Rick Neuheisel's feeling lucky - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

gov135 · 06-07-2003, 06:52 AM

http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2003/0606/1564081.html

Coach acknowledged participating in NCAA pools

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel told coaches and players he would fight to keep his job, a day after he acknowledged breaking NCAA rules by betting on men's basketball tournaments.

After attending a previously scheduled gathering with his players, Rick Neuheisel said he'll coach Washington "until told otherwise."

"I told them I was going to fight this, just like we fought when we were 4-5. My first, second and third choice on this is to remain the Washington coach," he said Thursday night after meeting with the team in a previously scheduled gathering.

Asked if he would continue to coach the Huskies, he said, "Until I'm told otherwise."

"I believe I am completely innocent," he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer late Thursday night.

NCAA president Myles Brand told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday that he couldn't comment specifically on the case because Neuheisel was under investigation by the NCAA and the Pac-10.

"But I can comment on issues of gambling by a coach that involve young people," Brand said. "I feel that it's totally unacceptable behavior. It's wrong and should be dealt with severely."

Brand said that if he were a school president, he would "take personnel action."

University officials met Thursday to discuss Neuheisel's future, with athletic department spokesman Jim Daves saying Thursday night that the school had no comment.

Lee Huntsman, the university's interim president, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The Seattle Times reported Thursday that Neuheisel participated in NCAA basketball pools the past two years. Two NCAA investigators and one from the Pac-10 Conference questioned him Wednesday after receiving a tip that he put up $5,000 and won about $20,000 by picking Maryland in 2002.

NCAA spokesman Jeff Howard told the AP on Thursday that he could not comment about or confirm the investigation.

The NCAA manual specifies that coaches, staff members and athletes may not knowingly "solicit or accept a bet on any intercollegiate competition for any item (e.g., cash, shirt, dinner) that has tangible value."

Huskies athletic director Barbara Hedges told The Seattle Times she learned of Neuheisel's involvement in the betting pools late Wednesday and promised "a careful review of all the facts."

"Gambling is a serious violation of NCAA rules," Hedges said. "You can't minimize this. The university will take this very seriously."

Several players entering and leaving the meeting Thursday declared their support for the coach.

"He was just saying 'stay focused and get ready for the season,' " freshman quarterback Isaiah Stanback told the AP. "That's pretty much all he said."

Rick Redman, a longtime Washington booster and former Huskies All-American, said many boosters were dumbfounded at Neuheisel's misstep.

"It's just really unfortunate that Rick didn't think this thing through," Redman told The Seattle Times. "I'm like a lot of other people that are surprised that he didn't.

"I think we're all surprised that a very bright guy who's a great communicator and very bright in terms of his natural intelligence isn't able to put these things together and realize he's tarnishing his reputation and taking risks above and beyond."

Neuheisel said earlier he was part of a four-member "team" that had the overall winner in both years he participated in what he described as a pizza-and-beer gathering.

"I never knowingly participated in anything that I thought was against NCAA regulations," he told KING-TV on Thursday. "I thought I was at a neighborhood social gathering that was for fun. It'd been going on for some 20 years ... I got invited."

Neuheisel said his group split its winnings but he would not discuss dollar amounts.

Under the auction format, participants bid on each team. The highest bid gets that team in the tournament.

The 42-year-old Neuheisel has a 33-15 record in four seasons with the Huskies. Under a six-year contract extension he signed in September, he makes $1.2 million a year, and a five-year option could keep him at Washington until 2013.

The kind of pool Neuheisel described is not against state law unless a bookmaker is involved, but NCAA rules forbid any form of gambling on college sports by athletes and coaching staff.

Institutions can be sanctioned in such cases if violations were known to college officials or if the NCAA finds they should have known.

Many college athletic departments ban even small-change tournament brackets that are commonly filled out in offices nationwide during "March Madness."

"If an athlete or coach put $1 in a pool, certainly there would not be a significant penalty," said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities. "If there is a significant amount of money in the pool, there would be a significant penalty."

The Times reported that the NCAA investigators also questioned Neuheisel about two potential minor violations.

Neuheisel's most recent indiscretion was in February, when he issued a statement through the university denying he had been interviewed for the San Francisco 49ers' coaching vacancy -- then admitted he had in fact been interviewed.

