Coach Profile: Bronco Mendenhall

It seems like a lot of the coaches being mentioned as possible replacements for Karl Dorrell's job have connections to BYU. That is especially true of the next coach, Bronco Mendenhall, as he is currently coaching the Cougars. Bronco is different from all the previous coaches, however, in that he has a background on the defensive side of the ball.

Background

Bronco Mendenhall is 40 years old and currently the head coach at Brigham Young University in Provo Utah. He finished out his college career at Oregon State as a defensive back in the late 80's and then immediately went into coaching.

Bronco held a number of defensive coordinator positions at Northern Arizona, Oregon State, and New Mexico. It was with the Lobo's that he worked for former Bruin coach Rocky Long. In 2003 he took the defensive coordinator spot at BYU and after two seasons was promoted to the head coaching position.

Mendenhall has been busy over the last two seasons trying to restore BYU back to the prestige it had in the 1980's and 1990's. Some of that has been off-the-field changes like restoring traditional uniforms, pre-game ceremonies, etc. The other part has been building up a formidable defense and offense that has lead the Cougars to the top of the Mountain West.

His current salary at BYU is around $900,000.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
BYU (Mountain West) (2005 - present)
2005	BYU	6-6	Las Vegas (L)
2006	BYU	11-2	Las Vegas (W)	15
Total:		17-8
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

Mendenhall has revived BYU and helped turn a losing program back to the top of their conference. He has embraced the recruiting restrictions that a conservative, religious school like BYU brings to the table and yet still manages to entice good, young talent. I think he would be able to understand and work with the academic restrictions that have limited some of the prospects UCLA can offer.

Though Mendenhall is a defense coach, he helped institute a wide-open offense that catapulted BYU to the top of the MWC and national statistics in 2006. Their passing attack ranked 4th in the nation and Cougars had the longest winning streak in the country going into their game against UCLA in the Rose Bowl this season. His teams execute well, never seem to lose focus, and never get blown-out by inferior competition.


Negatives

Bronco only has three years head coaching experience. Will he be able to replicate his success outside of BYU? Will he be able to compete in a BCS conference? These are all unknowns with Mendenhall.

UCLA's problems under Dorrell have been primarily on the offensive side of the ball. Mendenhall's experience has been on the defensive side, so he'll likely have to rely on a good offensive coordinator to lead that unit. UCLA's track record of not paying assistants well might prevent him from bringing in a top notch OC.

Verdict

To me, Mendenhall is a less impressive, defensive version of Chris Peterson. He might go on to a great coaching career, but there really isn't a track record there to prove he'll have consistent success. I also don't know if Bronco brings the "wow" factor or name recognition that would draw elite recruits to UCLA. He's a solid choice, and I'm sure he could build the Bruins into a successful program if given enough time, but I don't know if the fans, donors, or athletic department is willing to go through another learning curve after Dorrell.

Coach Profile: Chris Petersen

If you haven't heard the name Chris Peterson before, don't worry, because you'll probably see it mentioned about a million more times on UCLA message boards over the next couple of months. He's definitely high on the list of a lot of UCLA fans and it seems like the media is buzzing about him as a candidate as well. If momentum and hype had a name it would be Chris Peterson.

Background

Chris Peterson is 43 years old as is currently the head coach of the Boise State Broncos. Peterson has been at BSU for 6 years, 4 as the offensive coordinator and 2 as the head coach. He played his college ball as a quarterback at UC Davis before jumping into the coaching ranks.

Peterson has spent most of his college coaching career in the Pacific Northwest. He was the QB coach at Portland State for two seasons before taking the wide receiver coaching job at Oregon. In 2001 he went to Boise State and the Broncos have won the WAC every season since. Peterson was thrust into the national spotlight after his team went 13-0 last season with a thrilling overtime victory against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. Chris was the first head coach in the history of Division 1 to ever go 13-0 in his first season. His current salary is around $850,000.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
Boise State (Western Athletic Conference) (2006 - present)
2006	Boise State	13-0	Fiesta (W)+	5
Total:		13-0
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

Peterson has a near flawless record as a head coach. His win over Oklahoma was extremely impressive considering the talent he has to work with at Boise State. He has a creative mind, a go-for-it style, and he has built a juggernaut program in his conference that has won 5 straight titles.

