Coach Rick Neuheisel's FSN interview

by Telemachus on Sep 16, 2008 12:05 AM PDT

The clips below cover CRN's thoughts about the BYU debacle, words of wisdom from Coach Wooden delivered to Neuheisel before the start of the season, injuries, and looking to this weekend's game with Arizona. A few themes: dealing with the peaks and valleys, learning from defeat, and how it's important that true-blue fans show up and support the Bruins this weekend. I'll be there yelling my head off. Everybody that can, make a real effort to get to the Rose Bowl. We don't want a team that quits, and we as fans can't quit on our team:

More after the jump ...

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.

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Thanks Tele

I missed this and was really hoping you’d post it.

Your message is 100% spot on. The team is going to give it their all and we as fans have to give it our all by showing up at the Rose Bowl and supporting the team the best we can.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Sep 16, 2008 12:15 AM PDT reply actions

Very nice....

At least we can put the argument about whether the team quit aside… they did and they admitted it. That’s most important, they accept and realize that it’s not okay to quit or pretend that it’s not that big a deal. In other words, NO EXCUSES! And yes, this is a clear indictment of the previous coaching staff with the revelation that losses were basically treated as non events and joked about. (This is the stuff I got RAILED on for saying the last few seasons… BaldEagle, I’m waiting for my apology!)

I also want to clarify that when I say this loss was an absolute worse case situation and the last thing CRN wanted to happen, I’m talking about in the context of this season, not the grand plan for UCLA football. Obviously CRN and the others are on a 2-3ish year situation and are concentrating on recruiting which is the primary concern behind culture. But for this season, one in which we’re hoping to get as much positive growth and building, we are now placed at a crossroads. We could have some good games and wins and a positive campaign to build on, or we could be in serious trouble at the core and in many ways another season behind in the process of rebuilding. As I said before, get rid of everything: the towel waiver, the carpet in the locker room, the pens. This is why.

Personally I believe CRN will lead us across the river into the promised land, but as we’ve now seen, as nice as he is to KD, he also is realizing that he was left in an even worse situation than he imagined.

by drinkbruinKool-Aid on Sep 16, 2008 11:40 AM PDT reply actions

Who admitted it?

Who said they quit? I never heard anything from the players, other than Brigham Harwell insisting they never did.

I do agree with you about the rebuilding, because it seems as though a lot of these players did not come from winning programs in which a loss is just unacceptable. This is one of the tenets of Howland’s recruiting, he gets winners. They may not be the most gifted, but they are the ones who refuse to lose and go down fighting.

by tasser10 on Sep 16, 2008 12:53 PM PDT up reply actions

You Know What?

Please read this article by Gregg Patton, who quotes Harwell extensively, and please stop saying “they admitted” they quit. You have the right to your opinion, but no players are saying they quit, no coaches are saying they quit, and many of us saw them refuse to quit in that horrible game.

“We’re not the biggest or strongest team in the country,” said senior defensive tackle Brigham Harwell, who insisted the Bruins never quit against BYU, even as the Cougars’ side of the scoreboard whirred like a slot machine. “We’ll keep fighting and that’s what we did Saturday.”

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Sep 16, 2008 3:55 PM PDT up reply actions