There was a Thursday deadline for the Huskies to report to the NCAA that Neuheisel has fulfilled all compliance requirements concerning 50 minor violations that were committed while he was coach at Colorado from 1995-98.

As the last requirement on the list, Neuheisel attended a regular NCAA compliance seminar Wednesday with athletic department officials from many schools.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/s/2003/0605/1563730.html

Neuheisel's had a rocky four years at UW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press

SEATTLE -- Rick Neuheisel's football coaching career at Washington:

Jan. 11, 1999 : Neuheisel, 37, hired as Washington's coach after four years at Colorado, with a contract worth $997,000 a year for five years.

Feb. 3, 1999: Reports surface on national letter-of-intent signing day that Neuheisel is being investigated for improper visits to five recruits. It later is revealed that Neuheisel also made improper contact with several of his former Colorado players and engaged one UW recruit in a basketball-shooting contest, deemed an improper tryout by the NCAA.

June 19, 1999: Pac-10 accepts Washington's self-imposed penalties for two violations, including reducing Neuheisel's off-campus visits in 2000 from 29 to 9. UW also agrees not to accept any of Neuheisel's former Colorado players as transfers.

Jan. 1, 2001: Washington beats Purdue 34-24 in the Rose Bowl, capping an 11-1 season.

Sept. 4, 2001: Neuheisel's contract is improved to a guaranteed $1.21 million a year, with incentives to a possible $1.46 million a season.

Feb. 6, 2002: On national letter-of-intent day, Neuheisel criticizes recruiting tactics of Oregon and UCLA, drawing a Pac-10 reprimand. UCLA coach Bob Toledo also is reprimanded for comments about Neuheisel, and Oregon reprimanded for the tactics Neuheisel criticized.

April 11, 2002: Colorado officials confirm the school has been accused by the NCAA of a lack of institutional control and multiple minor violations during time Neuheisel was coach.

Sept. 3, 2002: Neuheisel receives a contract extension through the 2007 season, including a $1.5 million loan he does not have to pay back if he works through the life of the contract. With the loan and incentives, Neuheisel now can make more than $1.8 million a season.

Oct. 8, 2002: NCAA completes investigation into Neuheisel's tenure at Colorado and prohibits him from off-campus recruiting through May 31, 2003, as a penalty for his part in more than 50 minor violations.

Dec. 31, 2002: Washington loses to Purdue in Sun Bowl, 34-24, ending a 7-6 season.

Jan. 9, 2003: Neuheisel censured by the American Football Coaches Association after its board finds he has shown a lack of remorse for his role in the Colorado violations.

Feb. 11, 2003: After rumors that he interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers for their head coaching position the previous day, Neuheisel releases a statement denying he ever talked to the 49ers.

Feb. 12, 2003: After more reports that he talked to the 49ers, Neuheisel acknowledges interviewing with San Francisco officials, saying his initial denials were a "knee-jerk reaction" to protect a confidentiality agreement.

Feb. 13, 2003: Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges says there will be no discipline of Neuheisel for lying about having interviewed with the 49ers.

Feb. 14, 2003: Interim UW president Lee Huntsman says he had spoken to Neuheisel about the 49ers incident to make it "especially clear to Rick what the university's expectations are." Huntsman says he is "not prepared to talk about" whether the school had considered firing Neuheisel.

June 4, 2003: NCAA launches inquiry into Neuheisel betting on college basketball. Neuheisel confirms he bet on the NCAA men's basketball tournament for the past two years. He says the bets were made in an annual auction with his friends and neighbors.

http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/wojna...n/1564402.html

Neuheisel can't cover the spread on this

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Adrian Wojnarowski
Special to ESPN.com

Rick Neuheisel promises to play the rosy-cheeked, guitar-strumming aw-shucks fool one more time, fighting to save a job that he should've lost a long time ago. The Teflon football coach blatantly broke NCAA rules, betraying his past and present employers, the University of Colorado and Washington. He lied to UW officials over a clandestine interview with the San Francisco 49ers.

What was Rick Neuheisel thinking when he plunked down $5,000 on a college hoops pool?
Finally, Neuheisel made the ultimate move for self-destruction, a $20,000 payday in an NCAA Tournament basketball pool that promises to be his professional Waterloo.