Chris has also turned Boise State into an offensive machine that has consistently ranked amongst the best in the NCAA. If he could bring a similar change to the Bruins then this team could be a force to reckon with in the PAC-10. His teams are balanced, they execute well, and they play hard each and every week. That is almost the exact opposite of what we have now under Karl Dorrell.

Negatives

The only knock on Peterson is just lack of experience. He is only in his second season as a head coach. While he has put up great numbers, including going 8-1 so far this season, it is hard to say if he'll be able to replicate that success somewhere else. He also coaches in the WAC, which isn't the stiffest competition. It is a lot easier to get our team up for one or two big games every season versus having to play a tough PAC-10 conference schedule week in and week out.

Verdict

It is hard not to be enthralled by the idea of a hot up-and-coming coach who has had amazing success his first two years on the job. He draws a lot of comparisons to Urban Myer, who also took a mid-major team (Utah) on an undefeated season and a BCS bowl victory.

I'll give you two other comparisons, though, just to illustrate a point. Rick Neuhisel went 20-4 his first two seasons as a head coach after being a hot up-and-coming offensive coordinator. His following seasons, while successful, we not nearly as impressive. Bob Toldeo was also a promising coordinator who took a head coaching job with little experience. By the end of his 3rd season he had his team on a 20 game winning streak (the longest in the nation) and on the cusp of a National Championship game. We all know how Bob's teams did after that early success.

I'm not saying Peterson will go down the same paths as Neuheisel or Toledo, but we have to be careful about anointing a coach as an "instant success". For every Urban Meyer there are a dozen other young coaches who don't pan-out. I would prefer for UCLA to get a more experienced, proven head coach (like a Ben Howland) who you know has been successful at multiple programs. Not just someone who is successful now but we hope will be a success at UCLA.

I think Peterson would be a pretty cool hire but it is still rolling the dice. If we can't land someone with more experience then I'm totally down with him. He is exciting, has great buzz, and he could really invigorate this program. I'm not sure if he'll want to leave the Pacific Northwest, but Guerrero might be able to lure him away with a much bigger salary.

Damaged Dixon

Dennis Dixon got hurt in the Ducks game against the Wild Cats tonight. His left leg buckled on a play and he is out for the game. The extent of the injury is not yet know but it looked serious. He might be unavailable for the game against UCLA next week. That could seriously change the dynamic of the game. Brady Leaf has replaced him.

Coach Profile: Mike Leach

Mike Leach knows offense. He is considered one of the most innovative offensive minds in the college game today. With the Bruins struggling to perform consistently in that department under Karl Dorrell, could Leach be the coach to make this team a conference juggernaut?

Background

Mike Leach is 46 years old and is currently the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Leach never played college football, one of only five D1 coaches who holds such a distinction. He did attended BYU where he studied the Cougars and the past-first offense developed by LaVelle Edwards. He gained a masters degree from the United States Sports academy and then went immediately into coaching.

Leach started as an assistant at Cal Poly (woot woot!) and then moved into an offensive coordinator position at the Division II level before getting gigs at Kentucky and Oklahoma. In 2000, Leach was given the head coaching position at Texas Tech. In his time with the Red Raiders, the program has been one of he most prolific passing teams in the NCAA. They have had the #1 passing offense 4 of the last 7 seasons and finished with a top-10 total offenses every season since 2001. His current salary is around $1.6 million.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
Texas Tech (Big Twelve) (2000 - 2006)
2000	Texas Tech	7-6	Galary Furniture (L)
2001	Texas Tech	7-5	Alamo (L)
2002	Texas Tech	9-5	Tangerine (W)
2003	Texas Tech	8-5	Houston (W)
2004	Texas Tech	8-4	Holiday (W)	17
2005	Texas Tech	9-3	Cotton (L)	19
2006	Texas Tech	8-5	Insight (W)
Total:		62-35
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

The offensive numbers speak for themselves. Obviously Leach has taken the concepts of pass-first offense to an extreme and he has found some good success. His records are even more impressive when you consider that Tech has to compete with the University of Texas and Texas A&M in state. The Big-12 south is a tough conference and the Red Raiders hold their own.

Leach is in his 8th year as a head coach and he has never had a losing season. That is very impressive considering the cycles that college football programs tend to follow. That kind of consistency is sorely needed at UCLA.

