Report: UCLA to Remove Bruins Coach Rick Neuheisel

Los Angeles - Fresh from a 50-0 humiliation delivered by Southland archrival USC, UCLA officials are making arrangements to remove head football coach Rick Neuheisel at the end of next week, a Los Angeles newspaper is reporting.

The Daily News quoted multiple sources within the program, who told the newspaper that Neuheisel will be allowed to coach the team through next Friday's inaugural Pacific-12 Conference Championship Game against Oregon.

But UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero would not elaborate further when asked if Neuheisel will coach the Bruins if they appear at a bowl game.

Neuheisel was 21-28 in five seasons with the Westwood team, and was reported to be on "very thin ice" after the Bruins were thumped 48-12 by Arizona in mid-October. But he gained breathing room when the squad beat Cal and Arizona State.

But a 31-6 loss at Utah cost the coach that momentum, and the Bruins confronted a Trojan force on Saturday that was out for blood and glory, having lost all bowl eligibility to NCAA penalties for rules violations committed years ago.

After the 50-0 rout, Guerrero told reporters that Neuheisel would coach in the Friday game, and reiterated past comments that he would evaluate the program at the end of the season.

Oregon is heavily favored for the Pac-12 title next Friday. The winner of that game in Oregon will play in the Rose Bowl against the winner of next Saturday's inaugural Big Ten Conference Championship Game between Michigan State and Wisconsin.

If UCLA loses, it could be invited to a lesser bowl game under collegiate rules that allow seven Pac 12 teams to accept such invitations, even if some have losing records. Such an appearance would have to be granted after UCLA and the Pac 12 conference request a waiver from the NCAA.

"We're talking to the conference office this week to see what our options are in that regard," Guerrero said late Saturday. "Always in the back of our mind is what's in the best interest of the school."

Neuheisel was a walk-on placekicker for UCLA, then moved up to starting quarterback by his senior year. He led the Bruins to a 45-9 walloping of heavily favored Illinois in the 1984 Rose Bowl, and still holds the school record for completing 69.3 percent of his pass attempts.

After graduating from the USC law school, Neuheisel coached at Colorado and Washington and for the NFL Baltimore Ravens before replacing Karl Dorrell as Bruins coach in 2007. He has an overall collegiate record of 86-58, and is a lawyer licensed in his native Arizona and in Washington, D.C.