Erik Boal: September 2010 Archives

When Rick Neuheisel brought up UCLA having to face a pair of future NFL first-round draft choices in consecutive weeks in Stanford's Andrew Luck and Houston's Case Keenum -- a game-time decision according to the Houston Chronicle after suffering a mild concussion against UTEP -- it allowed the former Bruins quarterback to wax nostalgic about one of his first NFL quarterbacking experiences while speaking Friday at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club luncheon at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena.

After graduating from UCLA, Neuheisel played for San Antonio Gunslingers in the old USFL, when he received a phone call from the Green Bay Packers offering him a tryout.

Neuheisel, born in Madison, Wisconsin, and a lifelong Packers fan, arrived the morning of the tryout and threw one slant pass that resulted in an unnamed free-agent receiver suffering a broken finger.

"It was a perfect pass," Neuheisel said.

The tryout was cut short until later in the afternoon, with Neuheisel touring the Packers Hall of Fame museum in the interim. When he returned to the indoor facility for the second workout, a Packers assistant had told him "they'd seen enough" and that he "wasn't exactky what they were looking for."

The 6-foot-1 Neuheisel, in disbelief after throwing just one pass, was told by the Packers that they expected him to be a "taller 6-1."

Instead of staying the rest of the day at the Green Bay Packers Ramada Inn, Neuheisel had lunch courtesy of the franchise before leaving on a flight out of Wisconsin later that night. Although he never had future contact with the Packers, he did split the 1987 season with the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was that learning experience that allowed Neuheisel to be patient with St. Francis coach and former Hart quarterback Jim Bonds -- also a speaker Friday at the Quarterbacks Club luncheon -- when Neuheisel was his quarterbacks coach at UCLA in 1988 and '89, and has allowed him to be patient with Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut the past two seasons.

"We're going to get there," Neuheisel said. "I just hope I'm around to see it when it happens."

During his speech Friday at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena, Rick Neuheisel encouraged the Bruins fans in attendance to remain optimistic, despite the 0-2 start.

After all, this isn't the first time Neuheisel has endured an 0-2 start to the season.

During his first season at Washington (1999-2000), Neuheisel lost to BYU and Air Force, before the Huskies rebounded to win seven of their final 10 games, including a 6-2 record for a second-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference and an appearance in the Holiday Bowl, where Washington lost to Kansas State 24-20.

"I told my coaching staff, 'We can't win the Mountain West, but we can still win the Pac-10, so let's find a way to do so,'" Neuheisel said. "And we came within a whisker of doing so, even beating conference champion Stanford (35-30)."

In Neuheisel's second year at Washington, the Huskies went 11-1 -- including a victory over then No. 1 Miami (Fla.) -- and defeated a Drew Brees-led Purdue team in the Rose Bowl 34-24 to finish ranked third in the country. That victory helped Neuheisel become the only Rose Bowl MVP to also coach a team to victory in the annual New Year's Day game.

"When I walked in here (to Brookside Country Club), I saw a lot of people feeling sorry for me, but that shouldn't be the case," Neuheisel told the audience. "Sure I'm disappointed in the way we've been playing, but you've got to continue to believe it can happen and find a way to get over the hump.

"There's plenty of good seats available on the bandwagon now right up near in the front because a lot of people have jumped off," Neuheisel continued. "If you have gotten off, that's fine, but there's still time to get back on because I wouldn't want you to miss being part of an unbelievable ride."

Rick Neuheisel made his annual appearance Friday at the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club at Brookside Country Club in Pasadena, joining another former UCLA quarterback Jim Bonds -- now the head coach at St. Francis -- as the guest speakers.

Minutes before Neuheisel was introduced, former Dodger Al Ferrara (1963, 65-68) informed those in attendance of the news that Don Mattingly would be managing the Dodgers the remainder of the regular season, instead of a retired Joe Torre.

As he was preparing to walk up to the podium, Neuheisel looked at his cell phone, apparently reading or responding to a text message.

When he greeted the crowd, Neuheisel commented, "Many of you saw me checking my phone. I was just making sure that Joe Torre wasn't hired to coach UCLA football."

Neuheisel later referenced UCLA's 1983-84 season, when he was selected MVP of the Rose Bowl after leading the Bruins to a 45-9 victory over Illinois after falling ill the night before and being uncertain whether he would even play.

UCLA started 0-3-1 that year, with Terry Donahue benching Neuheisel -- a former walk-on from Arizona who began his career holding kicks for John Lee -- in favor of Steve Bono following a 42-10 loss at No. 1 Nebraska.

"Terry Donahue said 'In situations like this, either the coach gets fired or the quarterback gets fired and I'm not fired yet," Neuheisel said.

Bono was then injured during an October game against Stanford and Neuheisel came back to finish the season, leading the Bruins to a a victory over USC, a Pacific-10 Conference championship, the Rose Bowl win over No. 4 Illinois and a 7-4-1 final record.

The third-year coach, 11-16 at UCLA following Saturday's 35-0 loss to Stanford, only hopes this season's Bruins rebound in similar fashion.