Negatives

While Leach's offense puts up amazing passing numbers, it also puts up equally abysmal rushing statistics. That's kind of gimmicky to me and I like to see a scheme with more balance. Right now Arizona is running a version of Leach's "Air Raid" offense and I'm not particularly impressed. It makes your team awfully one dimensional. Besides, how will Leach recruit top running backs to Westwood if they know they won't get many carries?

I also think Leach doesn't put enough emphasis on defense. His teams haven't had great defensive efforts, which is why he hasn't had better records even with his top-10 offenses. The PAC-10 may be offense oriented, but you aren't going to win many championships unless you can field a great defense. Maybe with the right coordinator, he could be more successful.

Verdict

I just don't see Mike Leach coming to Westwood. His current salary is higher than Guerrero would probably be willing to spend and you know that UCLA would have to go even higher to make up for the cost of living. He has a good gig there in Lubbock and I don't see how coming to the PAC-10 is an upgrade over the Big-12.

While his offense might put up some great numbers, I'm still not a fan. I think a strong running game is a must if you want to be a top-tier team. The Bruin definitely need to find a way to move past their middle-of-the-conference finishes and I just don't see Leach's system being able to accomplish that.

Coach Profile: Steve Mariucci

Steve Mariucci has been on the outside of the coaching world looking in since he was let go by the Detroit Lions in 2005. His name gets mentioned for a lot of coaching positions and I think we'll see him jump back into a coaching spot this season. I'm sure Dan Guerrero will consider Steve for the position in Westwood.

Background

Steve Mariucci is 55 years old and he currently works for the NFL network as a commentator. Before that he was the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2003-2005. Steve has gained most of his head coaching experience in the NFL.

In college he was a 3-time division II All American quarterback at Northern Michigan. After completing school, he was an assistant coach at Northern Michigan before taking a position at Cal State Fullerton. He also took some assistant jobs at USC and Louisville and did a few stints in the NFL and USFL before ending up in Berkley.

In 1996, Mariucci was given the head coaching spot at California. He only spent one season leading the Bears before he bolted for a head coaching job with the San Francisco 49ers. It was here that Steve had a lot of success, compiling a 60-43 record, and he lead the 49ers to the playoffs in 4 of the 6 seasons he coached there. His time in Detroit was less than stellar and after two losing season he was canned.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
California (Pacific Ten) (1996)
1996	California	6-6	Aloha (L)
Total:		6-6
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

Mariucci has a lot of experience in the NFL. That would likely give him some traction with recruits looking to play in the pros. He was successful at San Francisco and he obviously knows how to field a winning team. His background as a quarterback (and being a former quarterback coach) will help the Bruins develop that position, which has been a real sore point since Cade McNown was under center.

Steve also has media savy and he already works in the Los Angeles area. Not all coaches would be willing to live the "big city" lifestyle but Mariucci already does. His personal nature would likely be a big plus with recruits.


Negatives

Mariucci is a strong proponent of the West Coast Offense. UCLA, and other schools like Nebraska, haven't performed well running the WCO at the college level. If he isn't willing to adapt his offensive ideas to the college game then the Bruin offense might continue to struggle.

Since he is currently out of the coaching ranks, he might be willing to take a job at a lower pay then when he left. Still Mariucci's contract in the NFL was paying well over $2 million a year. The Bruins probably would not be able to pay even close to that. If he does take a big pay cut, expect him to bolt at the first NFL job that is offered (just like he did with Cal).

Verdict

Mariucci looks like a great coach for the NFL. He has spent most of his coaching career at that level and I'm sure that is where he wants to return. I don't think UCLA will be able to pay for his services and, even if we could, he would likely be gone after a year or two. I think the football program would be better served by finding a coach willing to stay for at least 4-5 years to build this team into a conference power. With the large amount of turnover in the coaching staff over the last 5 seasons, the last thing I want is another big shake up in a few years.

(photo credit: Sports Illustrated)

Keep on those Red Shirts!

With the season winding down, Coach Dorrell announced that Brigham Harwell and Marcus Everett (who have both missed big chunks of the season) will be back next year. This is good news for the 2008 squad, which will field a lot of inexperienced players. Freshman quarterback Chris Forcier, who the coaches were thinking of playing at points during this season, will also red shirt.

Harwell's return will make the Bruins defensive tackle spot very deep for next season. Brian Price will be a true-sophomore next year and he has played well in his freshman campaign despite missing all of the fall camp and a big chunk of the season because of issues with the NCAA clearing house. He recorded his best game last weekend against ASU, including 5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, and one forced fumble. Add to that Jerzy Siewierski (R-So) who has played a lot this season as a reserve and Jess Ward (R-So) who took the starting role when Harwell was injured and this position should be one of strength on next year's team.

