When Neu let’s the cat out of the bag
Expectations run high at Montlake
By Richard Linde, Posted 2 June 2003

Gil Dobie’s unbeaten teams, Jim Owens’ Montlake Boys (’59), and Don James’ national championship team (’91) provide the bedrock for which the Washington Husky football program stands. Add cornerstone legends George Wilson and Hugh McElhenny, not to mention the others, and you have one of the most storied programs in college football.

This season, expectations run high. Fans are pumped. Babs has “Skippy” padlocked to the Montlake Bridge by contract, and now he can jettison his cell phone and return to the recruiting mix. In the minds of Husky fans, as the opposition trembles between the jaws of Husky Stadium, the Dawgs prepare to wolf them down.  

Why not?

With sixteen position players returning and with Heisman hopeful Cody Pickett at quarterback, the Huskies are one of the early favorites to win the race for the Roses.

With expectations at their zenith, this will be a critical year for head coach Rick Nueheisel--especially so, after a tumultuous last season marred by a running game that was worst in school history.

During the San Jose State game, fickle fans booed the trailing Huskies and, after a blowout loss to ASU in Tempe, some fans accused the players of quitting. After the loss to UCLA at Husky stadium, fair-weather fans jumped off the Husky “bandwagon” while railing against defensive coordinator Tim Hundley and offensive line coach Brent Myers. 

The Huskies then won their next three games against Oregon, Oregon State and Washington State. “Those fans that jumped off the bandwagon needn’t climb back on,” so said WR Reggie Williams.  

Some did—but abandoned it after the Sun Bowl.

Following that embarrassing loss to Purdue—with a paltry 45 yards on the ground—the miasma of losing pitted one Husky fan against the other, and the Internet message boards lit up in flame.

Embroiled in a controversy of his own making, Neueheisel found time to hire Dan Cozzetto as offensive line coach and add Phil Snow as assistant defensive coordinator—then added Pete Kaligis and Steve Emtman to the weight room.

With the offensive line needing more push off the ball and the defense needing more pizzazz and ebullience, fans looked to the spring game for some answers to what they thought was a Husky quagmire.

During the spring game and two preceding scrimmages, the Husky running game appeared anemic and moribund.

But there were extenuating circumstances.

During the scrimmages, running backs Rich Alexis and Kenny James nursed injuries that kept them sidelined, leaving Chris Singleton and Shelton Sampson to run against the number one defense. The defense keyed on the run, knowing that Neuheisel was engineering a road grader.

Wisely, Neuheisel played ones against ones and twos against twos, while uncovering a surfeit of talent as young players vied for playing time.

Is Montlake turning into Fort Knox?

Neuheisel has been hording players like Silas Marner horded gold. He’s got real depth in a number of critical areas, along with speed merchants who can take it to the house. Instead of reading George Eliot at night, our miserly coach has been perusing media guides, the pages so worn and thin they crumble at his impassioned touch.

The gun is loaded, primed and cocked and Neuheisel is taking dead aim at the fall lineup.

However, what if unbridled optimism morphs into unexpected losses next season—generating more pessimism?

Fans will ask whether the foundation of the Husky program, admired by so many in the country, has been cracked by the effects of the fruit-basket scandal and its concomitant sanctions, along with the 85-player scholarship rule.

The Dawgs survived the scandal and sanctions because of head Coach Jim Lambright’s loyalty to the program and his dedication to duty.

However, because of the limits on scholarships, it’s difficult, year in and year out, for many of the behemoths of the past to reload. Most must rebuild after a successful season or two, especially as members of conferences where parity rules the day.

The Husky foundation is weakened but not crumbling thanks to the bedrock accumulated from the Dobie, Owens and James’ years.  

Add Baggie and Whiskey Jim to that bunch; they’re not to be forgotten, along with Cassill and Torchy, too. There are so many, I must stop, lest I list a legion of legends that flow to eternity.

Although the Huskies have restocked the arsenal that provided the fire power for the 2000 season, one still never knows about a weapons cache until it is opened and its weapons are tested.

“If a tree falls in a forest with no one to hear it, does the tree make a noise?" There’ll be plenty of noise in Columbus for all to hear.

Until then, the coach wears a quantum mechanic’s look, as if he knows something that Albert didn’t know. He’ll let the cat out of the bag when he journeys to the Horseshoe and messes with Tressel’s head—then we’ll know if the cat is alive or dead.