Neuheisel's return to Washington with UCLA isn't easy
CHRIS DUFRESNE / ON COLLEGE FOOTBALL
The coach is headed back to the place he left abruptly and later successfully sued over betting incident. Its program has been in ruins since his departure, and the Bruins are struggling.
Rick Neuheisel returns to Washington this week in one of the most conflicted homecomings we can remember.
Nick Saban was booed last week when he took Alabama into Baton Rouge, La., to play Louisiana State, but that was what you might call a "garden-variety" program abandonment.
Saban was hanged in effigy by LSU ignoramuses because, not long after he led the Tigers to the national title in 2003, he made a money grab for the NFL.
Like everything in his life, though, Neuheisel's return is more nuanced and convoluted.
The UCLA coach circles back to a Washington program that fell into ruins upon his abrupt departure after posting a 33-16 record from 1999 to 2002 that included a Rose Bowl championship.
A Seattle Times' series last year titled "Victories and Ruins" revealed that even the good times came with excess baggage -- but at least they were winning times.
Neuheisel returns to the place where he once skippered his boat to work. He goes back to pick the carcass of the only winless team in major college football.
Washington is 18-50 since Neuheisel left, and the weird part is that he feels horrible about it.
"It didn't have to be the way it was," Neuheisel said this week.
No kidding.
Neuheisel didn't leave Washington, he argues, Washington left him.
In fact, Neuheisel fought to stay . . . begged to stay . . . sued to stay.
Washington fired Neuheisel for his participation in an NCAA basketball pool and then botched the case worse than Inspector Clouseau could have.
An athletic department employee actually had put out a memo saying participation in NCAA basketball pools was OK.
Brilliant!
The NCAA then swooped in and broke its own rules of interrogation during questioning of Neuheisel.
Brilliant II!
Neuheisel filed a wrongful termination suit and eventually won a $4.5-million settlement from the university and the NCAA.
Whatever vindication one can take from that, the end result was that a sordid and circus-like chapter of Washington football could have all been prevented by . . . Rick Neuheisel.
He did bet in a basketball pool, it was against the rules, yet Neuheisel compounded mistakes by not coming clean about what he knew and when he knew it.
He lied to his athletic director about a clandestine meeting with the San Francisco 49ers, and the lie became a reason for his termination.
