Washington Sports Info Rick
Neuheisel
By Hannah Gordon
Daily Bruin Reporter
Nobody likes a crybaby.
But that didn’t stop Washington University football head
coach Rick Neuheisel from complaining about recruiting in the
Pac-10 on signing day.
According to the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Neuheisel complained about the entire Pac-10 and criticized UCLA
and Oregon specifically, claiming the schools engaged in negative
recruiting practices, namely bad-mouthing him.
Neuheisel singled out UCLA head coach Bob Toledo in reference to
Washington signee Clayton Walker.
“Bob Toledo tells (Walker) that “˜If I’m gone,
you don’t think (Neuheisel) is going to be the next head
coach at UCLA?’ I mean Bob Toledo is basically telling
(Walker) he’s going to get fired,” Neuheisel said in a
press conference with the Times and Post-Intelligencer.
UCLA sports information director Marc Dellins said UCLA had no
comment on the matter.
On signing day, Feb. 6, before Neuheisel made his comments,
Toledo addressed general criticism in his own teleconference.
“People criticize us for starting so early, for coming at
guys hard. But you have to. (Recruiting) starts today. It’s a
year-round process,” he said.
Oregon told the Post-Intelligencer that it did not engage in
recruiting violations. Oregon had already apologized for a video,
not produced by the university, shown in Autzen Stadium that
juxtaposed images of Neuheisel with people vomiting.
Negative recruiting can lead to minor sanctions by the
conference and the Pac-10 will inquire into all 10 schools’
recruiting practices shortly.
“We are always evaluating recruiting,” assistant
commissioner of public relations for the Pac-10 Jim Muldoon said.
“There were items of concern not just with (UCLA and Oregon).
We are not looking into those schools specifically.”
“Anytime we read these things, we look into them,”
Muldoon added in reference to the media coverage of
Neuheisel’s comments. “After signing day, we always
evaluate who feels they’ve been wronged.”
He also noted that no one has formally complained to the
Pac-10.
Washington assistant athletic director Jim Daves said that he
does not know if Washington will file a complaint.
He added that Neuheisel has not retracted any of his statements
but said the following day, “It was wrong to say anything
publicly. I regret doing that.”
Neuheisel was a quarterback for UCLA from 1981-83 and assistant
coach for the Bruins from 1988-93. It has long been rumored that he
and Toledo harbor ill will toward one another and that Neuheisel
felt snubbed by Toledo’s hiring at UCLA. Both have denied any
animosity toward each other in the past.