How You Like Me Chow!

Think about this for a minute. Rick Neuheisel, in his first few weeks as head coach, just convinced two other coaches ( who were up for the exact same job ) to come work for him. That's some serious mojo. With Norm Chow officially on board, as of this weekend, Neuheisel has radically transformed the UCLA coaching staff from a game day liability into probably the best staff in the conference.

One of the best things about this staff of Neuheisel, Walker and Chow is that they are determined to best USC. If you could channel the collective hatred of the Ketchup n' Mustard and form it into some type of primordial ooze then out of that soup would emerge these three coaches. They want to compete with Carrol and company. They want to take back this city. It's emotional for them, it's a challenge, and I think it is also personal. In the Monday press conference, Rick had this to say about the Trojans:

"Our goal is for us to get where they are," Neuheisel said about USC during a teleconference to introduce Chow. "We want to be one of the elite college football programs."

Man... Norm frickin' Chow. Even as a die-hard Neuheisel supporter, I didn't think that was possible. As of last week I was writing stuff like this:

Speaking of Chow, I don't think he is coming to UCLA. At least not this year.

Believe me when I say that I'm much better at my day job then I am at predicting the outcome of coaching hires at UCLA. What a coup for Rick. I'm sure some of it was blind luck with Tennessee firing Norm. But hey, better to be lucky then good. In the news conference it was mentioned that Chow originally said no, on a few occasions, to offers from Neuheisel. Rick is persistent in his recruiting and it looks like that dogged determination has paid off in this coaching hire as well.

Ben Olson must be doing back flips right now. With his football career stuck in second gear and only one more season to prove his worth, he must have been praying hard for some quality coaches to show up at his door. I don't think he could have asked for a better duo in Neuheisel and Chow. Rick has played in the NFL as a quarterback and was recently coaching a Heisman winning signal caller at Baltimore. Chow has worked with a bevy of talented players: Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, Ty Detmer, Steve Young, Jim McMahon and Philip Rivers. He was given credit for almost single handily turning around Carson Palmer's career and three of those guys went on to win the Heisman.

It is that kind of resume that will draw great offensive players to Westwood. You know every quarterback currently at UCLA is going nuts right now. You have to imagine that a lot of other kids, who aren't in college yet, are going to seriously take a look at UCLA... some probably for the first ime. What offensive recruit wouldn't want to play for Norm Chow? What defensive recruit wouldn't want to play for DeWayne Walker? Throw Neuheisel into the mix and the Bruins should be stocking talent for years to come.

Here is a quote from Ben via Rich Perelman's blog:

"I always wanted to play for Coach Chow and things didn’t quite work out at USC. I looked at USC twice -– when I came out of high school and then when I got back from my mission. I always wanted to play for Coach Chow, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that. I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to learn from the best and I’m going to make the most of the opportunity and work my hardest to do what he asks me to do.

"I can’t remember when I was this excited about football."

You and every other Bruin fan, Ben. It's exciting times in Westwood.

The exact details of the contract are still in the works. I'm hoping Chow sticks around for at least two years. We absolutely need some continuity on this staff. In just a few years, I'm sure Chow could get this offense back to the top of the conference rankings.

(photo credit: Getty Images)