No more shortcuts, Neuheisel declares

In a wide-ranging radio interview Monday, Rick Neuheisel said he didn't regret his years coaching football at Washington but will do some things differently in his new job with UCLA.

"There are some things I did in my past that I don't need to do again, there's no question," Neuheisel said in a 20-minute interview with KJR-AM. "You don't need to take shortcuts. There's no need for me to shade the plate with respect to recruiting. ... I just need to make sure we do it exactly the right way and maybe be a little less hasty in doing some of the things we tried to get done and create the splash we tried to create."

Neuheisel was fired in June 2003 for betting in a college basketball pool and then initially lying about it to NCAA investigators. He sued the school and the NCAA for wrongful termination and later reached a $4.5 million settlement. He had also been reprimanded for recruiting violations at UW and at Colorado.

Neuheisel didn't touch much on the events that led to his firing at UW, saying at one point, "I'm just glad it's behind me."

He did, however, apologize for having lied about interviewing for a job with the San Francisco 49ers in February 2003, an event Washington officials later said played a part in his eventual firing.

"The 49er thing was a tremendous mistake on my part and one I will forever be sorry for," he said. "There is no excuse for not being forthright. ... It was wrong and Washington and myself deserved better. It was a bad mistake."

Neuheisel also said he thought he had "a good amount of success" at UW but that he also could have handled a few things differently on the field, as well, implying that he didn't ask enough of his players, especially during the recruiting process.

"If I was negligent at all, I probably didn't articulate the cost of membership in this group as much as I should have," he said. "I was probably more excited in them joining the club or the school than in telling you 'OK, this is what you owe to be part of it.' "

Neuheisel's hiring at UCLA means he will return to Husky Stadium for a game against Washington on Nov. 15. Asked what kind of reaction he expects, he laughed, comparing it to going back to Colorado in 2000 with the Huskies.

That, he said, "was spirited, passionate, and I'm anticipating the same. But I'll say the same thing today that I said at that time, that it's not about me, it's about two great universities competing, and we'll come up there and we'll try to do our best."

Asked whether he ever discovered the identity of the person who alerted the NCAA about the betting pool, he said, "I thought about it incessantly. I have no idea. And I've kind of let that time go. I told you there were times when I didn't know if I'd get a chance to [coach] again, times where I dealt with a lot of bitterness and did a lot of self-introspection, and [wondered] how could I do better."

He continued, "All of that helps you grow. But to worry about things like who it was is just really wasting your time, and it doesn't matter now because it's behind me. But it has helped me, hopefully, to become a better person, a better husband, a better dad, and now hopefully a better coach.

"If anything, the guy did me a favor. I'm hopeful it will turn out that way."

Huskies add six players

Washington has announced that three players had enrolled for the start of winter quarter: receivers Anthony Boyles and Devin Aguilar and receiver/running back Chris Polk.

Boyles and Aguilar each signed with UW last year but were academically ineligible for this season. They have five years remaining to play four. Polk recently graduated from Redlands (Calif.) East Valley High and is enrolling early.

All three are expected to compete for immediate playing time at a receiver spot now thin in depth because of the graduation of five seniors.

UW also announced the addition of three walk-ons, two from Bellevue High — defensive back Mick Connors, who redshirted last year at the University of San Diego, and long snapper Brendan Lopez, who redshirted last year at Michigan. Each will be a redshirt freshman next fall. Also new is offensive lineman Shaun Brooks of Sacramento, who is a transfer from Sierra (Calif.) College. He is a junior.

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com.