NEUHEISEL TAKES SHOTS AT CAL ACADEMICS

Coach Rick Neuheisel has breathed new life into a UCLA football program that had nearly flat-lined under former coach Karl Dorrell. With a high profile coaching staff lead by offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Neuheisel has upped the recruiting profile of the “other” team in Los Angeles, and has been the affable, confident coach that built great programs at Colorado and Washington.Neuheisel sat down with BruinsNation.com, the result of which was a pretty informative two-part interview, covering everything from the spread offense to the challenges for new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott. But the most interesting comments from Neuheisel were on the school’s challenging admissions standards.Neuheisel was unafraid to point directly at Pac-10 member Cal, another member of the California universities. Specifically their ability to get certain athletes admitted into college in Berkeley:“Cal has some advantages over us in that there are other majors that kids can get into at the University of California. I’m not sure I have all of it correctly down to give you more detail, but I do know that they are allowed to take a few more players than we are. And that always raises the hair on the back the necks of Bruin football fans because [they ask] “why, if we’re in the same system, can they get more players than we can?”“Why can DeSean Jackson get into Cal, and not UCLA?” “Why can Marshawn Lynch get into Cal, and not UCLA?” Those are great questions. But, I trust that we’re working towards having equality with Cal, and I want the admissions people at UCLA to trust that we understand our mission is not just to win football games, but to make sure the kids get the full UCLA experience.”Those sound like fighting words to me, especially knowing first-hand how snooty Berkeley people are about their academic institution. Bravo to Neuheisel for sitting down with, gasp, two bloggers, and bravo for ruffling the feathers of another Pac-10 program.(And for being smart enough to not throw rocks at Southern Cal.)