There are many noticeable cues for a head coach who's on the hot seat. One of them is going Gordon Bombay and publicly ripping into your football team, questioning their effort, heart, desire, testicular fortitude--all of that good stuff.
UCLA Bruins head coach Rick Neuheisel certainly qualifies, and he was overheard at the end of practice by Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times laying into his team.
UCLA's practice ended with a red-faced coach Wednesday.
Rick Neuheisel huddled his team and delivered a post-practice tirade, at one point shouting, "I can't be the only one who cares."
It's nice to see Neuheisel trying to fire up his players, even if these sort of struggles should be happening in fall practice rather than from week-to-week. UCLA certainly has suffered from constant bouts of inconsistency throughout Neuheisel's tenure, and it's probably something that happens commonly throughout college football closed practices, so no one should look too deeply into it.
Still, in a pretty quiet season, Neuheisel's quote should certainly find its way fast up the college football media ladder. People love a good quote, especially from an authority like a college football coach. Besides, you can apply "Am I the only one who still cares?" to all walks of life, like marriage, gardening, event planning, acting, dancing ...
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