Rick Fired!

[BPBlueSox]

I always hated this prick...

Wednesday, June 11

Neuheisel went 33-16 in four seasons at Washington

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press


SEATTLE -- Rick Neuheisel's tenure as Washington's football coach is over. Neuheisel told Seattle's KING-TV late Wednesday night that he has been fired. Neuheisel has been under scrutiny for possibly breaking NCAA rules by participating in a gambling pool.

Neuheisel told KING-TV that he was notified, via fax, that he was fired for allegedly betting on the NCAA basketball tournament and for dishonesty. Washington officials thought he was not forthcoming in interviews with NCAA investigators.

"I'm not the guy they're portraying me to be," said Neuheisel, who in a radio interview earlier Wednesday insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing regarding the betting pool and had donated some of his winnings to charity.

But his claims did not save the job for Neuheisel, who was 33-16 in four seasons at Washington. KING-TV reported that the school plans a news conference Thursday morning. Assistant coach Keith Gilbertson is expected to be named interim coach as Neuheisel's replacement.

"I have the right to appeal it," Neuheisel told KING-TV regarding his dismissal. "But it's a foregone conclusion that I am now done.

"I didn't want to think about it during the last week. I probably am not dealing with reality. But the facts are the facts. And we'll deal with them."

In a Wednesday interview with Sporting News Radio, Neuheisel was confident he would be cleared.

"I think everybody will realize that not only did I not break any Washington rules, but I certainly believed and still believe that they are in accordance with NCAA rules,'' he said. Neuheisel, head coach at Colorado from 1995 to 1998, also fired back at NCAA administrators who said any college coach should know better than to gamble on college sports.

"Several members of the NCAA have already kind of tried and convicted me and I'm not sure that's within the rules of due process,'' Neuheisel said. "Nor do I think they're really looking at all the facts.''

An NCAA spokesman declined comment.

Neuheisel said participating in the NCAA tournament pool is a tradition in his Seattle suburb. "This thing has been going on for 20 years,'' Neuheisel said. "It was in more of a form of an auction, almost like a raffle, if you will, and I was invited. I didn't organize it. I was invited and participated with my friends and neighbors.''

Neuheisel and three partners reportedly wagered $6,400 on the past two NCAA basketball tournaments and won $12,123, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which said earlier reports of $20,000 in winnings were wrong. Neuheisel said some of his gambling winnings were distributed to schools and youth organizations.

"We've got a lot of different things for young people around here and we spread that money around,'' he said. Contribution amounts weren't disclosed, but Bellevue Boys and Girls Club president Kathy Haggert confirmed Neuheisel recently donated. And school officials confirmed he donated to the Medina Elementary School PTA.

"Rick is a huge supporter of our school and I really appreciate all that he does,'' said Medina Elementary School principal Betsy Hill.

The Post-Intelligencer reported Neuheisel was told by athletic director Barbara Hedges on Tuesday that he would be fired for breaking NCAA rules by taking part in the pool. University officials said early Wednesday that Neuheisel's status hadn't changed and that an investigation, opened when NCAA officers visited campus last week, was continuing.

Under terms of Neuheisel's contract, the university would owe the coach as much as $3.6 million in a buyout if he is fired without cause. The school would not be obligated to pay if he is fired with "just cause."

Late Wednesday, Neuheisel told KING-TV: "This is a sad night for me. I poured a lot of myself into this job. This is a great place to be."

NCAA bylaw 10.3 bans coaches, staff or athletes from participating ``in any gambling activity that involves intercollegiate athletics or professional athletics, through a bookmaker, a parlay card or any other method employed by organized gambling.''

Neuheisel maintains a memo circulated this spring in Washington's athletic department gave him the impression that off-campus pools with friends were acceptable.

"The bottom line of these rules is that if you have friends outside of ICA (intercollegiate athletics) that have pools on any of the basketball tournaments, you can participate,'' the memo said. "You cannot place bets with a bookie or organize your own pool inside or outside of ICA.''

