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Articles
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The Rick Neuheisel Excuse Malamute, 12 August 2006
But, then again, White evidently took his story to the Times, telling them he was unhappy with his demotion to second-team linebacker, which came during the first day of practice at fall camp. Hampered by an injury during the spring, he was replaced by Daniel Howell, who started the spring game as inside linebacker. Most likely, White figured he’d get his old job back come fall practice. There may be more behind White’s demotion to second fiddle than meets the eye. White was in Keith Gilbertson’s DawgHaus for Apple Cup 2004, when he was kicked off the team bus for missing a Friday walkthrough. The time for the walkthrough had been changed and White hadn’t been aware of it. Did Coach Gilbertson take his own dismissal out on White, who is the epitome of hard work and good attitude? Gilby was a lame-duck coach going into the Apple Cup; he said he wasn't in the mood to listen to an excuse from White. In any case, at least figuratively, Gilby should have apologized to White and then to the team for shortchanging it at the linebacker position. With starting linebacker Joe Lobendahn missing from action, White's absence crippled the depth of the line-backing corps. The Dawgs could have used White during the Cougars' last drive of the night. The bottom line is that the punishment was too severe. Gilby's apparent overreaction hurt the team and those Husky fans that had traveled to Pullman. The defense had worked too hard all season long to have it shortchanged in its last game. Now we have fans piling on White, calling him a crybaby and whatever other pejoratives come to mind – even calling him one of former coach Rick Neuheisel’s “soft” recruits. Tendentiousness towards Rick is commonplace nowadays, but linking Scott’s current situation with Rick’s recruiting ability is a stretch. * Rick’s recruits are in jeopardy of becoming convenient scapegoats for a bad season -- if that should happen -- since many of them make up the two-deeps on this year’s team. WR Craig Chambers was the first to incur the wrath of a few fans who post regularly on Internet message boards. Out of Mill Creek, Washington, Chambers was one of the marquee players that Rick Neuheisel recruited in 2003, in a class ranked eighteenth in the nation by Scout.com. Chambers transferred to Montana for this upcoming season after complaining about playing time over the course of the last two seasons, one under Keith Gilbertson in 2004 and the other under Tyrone Willingham in 2005. After an outstanding performance in the 2004 Apple Cup, the last game of the season, Chambers wasn’t even on the two-deeps for the 2005 opener against the Air Force. Like Chambers’ outstanding Apple Cup performance, White’s past accomplishments apparently didn't hold sway with the coaches. White told Bob Condotta of the Times, “‘This kind of came out of left field’, adding the only reason he has been given is that he (was) ‘being evaluated.’” The coaches had tons of film to watch for evaluating the fifth-year senior before the fall camp. White is a proven playmaker and doesn’t need further evaluation. Over his career, White has 20 starts; last year he was fourth on the team with tackles and is the most experienced defender on the team. Played sparingly, Howell has three career tackles. Howell was recruited by Keith Gilbertson in 2004. During his career, Howell has modeled his play after White, at one time saying, “I do a lot of what Scott does because he does it so well.” Although there is no “I” in the word “team,” there are two of them in “spirit.” Suffering through three coaches in four years, going from a free-wheeling-to-a-grumpy-to-a-military environment, has been tough on Neuheisel’s recruits. The bottom line of the White and Chambers’ episodes is that Rick Neuheisel is not responsible for this season’s Huskies’ performance, and no one should use him -- as well as his "type of recruits" -- as an excuse for a bad season. The buck stops with Tyrone Willingham, and he should be held to the same performance standard he expects of his players. Willingham wouldn't have it any other way. ------------ * Mal's word of the week: tendentious -- bias; a biased point of view. Richard Linde (a.k.a., Malamute) can be reached at malamute@4malamute.com |
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The
Scott White episode in the Seattle Times is exactly why Coach Willingham has
closed practices to the media, his rationale being to minimize distractions to
the players and to keep the focus on becoming better student-athletes.