"I believe I am completely innocent," Neuheisel told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

The rest of us believe he is completely shameless. If this had been a scholarship football player investing $5,000 in a dormitory pool, his room, books, board and playbook would've been stripped so fast, the kid's head would be spinning. Other schools wouldn't touch him on a transfer. The pros would proceed with caution on drafting him. Who would dare even debate the issue?

So now, Neuheisel is the easiest call in college coaching corruption this year, the resolution far clearer with him than it even was with Alabama's Mike Price and Iowa State's Larry Eustachy: Get your guitar, Rick. And get out.

The NCAA spends so much time warning colleges on gambling, promising that it'll be merciless with cases concerning administrators and coaches. After all, they're supposed to know better, right? They're supposed to set the standard.

As usual, Neuheisel believed he was above obeying the rules. Betting $5,000 in a college basketball pool? The arrogance of these multi-million-dollar coaches is unparalleled. They believe they run these universities. They believe they're untouchable, that the discipline they demand out of their own players doesn't apply to them. Why wouldn't they? As long as they're winning, it's true.

All this was happening at Washington, just as college football was enduring the embarrassment of the gambling trial for ex-Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson in Tallahassee. Gambling is the great untold story of college sports, the sleeping giant of scandals. So much is bubbling under the surface, threatening to explode.

College coaches crusade for the end of legalized sports betting in America, such as UConn's Jim Calhoun and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. They've pushed policy to politicians, with Calhoun even traveling to testify in Washington, D.C. All of which would be wonderful and noble pursuits, if these same coaches didn't headline well-paying basketball clinics at the Mohegan Sun, a casino in Connecticut.

For Calhoun, he's even used the casino as the site for his charity golf tournament. While the practice is probably harmless, the appearance creates confusing, mixed messages. These are just regrettable conflicts with the basketball coaches, but what has happened with Neuheisel is unpardonable.

Ultimately, this is a fitting end to his tenure of embarrassment at Washington, where he cheated and lied his way to the unemployment line. Around America, this should be remembered as the spring of scaring college coaches straight. From Price to Eustachy to Neuheisel, these million-dollar-a-year coaching CEO's are covering the bases on every vice known to man: Sex, booze and gambling. The party's over. Despite what the deposed coaches spin for the purposes of self-preservation, the best lessons learned on campus are that the abuse of power and privilege come with consequences.

From lap dances to drunken frat house follies to $20,000 hanging on a freshman's free throw at a basketball regional, these self-proclaimed molders of men are responsible for satisfying something bigger than their own indulgences. They're responsible to be role models. In the morals clauses of the contracts they signed, in the living rooms of the kids they recruited, they signed up for the duty.

Unlike Price and Eustachy, there will be little hand-wringing over his firing. Once NCAA president Myles Brand hit the pages of USA Today on Friday morning, insisting that he would find the basketball pool "incompatible with future employment," even his athletic director and apologists in Seattle can't save Strummin' Rick now.

Somehow, Neuheisel promised to fight his dismissal. Somehow, he still doesn't get it. Why would he? Every embarrassment and ethical breech he's delivered on this job, he's hustled his way out of. As much as anything, this is the University of Washington's fault. Huskies athletic director Barbara Hedges never did her homework hiring Neuheisel. She let him embarrass the school, over and over. In many ways, the university gambled a lot more with its credibility than the coach ever did with his neighborhood basketball pool.

It won't be long until the football coach has lost his job at the University of Washington, but before then, Hedges promised a "careful review of all the facts," according to the Seattle Times.

When it comes to Rick Neuheisel gambling with her school's good name, she's a little late, isn't she?

___________________________________________________

It seems, at first, that this firing of college coaches has gone too far. But does anyone actually believe Rick Neuheisel? This guy seems to lie so much it has become a form of the truth. NCAA violations seem to follow this guy like they do Jim Harrick.

It appears the amount of money spent in "his neighborhood pool" is quite significant - though numbers weren't released (EDIT: five grand), the NCAA hinted that a small pool wouldn't draw much interest.

