In Baghdad, Neuheisel and Tressel are smoking cigars on the back porch of one of Saddam Hussein's residences, Al Faw Palace, overlooking a massive pond, and Tressel turns to Neuheisel and says:
"You know, I've never gone anywhere, [but] here I am, sitting on the porch of Saddam Hussein's castle, looking out at this pond that he artificially built and then told the farmers that the reason there was no water was because the United States had taken it."
That night, the coaches bunk up in the same room, dorm style, all in disbelief of whose house they're staying in.
Or this:
In Germany, Neuheisel is at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center talking to injured soldiers, meeting one who was badly wounded after an explosive hit his truck, killing everyone aboard but him. Outside the room, people are concerned that the excitement caused by the coaches' presence might somehow dampen this soldier's spirits.
"But when you got into the room, it was anything but," Neuheisel says. "He was excited. He was aware of what happened, but he wanted back in the fight."
Nutt too was amazed.
"I'm thinking, 'You're leg's blown up. You're talking about going home?' " the Arkansas coach recalls.
"No, no, no," the soldiers would say. "I've got to get back out there."
There are undoubtedly parallels between sport and military -- the "team" factor, the mission of winning, plus the countless war cliches football coaches use daily -- so a trip such as this is invaluable for perspective.
David Raih, an intern in the UCLA football office who made the trip, said there were a few things that Neuheisel said could translate from the military to football: making sure expectations are clear, keeping enthusiasm high, instilling pride, and teaching players as thoroughly as the military trains soldiers.
There's also the aspect of humility, one Nutt tried to capture in photographs when the tour took them through a village in the African country of Dijbouti, where rail-thin natives were living in huts made of cardboard, mud and branches.
"I wanted to tell my players, 'You complain about your bed not being soft enough, well, this is their home.' "
Then Nutt goes into another story, one that may hit closer to home.
"When they see the dirt field these soldiers played on . . ."
In Iraq, a flag football game is scheduled, Army versus Air Force, the coaches split on each team. At lunch, a soldier comes up to Nutt, begging him not to cancel the game because a dust storm is to arrive that afternoon.
"Whatever you do, Coach, don't cancel the game."
They don't, but the dust storm comes, like an enormous dark cloud, shadowing the makeshift field -- "We were shocked they were going to play," Neuheisel remembers -- but the troops pay it little mind, the Air Force eventually winning, 21-0.
"Those kids played their guts out, and it was just unbelievable," Nutt says.
On the sideline, Neuheisel is standing next to Texas' Brown, and a soldier comes up and says, "Oh, it's coming tonight."
"What's coming tonight?" Neuheisel asks.
"They're going to throw a mortar in here tonight," the soldier says, explaining that the enemy likes to fire mortars during a dust storm, when poor visibility is an advantage.
Brown and Neuheisel turn to each other and, only half-joking, Neuheisel says, "OK, this game should be just about over. . . ."
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baxter.holmes@latimes.com