The NCAA won't comment on specific cases, but officials have indicated any such memo would have misinterpreted NCAA rules. In recent years, the NCAA has emphasized that any gambling is against the rules. Last week, NCAA president Myles Brand called gambling by a college coach ``totally unacceptable behavior.'' He said if he were a university president, he would "take personnel action" against offenders.

[awefullspellare]

me too!!!

woo hoo!!!

[Tigers#1]

Yeah, how dare he go into a college basketball pool. That is totally illegal, thats why no one ever does it. He should not be able to gamble in anyway, or do anything at all the least bit politically incorrect!:hmm:

[Trots]

This is against NCAA rules, but the reason he got canned was the Washington wants another coach. The gambling just gave UW the opportunity to fire him. From what I hear, the coach at Missouri has UW ties and will be the Huskies' coach a year from now.

[duckboy]

OK, first of all some background. I currently live in Seattle, so this news and story is dominating my area. I graduated from the University of Oregon which is the main rival of the Washington Huskies.

Therefore:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

I love everything about this story. It does nothing but add in chaos and controversy to the Husky football program, when they were about to enter what was predicted to be their best year of Neuheisel's tenure.

As for what happened. Everybody has heard about the gambling, by entering a pool. This is just one of the many reasons he got canned today.

The main reason is that all the recent stories about him have really shown him to be the weasel that he is. He is bringing negative press to the University. This latest incident just became too much. As the athletic director Barbara Hedges said, "this is the straw that broke the camel's back". She also said that he has lied to her once to often. He lied about interviewing for the 49er job, and he initially lied about his involvement in the pools.

Rick's main flaw is his arrogance. He has this confidence that he can bend the rules to accomodate himself with no reprocussions. Every time some controversy comes up, he always refuses to say he was wrong. He either says he was right, or that he is ignorant of the right way.

I love this. Oregon fans have haited "The Weasel" ever since he ran up the score on us in a bowl game by running a fake punt play (this was when he was the coach of Colorado). When raked over the coals about it from fans, he lied as to why he did it (he himself changed his story later).

I hope he never coaches in college again.

[awefullspellare]

Originally posted by duckboy
I hope he never coaches in college again.

I hope he NEVER coaches AGAIN!!!

so annoying,... heard aobut a good article ripping him.. im gonna find it :D

[awefullspellare]

Originally posted by awefullspellare
I hope he NEVER coaches AGAIN!!!

so annoying,... heard aobut a good article ripping him.. im gonna find it :D

if only i could find it.. was in some Wahington newspaper o well.. :hmm:

[duckboy]

Steve Kelley / Times staff columnist
To tell the truth, Neuheisel couldn't


Rick Neuheisel is a career liar.

He lied to boosters at Colorado who thought he was going to stay there forever. He lied to his last batch of Colorado recruits, who thought he'd stay there for the length of their college careers.

He lied at Washington to his athletic director. He lied to NCAA investigators. Like Richard Nixon during Watergate, he lied to protect himself. And, when his back was against the wall, he lied some more.

In the end, at Washington, he hung himself with his own lies. He ruined a once-promising career with his lies.

Tell me who the next college athletic director will be who will hire this liar?

He lied because he could. He lied because it always got him out of trouble. He lied because he thought he was good at it.

Rick Neuheisel lied to Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges about his interview last winter with the San Francisco 49ers. He could have been fired for that, because it was a violation of the terms of his contract. But he wasn't.

On Sunday, with a face as sincere as prayer and a voice cracking with false emotion, he lied about when he knew about the ill-fated March 13 memo sent by Washington's compliance director, Dana Richardson.

He thought that memo would be his get-out-of-jail-free card. That memo, he believed, gave him the right to participate in the high-stakes neighborhood March Madness gambling pool that will be his undoing.

But he didn't know about the memo until last weekend. And the memo, with Richardson's erroneous addendum, was sent in 2003. Neuheisel first got into the pool in 2002.

The memo was wrong. College coaches can't gamble on college athletics. Period.

There can be no gray area when it comes to gambling. Still, Neuheisel clung to that memo like a drowning man hanging on to a life-saving buoy. He swaggered around Husky Stadium last Sunday like a man who knew he was getting another stay of execution.

