UCLA Game Program in PDF Format - GoHuskies.com
UCLA Game Program in PDF Format - GoHuskies.com
UCLA Game Program in PDF Format - GoHuskies.com
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HEAD COACH<br />
When Rick Neuheisel attended the 1998 Rose Bowl, to be<br />
<strong>in</strong>ducted <strong>in</strong>to its Hall of Fame, he took the time to enjoy the<br />
moment and bask <strong>in</strong> the gala and pageantry of the college<br />
football game known simply as “The Granddaddy of Them All.”<br />
As he watched the shadows creep over the Arroyo Seco, and the<br />
sun disappear <strong>in</strong>to the western horizon, he turned to his wife, Susan,<br />
and said, “We’ve got to get back here someday.”<br />
It happened sooner than he expected.<br />
Three years later Neuheisel was back <strong>in</strong> the Rose Bowl, hoist<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the championship trophy above his head to the delight of 40,000<br />
Husky fans after Wash<strong>in</strong>gton had dispatched Purdue’s Boilermakers<br />
34-24.<br />
After quarterback<strong>in</strong>g <strong>UCLA</strong> to a 45-9 victory aga<strong>in</strong>st Ill<strong>in</strong>ois <strong>in</strong> the<br />
1984 Rose Bowl, be<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>ducted <strong>in</strong>to the Hall of Fame, and coach<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the Huskies to their seventh Rose Bowl championship, Neuheisel will<br />
long be considered one of the Rose Bowl’s favorite sons.<br />
Neuheisel prefers to deflect the attention for Wash<strong>in</strong>gton’s ascension<br />
back to the top of the college football ranks over the past three<br />
seasons. He will be the first one to credit his players and coach<strong>in</strong>g<br />
staff for mak<strong>in</strong>g the <strong>com</strong>mitment to return the Huskies to dom<strong>in</strong>ance.<br />
When he first arrived <strong>in</strong> Seattle <strong>in</strong> January of 1999, Neuheisel<br />
challenged the Huskies to forego any feel<strong>in</strong>g-out process with a new<br />
staff and simply make a <strong>com</strong>mitment to w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g.<br />
Head coach Rick Neuheisel signals <strong>in</strong> a play dur<strong>in</strong>g the the 2001 season.<br />
12 HUSKIES <strong>Game</strong>day<br />
The results speak for themselves. Dur<strong>in</strong>g his first three years as a<br />
Husky, Neuheisel’s teams have placed second, first and second <strong>in</strong> the<br />
Pac-10 race. Wash<strong>in</strong>gton has been ranked <strong>in</strong> the Associated Press<br />
poll for every game dur<strong>in</strong>g the past two seasons. The Huskies have<br />
made two trips to the Holiday Bowl and one show<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the Rose<br />
Bowl under Neuheisel.<br />
Last year’s team posted a 8-4 record that <strong>in</strong>cluded six w<strong>in</strong>s at<br />
Husky Stadium to extend the Huskies’ current home w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g streak<br />
to 14 games. A young Husky squad faced five teams that were ranked<br />
<strong>in</strong> the f<strong>in</strong>al Associated Press Poll and picked up w<strong>in</strong>s aga<strong>in</strong>st three of<br />
those opponents.<br />
Neuheisel’s second Husky squad, the 2000 team, posted the first<br />
10-w<strong>in</strong> season s<strong>in</strong>ce the 1991 Huskies went 12-0 en route to the<br />
national championship. It was Wash<strong>in</strong>gton’s first Rose Bowl title <strong>in</strong> 10<br />
years and its first Rose Bowl appearance s<strong>in</strong>ce 1992.<br />
The 2000 Huskies were a remarkable team. Wash<strong>in</strong>gton trailed <strong>in</strong><br />
eight of its 11 w<strong>in</strong>s, show<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>credible resilience and heart, not to<br />
mention strategy, <strong>in</strong> pull<strong>in</strong>g off five consecutive fourth-quarter <strong>com</strong>ebacks<br />
<strong>in</strong> a row.<br />
For his efforts, Neuheisel was listed as a f<strong>in</strong>alist for coach of the<br />
year by several different media outlets.<br />
In 1999, his first season as the head football coach at Wash<strong>in</strong>gton,<br />
Neuheisel ac<strong>com</strong>plished someth<strong>in</strong>g that none of his predecessors<br />
achieved. He guided the Huskies to a 7-5 record, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g an <strong>in</strong>vitation<br />
to the 1999 Culligan Holiday Bowl, be<strong>com</strong><strong>in</strong>g the first UW coach<br />
to take the team to a bowl game dur<strong>in</strong>g his <strong>in</strong>augural season.<br />
Husky football fans and casual sports followers alike have quickly<br />
embraced Neuheisel for the spark he has added to Wash<strong>in</strong>gton’s storied<br />
football tradition. As a public speaker, he is <strong>in</strong> high demand.<br />
Neuheisel has spoken at numerous fundrais<strong>in</strong>g events and generated<br />
lofty contributions with his charismatic speeches and penchant for<br />
<strong>in</strong>novative fundrais<strong>in</strong>g ideas.<br />
Neuheisel took over the Wash<strong>in</strong>gton program <strong>in</strong> January of 1999<br />
after serv<strong>in</strong>g as the head football coach at Colorado from 1995 to<br />
1998. His six-year coach<strong>in</strong>g record now stands at 59-24 (.711).<br />
Wash<strong>in</strong>gton is the second head coach<strong>in</strong>g position for the 41-year<br />
old Neuheisel, who spent seven seasons as an assistant coach prior to<br />
secur<strong>in</strong>g the Colorado job. He worked six years at his alma mater,<br />
<strong>UCLA</strong>, under his college coach Terry Donahue, and was an assistant<br />
coach for one season on Bill McCartney’s staff <strong>in</strong> Boulder. He was<br />
named the head coach at Colorado on Nov. 29, 1994.<br />
At Colorado, Neuheisel <strong>com</strong>piled a 33-14 (.702) record and was<br />
3-0 <strong>in</strong> postseason bowl games. All three of his bowl games were<br />
aga<strong>in</strong>st Pac-10 Conference opponents. He had 20 w<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> his first two<br />
seasons as a college coach, which tied for the fourth-most by a firsttime<br />
college coach <strong>in</strong> the Division I-A modern era. Both of those<br />
Colorado teams f<strong>in</strong>ished <strong>in</strong> the top-10 of the national polls.<br />
Neuheisel had a number of “firsts”<br />
while coach<strong>in</strong>g the Buffaloes:<br />
• He became the first first-year Colorado coach to take a team to<br />
a bowl game.<br />
• The team’s 10 w<strong>in</strong>s <strong>in</strong> 1995 were the most ever by a first-year CU<br />
coach.<br />
• The Buffaloes’ No. 4 rank<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the USA Today stand<strong>in</strong>gs and No. 5<br />
rank<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the f<strong>in</strong>al Associated Press poll were the eighth-highest<br />
rank<strong>in</strong>gs ever for a first-year coach.<br />
• Neuheisel’s 10 w<strong>in</strong>s his first year tied for the fifth-most by a rookie.<br />
• The 1996 Colorado team set a school record by w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g 10<br />
consecutive road games.