the barrier.
Seemingly relieved, Neuheisel then high-fived two parents of Bruins players and simply walked through the door to UCLA's locker room.
Gorham, a 49-year-old bus driver from Lynnwood, said he grew up a fan of Washington teams of the 1970s led by quarterback Sonny Sixkiller. His appearance symbolized a large segment of disillusioned Huskies fans: He was wearing a sweatshirt of Pac-10 rival Oregon State, then cheering for a supposedly hated coach.
"You know, we all make mistakes," Gorham said of Neuheisel, adding he doesn't blame him but former AD Hedges for Washington's demise.
Though the reaction to his return turned out to be mixed, even somewhat muted, Neuheisel was just looking forward to Sunday.
"Frankly," he said before the game, "it will just be best when it's over."
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