I wouldn’t have minded seeing a new DC, but I think this is a good move for the Bruins. Wondering where this leaves KNJ though. Assistant DC? I hope he can find a place on the UCLA sideline.

I have no problem with KNJ coming back in some capacity (can’t blame him for taking the SC job if he didn’t have an opportunity at UCLA), although it is unclear if there is a position for him since Walker is staying as DC, and the linebackers coach is also staying. I would love to see Norm Chow brought in as OC–that would really intimidate the idiots from across town. Neuheisel gets an A+ for the work he’s done thus far.

I truly believe this is the best case scenario for all concerned. Rick has his work cut out for him rebuilding a pathetic offense. He did not need the additional short term pain of bringing in a new defensive coordinator, especially with so many key senior starters graduating. Plus, this should help keep many of the current verbal commits on board, especially if he does replace E. Scott (as a previous post reports).

Ken Norton Jr. does not have enough experience yet to bring him aboard in any significant capacity. One of the things that impressed me most about Rick’s news conference was his comment that he would not be in a hurry. He would take as much time necessary to make the right decisions. Keeping DW on board is a huge step in the right direction. I can’t wait to see who he brings in as offensive coaches.

LBF and Mark .. yeah, there just isn’t a place for KNJ on the staff now. Maybe that was concession Neu had to give Walker, since he obviously wasn’t going to let Walker keep his entire staff. Obviously that is speculation, but it would make sense. There was some real jockeying going on.

Keith, excellent points. Having to train the D on an entirely new scheme would have been counter-productive. And we liked that quote as well … not in a hurry … and yet … he is out of the gate in lightning speed doing all the right things.

It should be announced shortly that Jay Norvell will be appointed as the offensive coordinator at the University of Phoenix. Of course, that was a self appointment.

Please, nobody tell Jay U. of Phx. does not have a football team. He likely will never notice anyway and just walk around that stadium in a cloud of dust.

Now that RN has retained Walker, I would love to see UCLA turn itself into an intimidating three-headed beast to be reckoned with by hiring Norm Chow as OC. I supported Chow for head coach but this would be the next best thing with RN, DW, and NC on the sidelines. If money is the only issue keeping Chow from coming, I say we start up a collection and pass around a hat.

Hey lifelong Bruin fan, I will donate to that collection if it means getting Norm Chow here as O.C. Imagine what kind of offense that we could have and bring into the SUC game next season. I bet ole Cheaty Petey is sweating his trojan horse off, hoping Norm stays in Tennessee. Pass the plate.

Please tell me the idiot coach that waves his towel when we make a tackle trailing by 4 touchdowns is gone!!!!

Gary, Coach K has to stay so he can keep track of who is missing Turkic History!

I’m willing to throw in for Norm Chow!

Keeping DW will bring more problems than benefits. Wouldn’t surprise me if we see some jawing between these two during games, undermining Rick’s authority. Bad move, should have just started with a clean hire

I think things will work out fine. At the end of the day, DW knows that staying here shows he is a “team player” and that is quite important to AD’s who hire coaches. He is also getting a lot of credit for his recruiting and high praise from RN and the media. He also knew Jim Mora Jr. is lurking like a vulture in Seattle. I would not be stunned of DW lasted only a year, before heading back to the NFL as a DC. Also, RN will improve the “3 and out” offense dramatically which can only help the defense. Would love to see Norm Chow, but realistically, with DW getting $400K or so to stay, I can’t see us paying that kind of money for an OC.

Norm Chow makes a million dollars a year working for the Titans. I wish he would come here, but he won’t. He does still maintain a house in Manhattan Beach, but a million bucks buys a lot of flights to LA.

UCLA alums won’t cough up the $ like the USC alums did to keep Norm around when he was OC at SC.

Gary, I’m with you. Only with the towel waver we need to get rid of Stand and company too. UCLA is the only major college with alumni cheerleaders - one word - embarrassment!

Before I moved to No. Cal five years ago, I was a 20 year seasons ticket holder. One of the few joys in watching a game at the Rose Bowl was coach K waving his towel and exhorting our non-excitable fans to yell and scream. He was the only exciting thing at the Rose Bowl some games.
Besides he has the highest winning percentage of any Bruin coach. I say he stays as long as he wants. He gets buried with that towel!.

RyBruin, we supposedly had over 2 million available for a new HC and only spent 1.25 on Rick. Not saying that the additional 750k could go to Chow, but it’s not totally out of the question is it?

If it wasn’t financially possible, I don’t think RN would be humoring the rumors. That said, I agree it’s a stretch, but we can dream can’t we?

