A nightmare on easy street: an up-and-down decade: 'I'm not who people portray me to be,' says Rick Neuheisel, who once had it all—and is trying to get back whatever he can

Sporting News, The, July 19, 2004 by Matt Hayes

The boy with the blond hair and the porcelain face still wears those Washington Huskies gym shorts. They dent hang as low as they used to, and they're faded from countless spin cycles in the wash. They get smaller and life gets larger for Jack Neuheisel, whose few simple words spoke volumes about the complicated story that has engulfed his father and"family for the past year.

News helicopters flew over his house: his father hopped a neighbor's fence to escape the crush of media. Such things took a toll on Jack. Fourth grade wasn't so easy anymore, and school counselors wanted, to know why. Rick Neuheisel, the-former golden boy of "college football--fired at the height of his profession in June 2003--was summoned to Jack's school for a conference. "I don't like what they've done to him," said the 9-year-old, pointing to the most vilified man in the game.

"What could I do?" Rick Neuheisel says now. "I cried."

"We all "know the nickname: Slick Rick, the coach who bends NCAA rules and leaves destruction in his wake; who hit the big time too soon and got too big. He's arrogant and egotistical, selfish and superficial and always looking for the next big payday. How do we know this? Well, we just do. At least, we thought we did.

Neuheisel, who was fired at Washington for participating in an NCAA Tournament pool, is beginning to open up regarding his messy divorce from the school. Other details learned by the SPORTING NEWS cast Neuheisel in a light not quite as unflattering as we'd been accustomed to. Consider:

* The NCAA knew about his participation in the pool in 2002 but did nothing for a year. When it did act, an official called it the "most egregious" case of gambling in NCAA history.

* In 1997, the NCAA voted down an amendment that would have specifically outlawed participation in such pools, leaving NCAA compliance directors to interpret the rules--and that's the crux of Neuheisel's lawsuit against Washington and the NCAA.

* Neuheisel, thought by many to know no loyalty, turned down a lucrative job offer from Notre Dame two years ago to stay at Washington.

Says Neuheisel, "I'm not who people portray Me to be."

His history makes it easy to say otherwise. When the story first broke last year About Neuheisel's participation in an NCAA Tournament pool, his fate in the court of public opinion was sealed. He already had two brushes with the NCAA in his bag and only weeks earlier had been caught in a lie about interviewing for the San Francisco 49ers coaching job. Gambling, the NCANs unspeakable sin, ended any doubt about Neuheisel.

Newly appointed NCAA president Myles Brand already was trying to make his presence felt in an organization desperate for leadership. So before the facts were laid out, before it was revealed Neuheisel twice had been told by Washington's compliance office--by e-mail--that he could participate in such pools, Brand announced that if he were president at Washington, he would take "personnel action" with respect to Neuheisel. The head of the governing body that would soon investigate the gambling problem at Washington--a probe that grew to include 15 members of the athletic department--essentially told the university to fire its head coach.

Officials from the NCAA and Washington declined to comment for this story because Neuheisel has a wrongful termination lawsuit against both. Neuheisel also was restricted in what he could say.

"The University of Washington realized if the e-mail and the actions based thereon were the fault of the university, the NCAA was going to jump down their throat;' says Bob Sulkin, Neuheisel's attorney. "So here's your whipping boy--Rick Neuheisel."

They've built those shiny new professional stadiums on the banks of Puget Sound, but don't be mistaken: Seattle is a college town, with deep-rooted passion for the Huskies that outdates any pro sport. When Sulkin first was introduced to Neuheisel, he thought, "I was going to be representing Scott Peterson."

Neuheisel was a million-a-year coach by 37 and was a head coach at a major Division I school before that without having paid his dues. He was the good-looking guy with a law degree who once shot 74 at Pebble Beach.

But he also had those run-ins with the NCAA. Pac-10 coaches complained about negative recruiting, alleging Neuheisel bad-mounted other programs. His coaching fraternity, the American Football Coaches Association, censured him for a lack of contribution for his part in NCAA violations at Colorado. He once was called the next Steve Spurrier for his knowledge of the game and outspoken personality. But instead of using those attributes as a lightning rod for change, Neuheisel has become a thunderstorm of controversy. Much of which, he admits, he brought upon himself.

"I have been a big target of my own doing," Neuheisel says. "I haven't shied away from publicity. My actions with respect to building my program have been, at least relatively speaking, flamboyant. I invited the criticism. I was young, I was trying to do things differently and build a program, and I made some mistakes."