These guys must really think quite highly of themselves - that they are somehow above the rules. Hello, earth to college coaches, you are held to higher standards, and you must follow the rules. Any thoughts on Rick " the pool boy" Neuheisel?

richeee · 06-08-2003, 03:39 PM

Prick NeuWeasel needs to be fired immediately!
He is an arrogant asshole who doesn't deserve to be "leading" anyone. Overpaid and ignorant.

The entire sports dept. at UW needs a cleaning, starting with Barb Hedges...

BlueFaceBeast · 06-08-2003, 10:35 PM

Wait a second guys...look at the rest of his career, he does fishy 'recruiting' trips at CU. Then goes to UW, CU's investgated for what he had done, and they get in trouble, not Neuheisel. The NCAA has been waiting for him to screw up again so that they could hammer him. He's screwed.

warrrreagl · 06-09-2003, 05:29 AM

I think he's just plain stupid and has a history of making dumb, goofy mistakes. I don't think he's sinister, or trying to cheat, or trying anything, really. I think he's just stupid.

What a maroon.

richeee · 06-11-2003, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by warrrreagl
I think he's just plain stupid and has a history of making dumb, goofy mistakes. I don't think he's sinister, or trying to cheat, or trying anything, really. I think he's just stupid.

What a maroon.

I agree, war- he is just a stupid moron. He needs to leave WA State and maybe move to some 3rd world or another planet? He is such a fuckin' drain on our resources...
Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish...

Artermis · 06-12-2003, 10:24 AM

He is not so lucky any more.

Art

cementor · 06-12-2003, 07:17 PM

NewHoser got what he deserved (fired) and 3.6MM$'s is what I have heard is left on his contract and because of the emails,he appears likely to get it al. Not a bad consolation prize!

richeee · 06-12-2003, 08:56 PM

Yeah, if he gets a $ettlement, it will be an injustice. The taxpayers of Washington State shouldn't have to pay this, but probably will.
Right now, he's on paid leave...
sheesh.

