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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1995)
Neuheisel builds trust, CU offense By Mitch Sherman * Senior Editor Rick Neuheisel has been there. It doesn’t matter where. He’s been there. He’s been everywhere. Colorado’s new head coach is 34 years old. He has never been a head coach; he has never been an offensive coordinator. But when it comes to relating to his players, Neuheisel is never lacking in experience. “I am uniquely qualified to handle every problem,” Neuheisel said. “I’ve been a walk-on. I’ve been a guy with out a jersey. I’ve been a guy without a locker. I’ve been the guy that was the last guy on the plane to games. “I’ve been a fifth string, fourth string, third string, second string and first stringplayer. I’ve been a guy who came in to win a game. I’ve been a guy who was booed out of a game. I’ve been a Rose Bowl MVP at the end of it. “There’s nobody who is going to walk into my office with a problem I won’t understand, because I know exactly what it feels like.” The second-youngest coach in col lege football, Neuheisel succeeds 13 year Colorado coach Bill McCartney, who resigned last November after re building the Colorado program. Neuheisel was hired by McCartney in February 1994 as a receivers and quar terbacks coach. An undersized walk-on quarterback fromTempe, Ariz., Neuheisel climbed the depth chart at UCLA in the early 1980s, eventually leading the Bruins to a 45-9 win over Illinois in the 1984 Rose Bowl. He played two seasons in the USFL and part of one year in the NFL before the players’ strike in 1987 led him to coaching. He was hired at UCLA as a full time assistant and coached quarter backs until 1990, when he became the Bruins’ receivers coach. While coaching at UCLA Neuheisel attended law school a Southern Cal. He graduated in 199( and was sworn into the Arizona State Bar Association in 1991. “The people of Colorado have beer terrific,” Neuheisel said. “They have gone out of their way to make me feel wanted and appreciated, and obvi ously when you replace a guy like Bill McCartney, some people are going tc wonder why. “But it’s very exciting for me. I am consumed by the thought of being ready for the first game.” When Neuheisel was hired, he promised McCartney he would stay in Boulder for at least three years. That way,Neuheisel said, quarterback Koy Detmer would have only one position coach for the remainder of his time in Boulder. Detmer, who started for the Buffs in 1992 against Nebraska, redshirted last year. Meanwhile, Neuheisel trans formed Kordell Stewart into one of the nation’s premier passers. Now that Stewart is gone, Neuheisel said fans would see a more mature, wiser Detmer — a result of the quarterback’s close relationship with his coach. Neuheisel’s ability to connect with Detmer is representative of his kin ship with most of the Colorado play ers. “Once you build that trust with your players, you can ask them to do anything,” Neuheisel said. “And they’ll do it. And it isn’t just football. You can ask them to go to class, and they’ll go. You can ask them to do all the basic things a student-athlete is supposed to do.” This year, he has asked his players to change defensive alignments. The Buffaloes are switching from a 3-4 set CU dumps red ban, lessens NU rivalry By Mitch Sherman Senior Editor For the first time since 1982, people are walking down the street in Boul der, Colo., wearing red clothing. Bill McCartney, Colorado’s foot ball coach for the past 13 seasons, is gone; and so is the state’s self-im posed ban on anything resembling the University of Nebraska’s colors. When McCartney arrived in Boul der, he designated the Comhusker matchup as Colorado’s “red-letter game.” Each year, the Nebraska game was written in red ink on the Buffaloes’ schedules. Rick Neuheisel, Colorado’s new coach, has lifted the ban. The Huskers no longer make or break Colorado’s season. Senior center Bryan Stoltenberg said too much emphasis might have been placed on the Nebraska game in the past. “The coaches are not going to make the game bigger than life for us,” Stoltenberg said. “They realize that each week we have a tough opponent. That’s not to say that any emotion from the players or drive from the players is going to be any less.” m “The coaches are not going to make the game bigger than life for us. ” BRYAN STOLTENBERG Colorado center Stoltenberg, who has never beaten Nebraska in his