Notable Nu’s · Athletics
EP 1078 · UCLA Class of 1984
Born
February 7, 1961, Madison, WI
High School
McClintock High School, Tempe, AZ
Pledged EP
1979
UCLA
Class of 1984
Rick Neuheisel was a walk-on who became a Rose Bowl MVP, a law school graduate who became a head football coach, and a father who watched his own Sigma Nu son lead the Bruins to victory from the same sidelines where it all began.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin and raised in Tempe, Arizona, Richard Gerald “Rick” Neuheisel Jr. enrolled at UCLA and pledged the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu in 1979. Beginning his UCLA football career as a walk-on holder for placekicks, he developed into the Bruins’ starting quarterback by his senior season in 1983.
That year he led UCLA to a victory over USC that clinched the Pac-10 championship and sent the Bruins to the Rose Bowl. In front of 103,217 fans, Neuheisel threw four touchdown passes in a 45–9 rout of 4th-ranked Illinois and was named Rose Bowl MVP. The performance was made even more remarkable by the fact that just hours before kickoff, he and two other Bruins were suffering from food poisoning — and it was unclear whether he would even start.
Named to the Pac-10 All-Academic team, Neuheisel graduated from UCLA in May 1984 with a B.A. in political science and a 3.4 GPA. After a playing career that included two seasons with the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL and a 1987 NFL season split between the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he passed the Arizona State Bar in May 1991 and the Washington, D.C. Bar in March 1993.
His coaching career began as a graduate assistant at UCLA in 1986. He went on to serve as head coach at the University of Colorado (1995–1998), the University of Washington (1999–2002), and returned to UCLA as head coach from 2008 to 2011, leading the Bruins to a Pac-12 South Division title. He also served on the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff as quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2007. His career college coaching record stands at 87–59.
One of the most memorable moments of Neuheisel’s post-playing life came in 2014, when he watched his son Jerry — an Epsilon Pi brother himself — lead UCLA to a victory from the same Bruin sideline. The image of a father watching his son carry on the tradition at 601 Gayley is one that captures something essential about what the chapter means across generations.
Rick Neuheisel currently serves as Head Coach of the Dallas Renegades of the United Football League (UFL), continuing a coaching career that has spanned four decades and multiple levels of the sport. He can also be seen each fall Saturday on CBS as an analyst on College Football Today. He and his wife Susan reside in Arizona and have raised three sons together.
Notable Nu’s is a series celebrating distinguished members of the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu at UCLA.
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