Everett will be back to add some much-needed experience to the receiving corps. Terrance Austin (So) and Dominque Johnson (R-So) will be the other two returning receivers. Kevin Ketchum will also be back next season as he is a true Junior but I still haven't hear word on whether he will be granted a medical red-shirt as well. Loosing Breazell and Joe Cowan will also be tough as they have lead the team in receptions this season.

Arizona State Replay (15 minutes)

Coach Profile: Norm Chow

Ever since Norm Chow helped bring USC back to the pinnacle of the college football world, he has been a hot commodity. He almost single handily turned Carson Palmer from a going-nowhere bust into a Heisman trophy winner overnight and he has coached a lot of guys who went on to successful NFL careers . It is a well documented fact that Chow wants a head coaching spot and I'm sure his resume will find it's way onto Guerrero's desk during a coaching search.

Background

Norm Chow is 61 years old and is currently the offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans. In his younger days, Chow played at the University of Utah as an offensive lineman. He spent a brief stint in the Canadian football league before he suffered a career ending leg injury.

Chow received a masters degree and PHD at BYU and he ended up as an assistant coach at Brigham Young in 1977. Chow spent 27 years as an assistant in that system and he coached pretty much every single offensive position during that time. It was here that Chow developed his offensive philosophy and he blossomed as a quarterback coach and offensive coordinator. In 1999 he went to North Carolina State and then was hired as the offensive coordinator at USC in 2001. He helped lead the Trojans to their 2005 national championship.

Norm has coached 6 of the NCAA's top 16 career passing efficiency leaders and was involved with squads that hold 11 of the top 30 single season passing yardage totals in NCAA history. Some of the players he has coached include Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, Steve Young, Jim McMahon, Marc Wilson, Gifford Nielsen, Ty Detmer and Robbie Bosco. He also received the assistant coach of the year award in 1993, 1996, and 1999 by a few publications.

College Head Coaching Record

None.

Positives

Norm Chow has an incredibly impressive track record as an offensive coordinator. His history of developing successful NFL quarterbacks would likely draw top high school prospects from across the country to Westwood. He has also overseen some of the most potent offenses in the history of college football and it is easy to see UCLA becoming a power house under Chow's oversight. That is very important in the PAC-10 where offensive prowess is paramount.

Chow could also groom and mentor a replacement for himself. A young assistant with good potential could learn from Chow's decades of offensive coordinator experience. The flip-side of that is that he could just be the offensive coordinator himself. That way he could free up some money to pay for a top-notch defensive staff.

Negatives

For someone who has had amazing coaching success for over 30 years, you have to wonder why he hasn't been given a head coaching position? Many have speculated that Chow hasn't gotten a gig because he has an abrasive, take-it-or-leave-it personality. He had a very well documented fall-out with the USC coaching staff that lead to him eventually leaving the school in 2005. He is also said to be a very bad interviewee and was passed over for the head coaching position at Stanford because he rubbed the AD the wrong way.

As a head coach, there comes other commitments outside of the football field. Chow may not be up for socializing with boosters and athletic department personnel. He may not be interested in sticking with a college head coaching job and jump back to the NFL where he can focus entirely on just the on-field coaching.

The other downside is that Chow is getting up there in years. He is definitely set in his ways and he didn't spend much, if any time, on the recruiting trail while at USC. As the head coach you have to be involved in recruiting whether you like it or not.

Verdict

Chow is a bit of an enigma for me. You got to love the offensive coordinator background and his cerebral approach to the game. If we could just harness that mind for good rather than evil, it would be awesome. Some of the personality issues could really be a problem. You would hate to have a dysfunctional staff trying to lead this team where Norm is pissing off all of his assistants and the administration.

Maybe I'm making to much of it but obviously no other school as thought it worthwhile to offer Chow a head coaching job. There has got to be something wrong with him. I'm not sure if UCLA wants to roll the dice and be the first to give him a shot. If Guerrero does take Norm and it works out, he'll be a genius. If it doesn't work out... well he might think about preparing his own resume as well.

Coach Profile: Rich Brooks

Rich Brooks may not be a name you've heard before, but he has recently come up on some boards as a candidate being mentioned within the UCLA athletic department. Brooks has a long coaching record, probably the longest amongst all the candidates I've heard about. He's had his ups and downs, but anyone who has coached for over three decades must be doing something right.