No worries, Coach K is going nowhere. All he does is spy on the football players to make sure they go to class. If they skip class, he wakes them up at 5:30 am and runs them like dogs. Then on Saturdays he waves a towel. He’s like a publicist for the athletic department. His job is safe from one era to the next. It is irrelevant who the head coach is.

Hey, I think DW needs to get some serious credit for the work he’s done…I mean, does anyone remember the days BEFORE DW as DC? Defense was something unheard of at UCLA (and most other places in the PAC-10). I know there’ve been games where we got slaughtered on defense (i.e. Utah)…but there’ve been many more games with very impressive defensive gameplans (i.e. SuC ‘06). Don’t forget that there’ve been numerous games this season and last that the defense had to play upwards of 40 minutes because the OFFENSE was awful…and even the best defense is going to get exhausted being on the field for that long. So here’s to DW coming back as DC….combining him with some offensive prowess that UCLA’s had in the past…we could have something special in store!! (Even in 2008!)

Dare we think big? If it costs a million dollars to get Chow, well by golly then let’s pay him a million dollars! Why not go for the best if he is available? I have no doubt in my mind that most Bruin fans would be thrilled to donate money to bring Chow in as OC. Talk about creating a buzz and putting UCLA on the football map.

I agree Lifelong Bruin fan, but HOW long will Chow stay if he does come to Ucla? If he left SC with a great coac like Caroll, then what’s to say he wouldn’t leave us and go else wear after a shoert period of time.

I don’t think its going to be a huge learning curve with a new offensive scheme in place. The difference the west coast offense and the other offense that teams are running is the terminology which is very complex. I think RN is going to design an offense which allows the players to make plays. If the offense improves by 50% thats going to equate to a 9 or 10 win season. If you look back the Bruins lost 4 games they should have won if it were not for an inept offense. I dont see the Bruins losing more than 4 games next season. The difference between RN & KD is night and day. RN has plan, he is sure of his plan and that carries over to the rest of the coaching staff, which carries over to the players. The second and third season of RNs tenure is when we are going to the Bruins competing for a National Championship.

Tom, I was under the impression that Petey nudged Chow out rather than the Chow leaving for a higher ambition. The rumor has it that Chow recieved the credit for how successful SUC was, and thus Caroll wanted Chow gone. That was the other reason that Chow wouldn’t mind playing for the other LA school, because he has a personal vendetta to settle with Petey.

Axl lets just settle down a litle bit?……..9 or 10 wins next year? do you know how many seniors we graduated? its going to take some time the 3 to 5 year mark is when we will see our beloved Bruins transformed into a PROGRAM that can keep rolling!

Wow! Really JRBruin? If that’s the case then RN has an incredible edge, and should really pursue him!

Tom, I’ve heard there was a falling out between Chow and Caroll, I don’t know if it’s a big enough motivator to bring Chow to Westwood, but I hope so

Wouldn’t that be something! I can just hear the Condom fans having the lube drained from their bodies if we got Chow!!!

Chow ? Yes. Even a short term run to install a winning, high powered offense would be beneficial.

God, can we please stop all these wet dreams over coaches either at SC or formerly at SC? We look like a bunch of hero worshipping idiots. Ucla can hire and develop its own coaches. Chow isn’t the only OC in the world. God, listening to people on this site talk, you would think Chow is the only reason SC ever won a game. Gimme a break. Are we so beaten down and so in awe of SC that we just can’t wait to hire some guy who used to coach there? Neuheisel is no idiot. He’ll hire the best guy he can. I just hate to hear all the fawning over SC coaches. Now, we’re going to pass the hat to pay Chow? What a joke. Did North Carolina State have to get down on their knees and BEG Chow to coach there? Did they win anything with him there? NO.
Stop grovelling.

Whats gonig to happen to this site? Is it going to be renamed now that Dorrell is gone?

How would we look at Michigan if they went all out to hire coaches that used to coach at Ohio State? We’d laugh at their feeble efforts to try to keep up with their big brother. Pitiful.

Its like making an admission we can’t do anything original or innovative on our own. We have to copy SC because we all know they are just the bestest most wonderfulest team ever. Bull crap.

jstew88 you also realize that the juniors will now be seniors next season. I dont see a huge drop off on the defensive side of the ball. Ben Olson will be a senior next year, if he falters there is Cowan, and waiting in the wings is forcier. The wide reciever position there is Dominque Johnson who is going to be the main target of who ever is throwing the ball there is Raymond Carter who should be able to contribute next season if Aundre Dean doesnt commit. again all the offense needs to do is improve 50%. This isnt UNLV that Neuheisel is trying to build this is UCLA. All Neuheisel has to do is have them prepared to play.

For those of you who want to pass the hat to hire a coach, I have an idea for you. Let’s have a bake sale and raise 10 million dollars and just hire Pete Carroll as head coach!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s all there is to it!! Bingo!! National Championships by the basketful!!

