Ditch day reaction
The coaching staff, including head coach Rick Neuheisel, were clearly not pleased to be blind-sided by the senior-led effort to ditch practice.
Neuheisel met with the seniors are the team ran off the field, and tried to put a positive spin on it.
“Our guys showed good solidarity,’’ Neuheisel said. “It’s not what I would have liked to happen (Tuesday), but I remember being a part of teams that did it and still had successful seasons. So, hopefully, we can benefit in some way from this.’’
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
Thats freaking ridiculous. These kids went 6-7 last year. They could use as much practice time as possible. That was a bad example set by the seniors. I'm very disappointed as a fan.
What is this? They wasted the practice time they need every single minute of? I hope they get punished.
At the end of the day I dont think it is that big of a deal. Tradition is tradition and it will continue, better now than right before tennessee in my opinion
Hey, I've seen some of these guys, and running through the open gate was a good idea. Getting those large behinds over a wall or fence would be close to impossible.
Honestly, The Senior leadership of this team should be embarrassed of themselves. Does this tradition exist across town? I bet not! I would consider this a tradition of a team with a culture of loosing. Honestly, just a few practices under the belt with an almost entirely new coaching staff and the players feel that comfortable pulling this crap. Maybe we should get Howland to have a meeting with new recruits because he obviously is a good judge of character.
One things for sure
D.Collison, R.Westbrook, K.Love., J.Ship, L. Mata-Real, L.R. Mbah a Moute made it to 3 final fours having strong team solidarity. They showed it by busting their asses at practice every day and respecting their coaching staff. Neu should be embarrassed for attempting to spin a positive out of this one. UCLA is not a place to cultivate the Jeramy Stevens of the world and a team with this mentality will do just that.
Please stop comparing us to that team across town. Their traditions include hiring agents and not showing up for class....ever. It would have been good to have that practice, but it's also good to have some fun once in a while.
pffffffff... It was probably Rick Neuheisel who started the tradition when he was a student.
We will go 4-8 this year.. No doubt...
these guys should ask themselves if the team across town has a ditch day...
You can have fun AND have practice. Maybe not at the same time but one doesn't need to be sacrificed for the other.
Whether they can make up a single practice isn't even the main issue. RECRUITING IS! Who knows how many kids will turn their backs on the program after this.
It's a given that the recruits that showed up are gone, don't even bother calling them back. But what about the ones reading about it?
Anyone who's saying it no big deal please tell me that they don't think at least one recruit will keep this in the back of his mind while choosing a school.
Maybe that kid is the next Jones-Drew or Troy Aikman.
...someone please tell me I'm wrong about my final statement.
This is a stupid tradition and it needs to end. The more I read about this, the more annoyed, upset and disappointed I become. When I was a senior in high school, we had a senior ditch day and I took part in the festivities.......however I also was not on a division 1 football team. Plus only SENIORS took part, not the whole school. I was also 17 at the time, not 22 or 23. I lost a lot of respect for the seniors on this team, especially Cowan and Olson. They’re not kids anymore. They’re young adults…..act like it. Being seniors and quarterbacks, they should not have allowed this to happen. The under classman look up to them and the rest of the seniors and they set an awful example the other day. How can you have a winning team, when your 2 senior quarterbacks, one of whom is the starter, literally led their team in the wrong direction …….off the field, instead of on the field? The fact that they allowed and maybe even encouraged this to happen speaks volumes of their character and leadership skills. Its gonna be their asses on the turf on Saturdays, when the already inexperienced offensive line can’t protect them. I wasn’t shocked either when I found out that Dorrell brought back this stupid tradition. Shame on Cowan, Olson and the rest of the seniors. Bring on Kevin Craft.
One more note for the people who do not think this is a big deal. I read an article today that said some of the high school coaches and recruits who were at practice when this happened where in complete shock and disbelief. They discussed hoping on the 10 and heading over to SC to watch practice cause they know their players would be on the field. God job seniors!