High expectations but not enough victories cost Rick Neuheisel and Dennis Erickson their jobs. The two veteran football coaches were fired by UCLA and Arizona State, respectively.
The Pacific-12 Conference has seen three coaching changes this season – Arizona fired Mike Stoops back in October – and a fourth could come as soon as today, depending on what Washington State decides with Paul Wulff.
But Monday, the news was being made in Los Angeles and Tempe, Ariz.
Neuheisel will be allowed to coach the Bruins (6-6 overall, 5-4 Pac-12) in Friday’s Pac-12 title game at Oregon, athletic director Dan Guerrero announced. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will be the Bruins’ interim coach if they receive a bowl berth.
Neuheisel’s record is 21-28 since taking over the program in December 2007, never building the momentum he needed to reach his goal of challenging USC for city supremacy. Guerrero fired Neuheisel two days after UCLA’s 50-0 loss to No. 9 USC, the Bruins’ largest loss since 1930 in their crosstown rivalry game.
“This has kind of hit me between the eyes here a little bit,” Neuheisel said on the Pac-12’s promotional teleconference for the title game, less than an hour after his firing was announced. “I’ve been on one track, which is just to do the best I can with this particular team. That will be the case at least through Friday.”
The Bruins will represent the Pac-12 South in the inaugural league title game despite finishing two games behind postseason-banned USC in the division standings. UCLA is a 30-point underdog against the Ducks with a Rose Bowl berth on the line for the winner.
Neuheisel said he didn’t consider stepping down before the title game.
“I hope I’m not a distraction,” Neuheisel said. “I hope I’m some sort of help, in respect to the planning and how we go about it. We’ve been knocked down before this year, and somehow, some way, we’ve always responded. I hope we’ll respond the same way.”
If UCLA loses to Oregon, the Pac-12 would have to petition the NCAA for bowl eligibility for a 6-7 team. The Bruins haven’t indicated whether they would pursue a waiver, although Johnson’s appointment as interim coach suggests they would.
UCLA made it to just one bowl game in Neuheisel’s first three seasons, winning the EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C., in 2009.
Neuheisel’s firing before the title game is an ugly end to the 50-year-old coach’s self-described dream job. He was a quarterback at UCLA, leading the Bruins to an unlikely victory in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2, 1984.
Neuheisel had more success during his first two head coaching stops at Colorado and Washington, leading the Buffaloes to 33 wins and three bowl victories over four seasons before taking the Huskies to four straight winning seasons and a Rose Bowl victory after the 2000 campaign.
Neuheisel was dismissed by Washington after a series of problems ranging from player discipline to a rift with school leadership to his infamous involvement in an NCAA basketball tournament pool.
Erickson helped Arizona State become bowl-eligible for the first time in four years after starting 6-2, but lost its final four games. He had a 31-30 record in five years at Arizona State.
“I am proud of what we accomplished in five years,” Erickson said in a statement. The program is in good shape for the next coach.”
Athletic director Lisa Love said the 64-year-old coach will be allowed to coach the Sun Devils in their bowl game, which will be determined on Sunday.
“We are grateful for the service Dennis and his staff provided for the past five years,” Love said in a statement. “Even during the most difficult times, he represented ASU with dignity. As he pursued success at the highest level within the Pac-12 conference, he improved the overall competitive health of the Sun Devils by attracting tremendous players to the university.”
Erickson will receive half of his $1.5 million salary for the remaining year on his contract.
A two-time national champion at Miami, Erickson was the Pac-10 coach of the year in 2007 after leading Arizona State to the Holiday Bowl and its first 10-win season in nine years.
After that, the Sun Devils never won more than six games the next four seasons.
Arizona State entered this season with high expectations, returning nearly every starter while playing with an intimidating new pitchfork logo on its uniforms.
The Sun Devils lived up to the hype early on, in control of the Pac-12 South at 6-2 after beating Colorado on Oct. 29. They faltered after that, losing their grip on the division after a loss to UCLA the next week, then were unable to make up ground even as the Bruins faltered.
Erickson has coached at Idaho (twice), Miami, Washington State, Oregon State and Wyoming, along with two stints in the NFL in 23 years as a head coach. He ranks sixth among current college coaches with 179 victories and is a three-time Pac-10 coach of the year. Besides Arizona State, he won the award at Washington State in 1988 and Oregon State in 2000.
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