three years on the Colorado team, said the coaches from McCartney’s staff now would prob ably admit they stressed the Nebraska game too much. “But you look at every season,” Stoltenberg said, “and the winner of that pme goes on to be the winner of the Big Eight and goes on to play for the national championship.” Nebraska’s national title last sea son was the second by a Big Eight team this decade. Colorado shared the championship with Georgia Tech in 1990, which was the last year the Buffaloes beat Nebraska. Colorado has not lost a conference game to any team other than Nebraska since Oklahoma defeated the Buffa loes 17-14 on Oct. 22, 1988. Mitch Sherman/Q|L Colorado’s Rick Neuheisel faces the Big Eight media for the first time as Colorado’s head * football coach. to a 4-3 defense, an alignment that emphasizes speed and pursuit of the ball. Neuheisel said he was apprehen sive to change anything about a team that last season finished 11-1 and No. 3 in the nation. “The kids really embraced the change,” he said, “and it obviously requires some position changes.” The 4-3 defense, Neuheisel said, will allow the Buffaloes to pose a better challenge against quick of fenses. Last year, playing a 34 against Nebraska’s option attack, Colorado’s defensive weaknesses were exposed and the Buffaloes were almost help r—" 1 ■■ ... “Once you build that trust with your players, you can ask them to do anything, and they'll do it. ” RICK NEUHEISEL Colorado football coach less in certain situations, Neuheisel said. The passive style of defense hurt the Colorado offense, too, because die offensive linemen didn’t become ac customed to facing aggressive defen sive sets. The offensive line was used to playing against the softer 3-4 in practice. “We weren’t ready,” he said. “Nebraska’s defensive ends went around our linemen like we were in quicksand. But now that we are play ing that against ourselves in practice, we are going to be ready. I don’t know if we’11 block that guy from Nebraska yet. I can’t tell you that, but I know we will have practiced against it more.” I----— - -• - -- WR 21 RaeCarruth 6-0 180 WR2 James Kidd 5-8 160 LT 66 Clint Moore 6-3 290 LG 63 Heath Irwin 6-5 290 C 64 Brian Stoltenberg 6-2 280 RG 65 Chris Naeole 6-4 285 RT 78 Melvin Thomas 6-3 285 TE 88 Matt Lepsis 6-5 255 WR 80 Phil Savoy 6-2 190 QB 14 Koy Detmer 6-1 170 TB 5 Herchell Troutman 5-6 190 PK 17 Neil Voskeritchian 5-9 160 DE 59 GregJones 6-4 240 DT 90 Aaron Marshall 6-2 250 DT 94 Kerry Hicks 6-6 260 DE 95 Daryl Price 6-5 255 WLB 23 Allen Wilbon 6-0 220 MLB 16 Matt Russell 6-2 235 SLB 33 Ron Merkerson 6-3 240 CB 4 Elton Davis 5-9 175 SS 3 Donnell Leomiti 6-0 205 FS 15 Steve Rosga 6-1 205 CB 8 TJ. Cunningham 6-0 190 P 28 Andy Mitchell 6-2 195 DN graphic Colorado 1995 Schedule Date: Opponent Sept. 2 at Wisconsin Sept. 9 Colorado State Sept. 16 Northeast Louisiana Sept. 23 Texas A&M Sept. 30 at Oklahoma Oct. 7 Kansas Oct. 21 at Iowa State Oct. 28 Nabraska Nov. 4 at Oklahoma State Nov. 11 at Kansas Nov. 18 Iowa State DN graphic Mr. McCartney is out, ‘Rick’ is in as Colorado Buffalo team develops From Staff Reports As a 34-year old head coach, Rick Neuheisel knows he is not going to be viewed the same as Tom Osborne, Bobby Bowden or Lou Holtz. However, at this point, Neuheisel said, he doesn’t want to be compared to any other coaches. “I’m Rick,” he said. “That’s who I am. People call me Mr. Neuheisel. No, that’s my dad. I need to be me.” And if his players refer to him by his first name, that’s fine, too. Neuheisel said when he was first hired as an assistant at UCLA, Bruins coach Terry Donahue was concerned about the players calling Neuheisel by his first name. “It doesn’t bother me,” Neuheisel said. “Ifl feel it’s a challenge or a front to authority, then it will bother me.” Neuheisel admitted that the added responsibility of being a head coach would probably cause him to age quicker. “Being in charge of everything is difficult, but it is fun to handle,” Neuheisel said. “I’m still waiting for the day when I walk into a recruits home and I’m older than the parents.” Neuheisel also had to clear up re ports about a party he held at his home. He said about 200 people at tended the gala, including assistant coaches, custodians and police. Neuheisel said police were called out and asked him to turn the music down at his place. He said he obliged. “I wouldn’t call it getting busted,” Neuheisel said. “We just turned down the music.”