But this time he bet on the wrong memo.

And, as it turns out, last Sunday would be the last time he'd ever walk on the Husky Stadium turf as Washington's head football coach.

Worst of all, when he was confronted by the NCAA investigators last Wednesday about his participation in the betting pool, Neuheisel lied again.

When they asked him about the pool, the question shocked him. He felt blindsided by it, and he denied participating in any gambling pool. He fell back to a strategy that always has worked for him in the past. He lied.

If he had known about Richardson's memo and thought it gave him the go-ahead to gamble in the pool, why did he lie to the investigators? If he thought he had done nothing wrong, why didn't he tell the investigators the truth?

If he knew about the memo, why didn't he admit to Hedges that he'd been a part of that pool? Why didn't he mention the memo to Hedges? After all, he says he thought he had done nothing wrong.

His lies, as much as his gambling, are giving the university the just cause it needs to fire him. His lies were the hammers they needed. His lies made it easier to get rid of him.

Rick Neuheisel, as one of his former players said yesterday, is a young man with a lot of money, and he was corrupted by his wealth. He was a smooth-talking golden boy who thought he could wiggle out of any problem.

The life of the golden boy, however, turned into fool's gold this week.

You always thought, with Neuheisel, that Washington wasn't his destination job. The contract extension he signed at Washington was a dream, but the job wasn't his dream.

It seemed he always was eyeing the next job. Notre Dame one season. San Francisco the next.

And he was a coach who wanted to be liked more than he wanted to be respected. When he recruited players, he told them they would have the time of their lives.

Neuheisel's teams reflected his personality. They were undisciplined. They were soft.

They made careless mistakes that cost them games, just as their coach made careless mistakes that will cost him this job.

"This is about my life," Neuheisel said earlier this week.

It's a life of lies. A life he has dismantled all by himself.

Steve Kelley: 204-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com

[PopTop]

Originally posted by duckboy
OK, first of all some background. I currently live in Seattle, so this news and story is dominating my area. I graduated from the University of Oregon which is the main rival of the Washington Huskies.

Therefore:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!




Well said, Ducky :clap2:

I really have nothing against the Huskies or for really any other Pac-10 team, but Pretty Boy is a loser ... Always has been, always will be.

This has nothing to do with a gambling pool or any rights he has to wager at all just because other people are technically breaking the law ... This has EVERYTHING to do with character, honesty and integrity ... Since he has none, Neuheisel lost his job ... AD Barbara Hedges, "There's no question that Rick was untruthful," and when she said that her eyes were like daggers. I would not want to piss that lady off, and Pretty Boy obviously did.

If this is his final job in college sports, then it is a great day for the entire of college football. :clap2: I applaud AD Hedges and the University of Washington, and would also like to add, along with about a million other people who thought the same thing when they hired him away from Colorado:

"Told you so, told you so!" :lmao:

[Trots]

I agree in principal with all that has been said, but it's time to get a bit of perspective. EVERY big time coach lies. Perhaps not to the extent that Neuhesiel has, but they all do.

They lie to recruits constantly. They lie about playing time. They over-recruit classes. They lie about their own job intentions. They lie to the administration about any number of issues. Their job almost demands lying. Neuheisel is hardly alone in spreading some un-truths.

That said, the UW administration isn't exactly being forthcoming, either. They may have indeed had enough of Rick's show, but they are only tossing him on his ear because the team hasn't performed as well as hoped and there is a UW alum that may be interested in the job. Let's remember how UW got themselves into this mess in the first place. Their administration isn't pristine, either.

Seems to me both parties got what they deserved.

[awefullspellare]

hahah love that article ... liar liar pants on fire :moon:

[rockin500]

if it was a pool for 10 bucks would he have still been fired? of course not, as it wouldnt have come to light, most likely.

i cant stand the guy, myself, and do think he is a weasel. I dont know, i just think it was blown out of proportion and that the NCAA is so far behind the times. i mean its not like he went with a bookie. lol plus its not even his own sport.

oh well, he'll get his money (well, some) cuz the Just Cause will never stick.