06-07-2003, 06:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
gov135 Junkie Location: Midwest	Rick Neuheisel's feeling lucky http://espn.go.com/ncf/news/2003/0606/1564081.html Coach acknowledged participating in NCAA pools -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press SEATTLE -- Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel told coaches and players he would fight to keep his job, a day after he acknowledged breaking NCAA rules by betting on men's basketball tournaments. After attending a previously scheduled gathering with his players, Rick Neuheisel said he'll coach Washington "until told otherwise." "I told them I was going to fight this, just like we fought when we were 4-5. My first, second and third choice on this is to remain the Washington coach," he said Thursday night after meeting with the team in a previously scheduled gathering. Asked if he would continue to coach the Huskies, he said, "Until I'm told otherwise." "I believe I am completely innocent," he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer late Thursday night. NCAA president Myles Brand told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Friday that he couldn't comment specifically on the case because Neuheisel was under investigation by the NCAA and the Pac-10. "But I can comment on issues of gambling by a coach that involve young people," Brand said. "I feel that it's totally unacceptable behavior. It's wrong and should be dealt with severely." Brand said that if he were a school president, he would "take personnel action." University officials met Thursday to discuss Neuheisel's future, with athletic department spokesman Jim Daves saying Thursday night that the school had no comment. Lee Huntsman, the university's interim president, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment. The Seattle Times reported Thursday that Neuheisel participated in NCAA basketball pools the past two years. Two NCAA investigators and one from the Pac-10 Conference questioned him Wednesday after receiving a tip that he put up $5,000 and won about $20,000 by picking Maryland in 2002. NCAA spokesman Jeff Howard told the AP on Thursday that he could not comment about or confirm the investigation. The NCAA manual specifies that coaches, staff members and athletes may not knowingly "solicit or accept a bet on any intercollegiate competition for any item (e.g., cash, shirt, dinner) that has tangible value." Huskies athletic director Barbara Hedges told The Seattle Times she learned of Neuheisel's involvement in the betting pools late Wednesday and promised "a careful review of all the facts." "Gambling is a serious violation of NCAA rules," Hedges said. "You can't minimize this. The university will take this very seriously." Several players entering and leaving the meeting Thursday declared their support for the coach. "He was just saying 'stay focused and get ready for the season,' " freshman quarterback Isaiah Stanback told the AP. "That's pretty much all he said." Rick Redman, a longtime Washington booster and former Huskies All-American, said many boosters were dumbfounded at Neuheisel's misstep. "It's just really unfortunate that Rick didn't think this thing through," Redman told The Seattle Times. "I'm like a lot of other people that are surprised that he didn't. "I think we're all surprised that a very bright guy who's a great communicator and very bright in terms of his natural intelligence isn't able to put these things together and realize he's tarnishing his reputation and taking risks above and beyond." Neuheisel said earlier he was part of a four-member "team" that had the overall winner in both years he participated in what he described as a pizza-and-beer gathering. "I never knowingly participated in anything that I thought was against NCAA regulations," he told KING-TV on Thursday. "I thought I was at a neighborhood social gathering that was for fun. It'd been going on for some 20 years ... I got invited." Neuheisel said his group split its winnings but he would not discuss dollar amounts. Under the auction format, participants bid on each team. The highest bid gets that team in the tournament. The 42-year-old Neuheisel has a 33-15 record in four seasons with the Huskies. Under a six-year contract extension he signed in September, he makes $1.2 million a year, and a five-year option could keep him at Washington until 2013. The kind of pool Neuheisel described is not against state law unless a bookmaker is involved, but NCAA rules forbid any form of gambling on college sports by athletes and coaching staff. Institutions can be sanctioned in such cases if violations were known to college officials or if the NCAA finds they should have known. Many college athletic departments ban even small-change tournament brackets that are commonly filled out in offices nationwide during "March Madness." "If an athlete or coach put $1 in a pool, certainly there would not be a significant penalty," said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities. "If there is a significant amount of money in the pool, there would be a significant penalty." The Times reported that the NCAA investigators also questioned Neuheisel about two potential minor violations. Neuheisel's most recent indiscretion was in February, when he issued a statement through the university denying he had been interviewed for the San Francisco 49ers' coaching vacancy -- then admitted he had in fact been interviewed. There was a Thursday deadline for the Huskies to report to the NCAA that Neuheisel has fulfilled all compliance requirements concerning 50 minor violations that were committed while he was coach at Colorado from 1995-98. As the last requirement on the list, Neuheisel attended a regular NCAA compliance seminar Wednesday with athletic department officials from many schools. http://espn.go.com/ncf/s/2003/0605/1563730.html Neuheisel's had a rocky four years at UW -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press SEATTLE -- Rick Neuheisel's football coaching career at Washington: Jan. 11, 1999 : Neuheisel, 37, hired as Washington's coach after four years at Colorado, with a contract worth $997,000 a year for five years. Feb. 3, 1999: Reports surface on national letter-of-intent signing day that Neuheisel is being investigated for improper visits to five recruits. It later is revealed that Neuheisel also made improper contact with several of his former Colorado players and engaged one UW recruit in a basketball-shooting contest, deemed an improper tryout by the NCAA. June 19, 1999: Pac-10 accepts Washington's self-imposed penalties for two violations, including reducing Neuheisel's off-campus visits in 2000 from 29 to 9. UW also agrees not to accept any of Neuheisel's former Colorado players as transfers. Jan. 1, 2001: Washington beats Purdue 34-24 in the Rose Bowl, capping an 11-1 season. Sept. 4, 2001: Neuheisel's contract is improved to a guaranteed $1.21 million a year, with incentives to a possible $1.46 million a season. Feb. 6, 2002: On national letter-of-intent day, Neuheisel criticizes recruiting tactics of Oregon and UCLA, drawing a Pac-10 reprimand. UCLA coach Bob Toledo also is reprimanded for comments about Neuheisel, and Oregon reprimanded for the tactics Neuheisel criticized. April 11, 2002: Colorado officials confirm the school has been accused by the NCAA of a lack of institutional control and multiple minor violations during time Neuheisel was coach. Sept. 3, 2002: Neuheisel receives a contract extension through the 2007 season, including a $1.5 million loan he does not have to pay back if he works through the life of the contract. With the loan and incentives, Neuheisel now can make more than $1.8 million a