A nightmare on easy street: an up-and-down decade: 'I'm not who people portray me to be,' says Rick Neuheisel, who once had it all--and is trying to get back whatever he can.(College Football)(Interview)

Publication: The Sporting News

Publication Date: 19-JUL-04

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The boy with the blond hair and the porcelain face still wears those Washington Huskies gym shorts. They dent hang as low as they used to, and they're faded from countless spin cycles in the wash. They get smaller and life gets larger for Jack Neuheisel, whose few simple words spoke volumes about the complicated story that has engulfed his father and"family for the past year.

News helicopters flew over his house: his father hopped a neighbor's fence to escape the crush of media. Such things took a toll on Jack. Fourth grade wasn't so easy anymore, and school counselors wanted, to know why. Rick Neuheisel, the-former golden boy of "college football--fired at the height of his profession in June 2003--was summoned to Jack's school for a conference. "I don't like what they've done to him," said the 9-year-old, pointing to the most vilified man in the game.

"What could I do?" Rick Neuheisel says now. "I cried."

"We all "know the nickname: Slick Rick, the coach who bends NCAA rules and leaves destruction in his wake; who hit the big time too soon and got too big. He's arrogant and egotistical, selfish and superficial and always looking for the next big payday. How do we know this? Well, we just do. At least, we thought we did.

Neuheisel, who was fired at Washington for participating in an NCAA Tournament pool, is beginning to open up regarding his messy divorce from the school. Other details learned by the SPORTING NEWS cast Neuheisel in a light not quite as unflattering as we'd been accustomed to. Consider:

* The NCAA knew about his participation in the pool in 2002 but did nothing for a year. When it did act, an official called it the "most egregious" case of gambling in NCAA history.

* In 1997, the NCAA voted down an amendment that would have specifically outlawed participation in such pools, leaving NCAA compliance directors to interpret the rules--and that's the crux of Neuheisel's lawsuit against Washington and the NCAA.

* Neuheisel, thought by many to know no loyalty, turned down a lucrative job offer from Notre Dame two years ago to stay at Washington.

Says...

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