Hey, if its good enough for big, bad, all knowing, SC, it is good enough for us. Everyone knows we can’t do a damn thing on our own, so let’s just use the SC template. And, while we’re at it, let’s hire Florida’s basketball coach and Oregon State’s baseball coach. There ya go! We’ll win the national championship in each sport. This is easy!

RELAX Andre! Damn! It’s just a thought…Keep your options open…yeah it’s not the end of the world if Ucla doesn’t get Chow, big deal…It would be a nice addition is all…Bye the way, they have one of ours, KNJ…And look what he’s done over there…

Andre–I don’t understand the venom in your comments that misrepresent the pro-Chow camp. First of all, wanting Chow to come to Westwood has nothing to do with wanting to be like USC. Chow is one of the best OCs in the business–that is a FACT. RN himself has publicly stated that Chow or someone of his caliber is what we are after. So why not pursue him? All I am saying is that if money is the only issue, it shouldn’t be! From what I can see, it wouldn’t take a lot to convince him. First of all, he owns a house here, and he wanted the head coaching position at UCLA. So obviously he has a desire to be in this area. If any of the rumors of the split between USC and Chow are true, he may also have some extra motivation to see UCLA succeed.

If there are other great OCs available, I’m all for it too, but why should we have to “hire and develop our own coaches”? That’s ridiculous–we should be going after the best talent regardless of whether they were at USC before or not. As for doubting his record–you need to look at the facts. In terms of “not making NC St great”, he was there for one year–in 2000- and NC St went 8-4 with the nation’s 15th best passing offense. He then went onto coach two Heisman trophy winners at SC. This is of course on top of the many years of success he had at BYU coaching some of college football’s greatest QBs and helping make BYU a perennial national power (not sure if you are old enough to remember this or have even bothered to check the facts). If you don’t want Chow at UCLA, fine, that’s your opinion, but please drop the tack of trying to demean his achievements or the people who support him because it only serves to reflect your inability to present a solid argument.

Well stated Lifelong Bruin Fan. In actuality, it seems that Andre’s comments have given the most praise to sc that I have ever seen on this site. Hmmmmmm……….

Lifelong Bruin Fan, well done. Your comments relied on logic and facts. Andre’s comments relied on… well neither of those things, mostly emotion.

Nice job Rick! Can you feel the “buzz” yet of UCLA Football?? When does Spring practice start?

What a great site this has been to all of us bruin fans. This is a great time to be a fan and it isn’t even august yet. Rick is going to do a great job, even though the season could be tough, we start with two home games against to good schools, fresno and tennesee. Should be a great way to start the season. Thanks again for the info on this site.

This site is wonderful. I imagine it will be renamed. How about www.bruinfaithful.com? Whatever, I just hope this site under any name continues. I truly appreciate it.

If Chow does come here…RN will do exactly what Carrol did….get a smart, young coach to mentor under Chow and learn everything he can from the guy and then IF Chow leaves….promote the younger coach to O.C.. It’s that simple!!! I spoke with someone today that is close to DG and Chow’s arrival here is closer than we all think…..nothing will be announced or talked about until the Titans are out of the playoffs, which should be this Weekend after LT and the Chargers light them up!!! I also am psyched about this Michagan player transfering…everything I read says he is the real deal….next year will be a good year the years that follow will be FANTASTIC….Go RN…don’t F**k it up…we are all behind you dude…MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!

Gary–I don’t know how reliable your source is, but if this is true, WOW! UCLA would become a three-headed MONSTER the likes not seen since Gidora! (Any Godzilla fans out there?)

Lifelong….I have read your entrees and therefore respect your point of view…it’s a mad house out there…but you know what…it makes sense!!! We already have a GREAT recruiter in Walker…RN is wonderful…add Chow to the mix….along with Malibu, Beverly Hills and Westwood….who wouldn’t want to drag their talented ass out to the West Coast with the purpose of being the players to bring a program to National Prominence??? IT COULD HAPPEN!!!

Just by reading these messages on Internet message boards, we can tell this was a much better hire than any of other candidates. I do not think this many UCLA fans would be excited with any other coach other than Rick Neuheisel.

I have a neighbor who has been waiting for Ed McMahon to show up with her check since 1989. She also believes Enron is going to return the money she lost investing in the company. She claims the tooth fairy told her to leave her dentures under her pillow for a lump sum payoff. She was hurt that Santa didn’t touch the milk and cookies she left out for him. And, of course, she thinks Norm Chow is so devoid of ego that he is willing to be turned down in his attempt to become head coach at Ucla but will suddenly decide to show up as OC. I just sold her her own exit ramp off the 605 Freeway.