season. Oct. 8, 2002: NCAA completes investigation into Neuheisel's tenure at Colorado and prohibits him from off-campus recruiting through May 31, 2003, as a penalty for his part in more than 50 minor violations. Dec. 31, 2002: Washington loses to Purdue in Sun Bowl, 34-24, ending a 7-6 season. Jan. 9, 2003: Neuheisel censured by the American Football Coaches Association after its board finds he has shown a lack of remorse for his role in the Colorado violations. Feb. 11, 2003: After rumors that he interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers for their head coaching position the previous day, Neuheisel releases a statement denying he ever talked to the 49ers. Feb. 12, 2003: After more reports that he talked to the 49ers, Neuheisel acknowledges interviewing with San Francisco officials, saying his initial denials were a "knee-jerk reaction" to protect a confidentiality agreement. Feb. 13, 2003: Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges says there will be no discipline of Neuheisel for lying about having interviewed with the 49ers. Feb. 14, 2003: Interim UW president Lee Huntsman says he had spoken to Neuheisel about the 49ers incident to make it "especially clear to Rick what the university's expectations are." Huntsman says he is "not prepared to talk about" whether the school had considered firing Neuheisel. June 4, 2003: NCAA launches inquiry into Neuheisel betting on college basketball. Neuheisel confirms he bet on the NCAA men's basketball tournament for the past two years. He says the bets were made in an annual auction with his friends and neighbors. http://espn.go.com/ncf/columns/wojna...n/1564402.html Neuheisel can't cover the spread on this -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Adrian Wojnarowski Special to ESPN.com Rick Neuheisel promises to play the rosy-cheeked, guitar-strumming aw-shucks fool one more time, fighting to save a job that he should've lost a long time ago. The Teflon football coach blatantly broke NCAA rules, betraying his past and present employers, the University of Colorado and Washington. He lied to UW officials over a clandestine interview with the San Francisco 49ers. What was Rick Neuheisel thinking when he plunked down $5,000 on a college hoops pool? Finally, Neuheisel made the ultimate move for self-destruction, a $20,000 payday in an NCAA Tournament basketball pool that promises to be his professional Waterloo. "I believe I am completely innocent," Neuheisel told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The rest of us believe he is completely shameless. If this had been a scholarship football player investing $5,000 in a dormitory pool, his room, books, board and playbook would've been stripped so fast, the kid's head would be spinning. Other schools wouldn't touch him on a transfer. The pros would proceed with caution on drafting him. Who would dare even debate the issue? So now, Neuheisel is the easiest call in college coaching corruption this year, the resolution far clearer with him than it even was with Alabama's Mike Price and Iowa State's Larry Eustachy: Get your guitar, Rick. And get out. The NCAA spends so much time warning colleges on gambling, promising that it'll be merciless with cases concerning administrators and coaches. After all, they're supposed to know better, right? They're supposed to set the standard. As usual, Neuheisel believed he was above obeying the rules. Betting $5,000 in a college basketball pool? The arrogance of these multi-million-dollar coaches is unparalleled. They believe they run these universities. They believe they're untouchable, that the discipline they demand out of their own players doesn't apply to them. Why wouldn't they? As long as they're winning, it's true. All this was happening at Washington, just as college football was enduring the embarrassment of the gambling trial for ex-Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson in Tallahassee. Gambling is the great untold story of college sports, the sleeping giant of scandals. So much is bubbling under the surface, threatening to explode. College coaches crusade for the end of legalized sports betting in America, such as UConn's Jim Calhoun and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. They've pushed policy to politicians, with Calhoun even traveling to testify in Washington, D.C. All of which would be wonderful and noble pursuits, if these same coaches didn't headline well-paying basketball clinics at the Mohegan Sun, a casino in Connecticut. For Calhoun, he's even used the casino as the site for his charity golf tournament. While the practice is probably harmless, the appearance creates confusing, mixed messages. These are just regrettable conflicts with the basketball coaches, but what has happened with Neuheisel is unpardonable. Ultimately, this is a fitting end to his tenure of embarrassment at Washington, where he cheated and lied his way to the unemployment line. Around America, this should be remembered as the spring of scaring college coaches straight. From Price to Eustachy to Neuheisel, these million-dollar-a-year coaching CEO's are covering the bases on every vice known to man: Sex, booze and gambling. The party's over. Despite what the deposed coaches spin for the purposes of self-preservation, the best lessons learned on campus are that the abuse of power and privilege come with consequences. From lap dances to drunken frat house follies to $20,000 hanging on a freshman's free throw at a basketball regional, these self-proclaimed molders of men are responsible for satisfying something bigger than their own indulgences. They're responsible to be role models. In the morals clauses of the contracts they signed, in the living rooms of the kids they recruited, they signed up for the duty. Unlike Price and Eustachy, there will be little hand-wringing over his firing. Once NCAA president Myles Brand hit the pages of USA Today on Friday morning, insisting that he would find the basketball pool "incompatible with future employment," even his athletic director and apologists in Seattle can't save Strummin' Rick now. Somehow, Neuheisel promised to fight his dismissal. Somehow, he still doesn't get it. Why would he? Every embarrassment and ethical breech he's delivered on this job, he's hustled his way out of. As much as anything, this is the University of Washington's fault. Huskies athletic director Barbara Hedges never did her homework hiring Neuheisel. She let him embarrass the school, over and over. In many ways, the university gambled a lot more with its credibility than the coach ever did with his neighborhood basketball pool. It won't be long until the football coach has lost his job at the University of Washington, but before then, Hedges promised a "careful review of all the facts," according to the Seattle Times. When it comes to Rick Neuheisel gambling with her school's good name, she's a little late, isn't she? ___________________________________________________ It seems, at first, that this firing of college coaches has gone too far. But does anyone actually believe Rick Neuheisel? This guy seems to lie so much it has become a form of the truth. NCAA violations seem to follow this guy like they do Jim Harrick. It appears the amount of money spent in "his neighborhood pool" is quite significant - though numbers weren't released (EDIT: five grand), the NCAA hinted that a small pool wouldn't draw much interest. These guys must really think quite highly of themselves - that they are somehow above the rules. Hello, earth to college coaches, you are held to higher standards, and you must follow the rules. Any thoughts on Rick " the pool boy" Neuheisel? Last edited by gov135; 06-07-2003 at 06:57 AM..

