It’s all about perception
Using it as a negative recruiting weapon
By Richard Linde, 11 February 2002

Most people believe Rick Neuheisel should have known better than to talk to reporters about negative recruiting tactics. Even Neuheisel said he should have taken the matter directly to the Pac-10 office and not talked to the media about it. But being exhausted and emotional, having been awake for 36 hours, it was hard for him not to discuss the matter--which is especially true when you consider that Neuheisel is an outstanding recruiter and that the loss of several recruits just before letter-of-intent day must have been frustrating.

At the conference, Neuheisel talked about the Clay Walker incident, which cost Walker his job at a local area steak house. After Walker had made an oral commitment to Washington, a couple of UCLA assistant coaches arrived unannounced at his Scottsdale, Arizona home. They stayed for several hours and Walker was reluctant to leave them, even though he had to report for work. After the coaches left, he arrived late for work, and that cost him his job.

Then Bob Toledo, head coach at UCLA, allegedly called Walker and came up a cropper. During his news conference Neuheisel was quoted as saying, "I mean, (head coach) Bob Toledo tells him, 'You don't think that if I'm (Toledo) gone, that (Neuheisel) is not going to be the next head coach at UCLA?' I mean, Bob Toledo is basically telling him he's going to get fired. It's ridiculous."

"Talking to Clayton Walker after UCLA had been in there, you had to have a fire hose to clean him off," Neuheisel told a Seattle newspaper.

Then Neuheisel talked about the Jumbotron incident at Autzen stadium that occurred during the civil war game held on December 1st. During the game, a video clip of Neuheisel was juxtaposed with a scene from the movie “Airplane” that showed people vomiting. The partisan Oregon crowd went wild, booed, stomped their feet, chewed on their corncob pipes and hollered, “Hee haw.” 

I probably shouldn't have described them in that way, but this story is about tagging people--about stereotyping them and using the stereotype as a weapon in recruiting. J

Later Oregon officials apologized for the incident, claiming that the video was produced not by the university, but by the company that owns Oregon football broadcast rights. It was shown six times during the game and at least 15 recruits that Washington and Oregon both were considering were in attendance.

"There are recruits there," Neuheisel told the Seattle Times. "They're (the Ducks) bashing you, the crowd boos (at the sight of Neuheisel). It's big fun and all that stuff. Now you've got to hose them (recruits) off.”

In 1999, after Neuheisel decided to be the Husky head honcho, head coaches Mike Bellotti (Oregon) and Gary Barnett (Colorado) accused him of tampering and recruiting violations.  Defensive lineman Donny Mateaki who signed with the Huskies told a Honolulu television station that Barnett and Bellotti both ripped Neuheisel during their recruiting visits and that he almost cancelled his visit to Washington.

Did the press sympathize with Neuheisel over his allegations?

No. Most reporters are playful chaps, and once you hand them a story on a silver platter, they’ll add some tarnish. A couple of the Husky beat writers turned the tables on Neuheisel, writing about the soft commits who had switched from other schools to Washington, even though the thrust of Neuheisel’s comments had been about negative recruiting, that is, about denigrating another coach. One writer speculated about Neuheisel’s leaving Washington and taking the UCLA head-coaching job if Bob Toledo should lose it. He quoted ABC college football analyst Terry Bowden by writing “Rick Neuheisel at UCLA would be an awesome situation.”

This writer went on to add, “…if UCLA plopped $2 million on the table for him, Neuheisel undoubtedly would see images of plum southern California recruits dancing in his head…Of course, this is idle speculation. What's clear is Neuheisel believes other Pac-10 schools have declared war on him and he's in no mood for appeasement.”

We all know that the media tend to stereotype and categorize individuals. Neuheisel has been victimized by this tactic more than once, being called “Slick Rick,” “Neuweasel” and “Skippy” on Internet message boards and by sport writers who either directly quote the fans' “endearments” in their articles or use their meaning as innuendos.  

However, I'm not really sure that Neuheisel believes other Pac-10 schools have declared war on him. Most likely, however, in the recruiting battles, the coaches in the conference are using characterizations of him made by the media against him.  The Seattle media have pounded away at Neuheisel off and on since his arrival in Seattle; how else do the public form an opinion about someone in the limelight if it isn't through the media? 

Just this morning, another writer in the Seattle media ran a story about Bob Toledo, who claims that Rick Neuheisel did his own trash talking during the recruiting season. Neuheisel had no comment on the story.

Interestingly enough, to my knowledge, none of these negative recruiting stories have made their way to the sports section of the Los Angeles Times. The Seattle media will not allow Rick Nueheisel to lose control, and he should know that based on his experience with them in 1999. 

The Jumbotron incident was a way of reinforcing a media perception of Neuheisel in a visual way and it most likely had its affect, although, in the main, the video clip was preaching to the choir.

Using the media's stereotypes of Neuheisel as ammunition,  opposing coaches, I would guess, told recruits that Neuheisel would leave Washington before they graduate, that he is too soft on his players, that he's too young to be a head coach, that he's walking a thin line when it comes to NCAA rules' violations, that he is money grubbing, that you can't trust him, and so on.  

Like the unflattering images thrust upon politicians who are out of sorts with the media, will media stereotypes continue to haunt Neuheisel, as they did during the recruiting war this season?

As long as Neuheisel keeps winning it won't be a problem. It’s hard to criticize a winner. But he needs to keep his emotions under control when he talks with the press.  

As for fans from rival schools, they will continue to relate this year’s recruiting horror stories for years to come, lacing them with the unflattering adjectives they’ve ascribed to the coaches. That’s a given.