Sat down with Rick Neuheisel for a long interview the other day, and here are some of his quotes…

In this part, I brought up a question I asked Neuheisel last year:
If putting a team together is like putting a puzzle together – open the box, pour out the pieces, turn them rightside-up, corners, sides, middle – what stage are you at?

So back to the puzzle metaphor, where are you now?
“You’re always looking, how do you upgrade your roster? The first way is you develop them, right? You do the very best with the kids you have on the roster.

That was 2008?

“Yeah, you build and you teach and you coach and you give them the tools to be successful, and the recipe hopefully for success. The next piece is you now incorporate, you bring more to the roster.

So that’s ’09?

“Yeah, as people leave the program, you have to upgrade. If you lose a great player, you need find a great player to take his place. You’re always looking to upgrade, and that’s all about recruiting. The people who make their money in such a business say we’ve done that well. The proof will be in the pudding as guys continue to develop and see where things are going. But I’m proud of the effort we’ve put in, and I think we can even do better. Then there’s also a research, to make sure you’re doing the right things schematically.”

That’s the Pistol in 2010?
“That’s why I keep saying the term research and development. We’ve tried to develop the skill level, and now we’re trying to do the research to see what we do with the skill will be put to the test this year.”