06-08-2003, 03:39 PM	#2 (permalink)
richeee Go Packers! (sigh!) Location: The Lovely Emerald City	Prick NeuWeasel needs to be fired immediately! He is an arrogant asshole who doesn't deserve to be "leading" anyone. Overpaid and ignorant. The entire sports dept. at UW needs a cleaning, starting with Barb Hedges... __________________ Pas le cri, le coeur de Minx! .... Where can I stare now?.........I did!!!What about You?

06-08-2003, 10:35 PM	#3 (permalink)
BlueFaceBeast Psycho Location: Aurora, CO	Wait a second guys...look at the rest of his career, he does fishy 'recruiting' trips at CU. Then goes to UW, CU's investgated for what he had done, and they get in trouble, not Neuheisel. The NCAA has been waiting for him to screw up again so that they could hammer him. He's screwed. __________________ "In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey... the monkey will spank us." -Jason Mewes

06-09-2003, 05:29 AM	#4 (permalink)
warrrreagl pinche vato Location: backwater, Third World, land of cotton	I think he's just plain stupid and has a history of making dumb, goofy mistakes. I don't think he's sinister, or trying to cheat, or trying anything, really. I think he's just stupid. What a maroon. __________________ Living is easy with eyes closed.

06-12-2003, 07:17 PM	#7 (permalink)
cementor Crazy Location: Denver	NewHoser got what he deserved (fired) and 3.6MM$'s is what I have heard is left on his contract and because of the emails,he appears likely to get it al. Not a bad consolation prize! __________________ Cementor If I was any better I'd have to be twins!

06-12-2003, 10:24 AM	#6 (permalink)
Artermis Insane Location: I live where all the morons live	He is not so lucky any more. Art

06-12-2003, 08:56 PM	#8 (permalink)
richeee Go Packers! (sigh!) Location: The Lovely Emerald City	Yeah, if he gets a $ettlement, it will be an injustice. The taxpayers of Washington State shouldn't have to pay this, but probably will. Right now, he's on paid leave... sheesh. __________________ Pas le cri, le coeur de Minx! .... Where can I stare now?.........I did!!!What about You?