The final chapter?
Latest brouhaha may be swan song
By: Richard Linde, Posted 5 June 2003

I’ve been waiting for a bombshell like the one that just struck the Washington football program. Somehow I knew a "Neu" revelation was about to surface because it seems that every six months or so a torpedo strikes the Washington ship, and the captain, Rick Neuheisel, is bailing out water.

In my mind, I’ve been asking myself for some time now whether Coach Neuheisel is dogged by bad luck, poor judgment or some deep-seated character flaw. Or does he just lack commonsense? I was never quite sure of his problem, but I had this feeling that whatever it was, it eventually would catch up with him because a lot of people are on his watch; his character and integrity have been under close scrutiny for some time now. 

I would guess that the 42-year-old coach is one good judgment short of a six pack in the commonsensical department, letting his emotions get the better of him when one of his buddies talked him into entering the basketball pool. In the end, it's commonsense and good judgment that separate the wheat from the chaff in our complicated society, not just raw intelligence alone. That's one rule we can all be sure of.

And once more for Neuheisel, who had the smarts to pass a bar exam, is seemingly embroiled in an iffy controversy, but then again is it iffy?

Is placing a bet with neighbors in a local gambling pool any different than betting with your buddies in a golf match? At first blush, it doesn’t seem much different, but when you come to think about it, Rick Neuheisel was betting on the outcome of tournament involving NCAA basketball teams, and he is a coach in the NCAA where rules forbid any form of gambling on college sports by athletes or staffers.

NCAA bylaw 10.3.d (Gambling Activities) states that "Staff members of a member conference, staff members of the athletics department of a member institution and student-athletes shall not knowingly, solicit or accept a bet on any intercollegiate competition for any item (e.g, cash, shirt, dinner) that has tangible value."

It's hard to believe that Neuheisel wasn't aware of this rule, being that student athletes are in his charge and that he said, "I was just there to share some social time with some guys in the neighborhood, golf buddies and so forth ... all guys I thought were friends," that quote from The Seattle Times.

If he feels that one of his friends betrayed him does that mean he also knew that the activity was against NCAA rules beforehand? Not necessarily, but you do wonder if it wasn't a slip of the tongue.

If Neuheisel should keep his job, a miasma could hang over the Washington program because of the baggage this latest violation carries. What other college games has he bet on? If he says these are the only two instances that he has gambled on college sports, can you trust his answer?

Unfortunately, his lying about the job interview with the San Francisco 49ers won't help him in this matter, nor will the large sums of money bet ($5,000) and won (approximately $20,000) if true. Coaches have been fired for betting smaller amounts of money.

The fact that he’s just getting off probation for the 50 secondary rules infractions  he committed at Colorado will factor into acting UW President Lee Huntsman's decision whether to retain his services. The type of violations committed reflects on Neuheisel’s character and integrity. His lack of contriteness with the ethics committee puts his job in further jeopardy.

When he sent coaches out on quiet day, just after taking the job at Washington in 1999, it was rather hard to believe that he wasn’t aware of the NCAA rule forbidding that activity. He said his NCAA rules' book was unpacked and that wasn't aware of the dates that were off limits for coaches. Since that time, similar controversies involving the NCAA and Pac-10 have dogged him. 

As before, with the other Neuheisel transgressions, Athletic Director Barbara Hedges and, now Huntsman, have a tough decision to make. The easiest way out for them is to fire Neuheisel, and most likely they will if the NCAA suspends him for his actions.

If they should fire Neuheisel, my guess is that they will promote Offensive Coordinator Keith Gilbertson as interim head coach, rather than try to lure a prominent head coach (such as a Gary Pinkel at Missouri) away from his job. Going after a big-name coach at this time would fuel more controversy at the UW.

Gilbertson is 48-35 as a head coach, having coached at Idaho (28-9) and California (20-26). With seven years' head coaching experience, he's more than qualified to assume the job; frankly, the Dawgs are lucky that Barbara Hedges hired him in 1999, when Neuheisel assembled his staff.

Until the freeway clears, taking the least bumpy road will provide the smoothest transition to the next unclogged entrance.

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For a history of events that have dogged Neuheisel at Washington, reference "The Neuheisel Chronicles."