Background

Rich Brooks is 66 years old and he is currently the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. He played out his collegiate career, back in the early 1960's, as a defensive back at Oregon State. He worked as an assistant there from 1965 - 1970 before a brief stint at UCLA for one season as the linebacker coach. The next few years he alternated between coaching gigs in the NFL and Oregon State and another stint in Westwood in 1976.

Brooks got his first head coaching job in 1977 at Oregon and he stayed there for 17 season until he finally left for the NFL in 1995. During his time in Oregon he helped revive a historically insignificant program and that effort culminated in 1994 with a PAC-10 championship. Brooks received the National Coach of the Year award that season for his effort.

In the NFL, he was the head coach for the St. Louis Rams for two seasons. He also spent time in Atlanta as an assistant coach and as an interim head coach for a few games in the 1998 season. After two years away from coaching, Brooks returned to the college game in 2003 when he took over a troubled Kentucky program coming off of NCAA sanctions. His current salary is around $1 million.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
Oregon (Pacific Eight/Ten) (1977 - 1994)
1977	Oregon	3-8
1978	Oregon	1-10
1979	Oregon	4-7
1980	Oregon	6-3-2
1981	Oregon	2-9
1982	Oregon	2-8-1
1983	Oregon	4-6-1
1984	Oregon	6-5
1985	Oregon	5-6
1986	Oregon	5-6
1987	Oregon	6-5
1988	Oregon	6-6
1989	Oregon	8-4	Independence (W)
1990	Oregon	8-4	Freedom (L)
1991	Oregon	3-8
1992	Oregon	6-6	Independence (L)
1993	Oregon	5-6
1994	Oregon	9-4	Rose (L)	11
Oregon:		83-106-4
Kentucky (South East) (2003 — present)
2003*	Kentucky	4-8
2004	Kentucky	2-9
2005	Kentucky	3-8
2006	Kentucky	8-5	Music City (W)
Kentucky:		17-30
Total:		106-141-4
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

Brooks is the exact opposite of UCLA's last two coaching hires who had no head coaching experience. Rich has coaching experience in spades and he spent a very long time in the PAC-10. He also has some head coaching experience in the NFL, though that was almost a decade ago. He did groom Mike Bellotti for the head coaching spot at Oregon and he could be a good mentor to an up-and-coming assistant who just needs to gain more experience.

Having coached at Kentucky for the last four season, Brooks knows what it is like to the lead the football team at a basketball school. He has done a good job of winning over the fans there and they seem genuinely excited about football again. He lead them to their first bowl appearance since 1999. He also runs a clean program and has good integrity.

Negatives

Brooks overall coaching record, while lengthy, isn't very impressive. In fact, he has a lifetime record with more losses than wins. That doesn't tell the entire story, as he has coached programs that had little tradition and poor recruiting history, but UCLA doesn't really fit that mold. The Bruins have a strong history in football and they really need a coach who can make this team a consistent threat to win the conference. Brooks does not have a track record of doing that. He's good at moving teams from the bottom of the conference to the middle. UCLA needs to move from the middle to the top.

Brooks is a pretty old coach, and at 66, you have to wonder how many more years he has left in him? He definitely doesn't have the "wow" factor of some of the younger up-and-coming candidates and it is hard to envision him as a dynamic recruiter in the new fast-paced recruiting environment. I don't know if he'll win many recruiting victories over coaches like Pete Carroll, Dennis Erickson, and Jeff Tedford.

Verdict

I don't see a lot of positives with a hire like Brooks. If it was 2002, when UCLA was trying to clean-up the program, the Brooks might have made some sense; but the football team has a solid foundation now and what the Bruins need is an exciting coach who can take them to the next level. There is virtually no buzz around a coach like this and his age means he probably won't be coaching long at Westwood anyways.

This discussion might all be a moot point since Brooks has a pretty solid position in Kentucky. He was on the hot seat there not too long ago and is now experiencing strong support from the fans and alumni. I don't know if he would want to go back into the lion's den by taking the UCLA head coaching position.

Coach Profile: Rick Neuheisel

On pretty much every UCLA message board there seems to be a fairly good sized group of fans who think Rick Neuheisel would be the perfect coach for the Bruins. At the same time, there seems to be an equally large group of fans who are strongly opposed to Neuheisel coming within 100 yards of the program. No other head coaching candidate seem to polarize the Bruin fan base more than one of Westwood's own sons.