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Andre @ 3:14 pm:
How would we look at Michigan if they went all out to hire coaches that used to coach at Ohio State? We’d laugh at their feeble efforts to try to keep up with their big brother. Pitiful.

Its like making an admission we can’t do anything original or innovative on our own. We have to copy SC because we all know they are just the bestest most wonderfulest team ever. Bull crap.

Andre, I think you are missing something. Like certain facts and logic. Norm Chow is not the be all and end all of anything. However, He is a very good coach that has lots of LA roots and has a desire to come back to LA (kinda like our new coach). That makes it worthwhile to look at and possibly get excited. You posted about he was turned down for the head coach job and why would he even bother. Maybe ask that about walker, yet he is here. Chow loves college football and has a great track record. Why not try for him.

Andre….One comment…The bitch is bound to be right sometime….why not now with Chow????

Lifelong….My first wife was Gidora’s daughter…..talk about scary!!!!

Mike….you make a very good argument. The comment you make about Chow not being “the be all and end all of anything” is exactly what I’m saying. There is no guarantee that Norm Chow’s presence will result in success. What is interesting to me is that there are guys out there who believe Chow has some magical powers or something. There are plenty of offensive coordinators capable of doing the same things Chow does. And, there are plenty out there, incude Norvell in this group, who can’t do what Chow does.
Neuheisel is no dummy. He realizes Bruin fans were torn between Walker, Chow and himself for the HC position. He brought Walker in and now he has done the other politically correct thing, mention that he wants Chow. When Chow declines, and he will, Neuheisel will be able to shut Chow supporters up by saying, “Well, I tried.” He knows there is no chance.
Chow doesn’t have some Harry Potter-like wand that he can wave over the program. Without Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Mike Williams, Jarret, Palmer, Leinart, and some hellacious offensive lines, Chow’s offense would have looked like Norvell’s.

All good coaches have a magic wand. It is the positive attraction of being a good coach. All the recruits in LA know who Norm Chow is. I forgot where the quote was, but one of the top quarterbacks was asked about Norm Chow and said that he would go to where norm chow was going. Talent draws talent just as surely as being lousy drives people away. With a Norm Chow or other talented OC, you get the attention of everyone right away. More so with Chow since he has huge name recognition here. You need both talent and coaching to get to the upper echelon, but the coaching will draw the talent. Also, regarding emulating USC. Right now they are the best, why would you not emulate them? We have a great basketball coach and every year the recruiting class gets stronger and stronger. Now we have a very good head coach and a good defensive coach but, we need a staff of coaches and if you have an elite offensive coach, that will draw more and more top recruits here.

Andre–nobody here thinks Chow has magical powers. He’s just a damn good coach with a track record to prove it. If he turns UCLA down, so be it, but why do you feel hoping he comes here is somehow foolish? Like I said above, I’m open to other proven OCs coming here, but if Chow is available, why not pursue him? Because he coached at USC? Get over it.

Your assertion that “there are plenty of OCs capable of doing the same thing Chow does” is kind of like what people say about Phil Jackson winning all those championships with great players, that anybody could have done it given those lineups. Baloney! Great coaches bring the best out of players, so yes you do need some talent to begin with, but talent alone is NOT enough.

Well put Mike. Why would any talented recruit want to play for Ucla if Norvell is retained as OC? We have all seen how Ben Olson,Terrence Austin,Osar Rashan and the rest of the offense has been mishandled by inferior coaching from Norvell and Dorrell. A loser is a loser and that’s what Ucla has had in the way of offensive cordinators the last 2 years and certainly at the head coach position. I’am confident that even if Chow chooses not to coach at Ucla, Neuheisel will hire a qualified OC. 4 and 5 star recruits will soon be the rule and not the exception. 2 and 3 star player’s will benefit greatly with the good coaching they will get noe that Ucla has hired a real coach instead of the bargain basement garbage they have been hiring the last 9 years of ineptitude. Ucla will not be shutout of the BCS bowls for long and winning bowl games will be a new reality.

Mike–great post, couldn’t have said it better.

Again, I think Andre is a usc fan. Andre - Please tell me who you would like as our OC?

Louis your preaching to the choir. If Norm Chow isn’t hired for the oc position he should ask Tom Cable. When Cable was running the offense the Bruins were lighting it up.That was the only time the Bruins won 10 games under KDs tenure. The only reason he left to the nfl was because of more money. Who ever Neuheisel gets it would be a huge upgrade over norvell. any suggestions?

chow’s bad ass, he not only did it at ’sc, but at byu and nc state. does anyone remember carson palmer before norm? garbage! ’sc’s offense is also not what it was when he was there… if we can get him, make it happen!

Gary–well, all I can say is that you were lucky she didn’t look like Mothra.