SEATTLE “”mdash; UCLA freshman safety Rahim Moore found coach Rick Neuheisel on the sideline just after the Bruins finished off a 27-7 victory at Washington.
“Coach, this is for you,” Moore said.
Neuheisel coached Washington before he was fired in 2003 after lying about his involvement in an NCAA basketball tournament pool. Saturday was his first game back at Husky Stadium.
All week, Neuheisel asked his players to focus on the game against the Huskies and not on the stories of his return to Seattle.
But after the game UCLA players said they wanted to win for Neuheisel’s sake, so he could walk away with his head held high.
“Deep down everybody wanted to play the game for coach Neuheisel,” junior wide receiver Terrence Austin said.
Neuheisel has called his exit from Washington “˜messy’ in several interviews this week. In 2005, he settled a wrongful termination lawsuit against Washington, in which the university agreed to pay him $4.5 million.
Washington fans booed when Neuheisel was introduced over the PA system, but Neuheisel said that there were a lot of friendly faces.
“I’m human; there were some emotions,” Neuheisel said afterward. “Frankly, I was focusing on the great moments that I’ve had here.”
Neuheisel won 33 games in four years at Washington, including a spectacular 2000 season when the Huskies finished 11-1 and beat Purdue in the Rose Bowl.
But the program also dealt with a string of off-the-field incidents, followed by the NCAA basketball tournament pool controversy in 2003.
Media coverage this week emphasized both coaches in Saturday’s game, much more than the struggling teams.
Neuheisel’s history at Washington was examined, as was the current coaching situation at Washington.
On Oct. 29, Husky coach Tyrone Willingham announced that he would resign at the end of the season.
Willingham’s team fell to 0-10 with the loss to UCLA Saturday.
Washington still hasn’t had a winning season since Neuheisel left.
“(Coach Neuheisel) told us not be worried about that stuff,” sophomore defensive tackle Brian Price said. “He told us, “˜just focus on the game.'”
Neuheisel’s UCLA team dodged a huge threat Saturday. The Bruins have now improved to 4-6 on the season, and will still have an outside chance at bowl eligibility when they travel to Arizona State on Nov. 28.
A loss in Seattle would have eliminated any chance at a bowl and seriously embarrassed a UCLA program trying to head back toward the upper echelon of the Pac-10.
After the win, players expressed hope for their team and faith in their coach.
“I love Neuheisel,” Moore said. “He’s a good coach and he keeps us motivated. He doesn’t come down on us, he tells us to keep pushing. He’s an excellent man.”
Neuheisel said he was just relieved to put this game and the return to Seattle behind him. Clearly, he prefers to focus on his players and the game they play.
“I hope that we can talk about the Bruins and the Huskies from now on, rather than the messy ending,” he said. “It will be exciting for me when the stories are about the players getting ready to play rather than what happened back in 2003.”
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