Background

Richard "Rick" Gerald Neuheisel Jr. is 46 years old and currently the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. He played his college ball in Westwood, as you all should know, but you may not know that he started off as a walk-on. He eventually earned the starting spot his senior season and he lead the Bruins to a PAC-10 championship and Rose Bowl victory over Illinois in January of 1984. He had a very brief professional career with the USFL and played a few games for the San Diego Chargers during the strike season of 1987.

Neuheisel started his assistant coaching career at UCLA where he helped tutuor Troy Aikman. In 1994, Rick took the assistant coaching job at Colorado and a year later was promoted to the head coaching spot at the very young age of 34. After four seasons in Boulder, he left to become the head coach of the Washington Huskies. In his second season in Seattle, Neuheisel's team won the PAC-10 title and the Rose Bowl, posting an 11-1 mark for the season.

In 2003, Rick was fired from Washington for his involvement in a neighborhood March Madness basketball pool. The Infractions comitee found that Neuheisel had violated NCAA rules but didn't sanction him becauce the University had erroneously sent a memo to all their coaches saying they could participate in such pools. Neuheisel sued the University for wrongful termination and they ended up setteling the suit for $4.5 million.

After taking a few years off from professional coaching, Neuheisel took a position as the quarterback coach with Baltimore in 2005. Last season he was promoted to offensive coordinator. It has been long rumored that Rick is eyeing a return to the college head coaching ranks and his past history as a Bruin player and assistant coach means that UCLA could be high on his list.

College Head Coaching Record

Year	Team	Overall	Bowl	Rank#
Colorado (Big Eight/Ten) (1977 - 1994)
1995	Colorado	10-2	Cotton (W)	4
1996	Colorado	10-2	Holiday (W)	8
1997	Colorado	5-6
1998	Colorado	8-4	Aloha (W)
Colorado:		33-14
Washington (Pacific Ten) (1999 — 2002)
1999	Washington	7-5	Holiday (L)
2000	Washington	11-1	Rose (W)+	3
2001	Washington	8-4	Holiday(L)	19
2002	Washington	7-6	Sun (L)
Washington:		33-16
Total:		66-30
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

Positives

The fact that Neuheisel has prior head coaching experience is a plus and it helps that he has a PAC-10 championship under his belt as well. His recent tenure in the NFL will likely resonate with recruits who are looking for a school that will prepare them for professional football careers. He is still a young coach and his overall win loss record is pretty good.

Since Neuheisel is looking to get back into the college game, he might be willing to accept a lower salary then another coach with his background. His salary at Washington, back in early 2000 was close to $1 million, so UCLA might be able to draw him in with the a contract close to $1.2 million. His ties to UCLA could also keep him around for a few years if he is successful.

Negatives

Neuheisel is controversial for a reason. His programs at Colorado and Washington both had minor NCAA violations. He also had a reputation for letting his players get out of control and there were some questionable off-the-field incidents while he was the coach. While Rick was virtually cleared of wrong doing in the gambling incident up in Seattle, it leaves a lot of fans antsy that the NCAA infractions committee might follow him to Westwood.

Neuheisel also has critics that say his recruiting wasn't very good and the proof of that comes in his limited long-term success at both schools. He did very well his first few years, but he couldn't continue with that success in subsequent seasons. It is hard to know for sure, since his tenure at both Colorado and Washington were rather short, but something to consider in his hiring.

Verdict

I think the trouble Rick got into with the NCAA has been overblown and the guy has had some success both in the PAC-10 and in the NFL. He hasn't had consistent success in his time as a coach, but I think Neuheisel will learn from his past mistakes. You have to feel like he'd get recruits excited about playing for the Bruins and his background as a QB coach and offensive coordinator could draw some really talented signal callers into the program. UCLA definitely needs a boost in that area with our quarterbacks really stinking it up this decade.

He probably isn't the most exciting pick but it would be hard for Guerrero to not even consider a former Bruin player in his search. The "toxic" factor may cause Dan to shy away from actually hiring Rick especially since he hired Dorrell primarily to cleanup the mess Toldeo left. I have to say, it would also be nice to get a coach who isn't directly related to Terry Donahue in some way... just for a change of pace. Still, I think Neuheisel could really improve this program.