But he’s still a lawyer, and he’s still competitive. And he’s returning to a college football world that is even meaner and more cutthroat than it was when he left it in 2002. He’ll have to step up his game if he wants to succeed.

That could be a problem, too. For all his name recognition, Neuheisel has had mixed results on the field. He started out at Colorado by posting back-to-back 10-2 records, but that was with predecessor Bill McCartney’s players. The next two seasons he went 5-6 and 8-4, and the former was reduced to 0-11 when the season was wiped out because of an ineligible player. During his four seasons at Washington, he went 7-5, 11-1, 8-4 and 7-6.

The good news for him is that he’ll be returning to the fertile recruiting territory of Southern California, where his stature as a former Rose Bowl-winning quarterback for the Bruins will be a definite plus. The bad news is that Pete Carroll isn’t going anywhere at USC. The reigning paradigm in Los Angeles — UCLA is the basketball school, USC is the football school — is here to stay.

There’s no doubt Neuheisel, with his winning personality and persuasive courtroom manner, will be a good recruiter. But the Bruins’ defensive coordinator, DeWayne Walker, is a relative unknown to the general sports populace but a growing legend in high school recruiting circles. UCLA’s recruiting was in good hands in the Dorrell regime, just not its football program. Neuheisel will help, but he won’t become Carroll or Urban Meyer.

It may not happen right away. For a while, Westwood will be calm, and Neuheisel will be good. Everyone around UCLA will express hope that a new day has arrived, and enthusiasm will flow like cheap beer at a kegger.

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But one day a rumor will come, then another. Then the university will issue a statement saying that it has decided to conduct its own inquiry into a developing matter. Or an opposing coach will lodge a complaint with the conference. Or a recruit’s mother will complain to the UCLA athletic office that a certain blond, youthful-looking man is parked outside her house and says he won’t leave until her son answers all the text messages the man has been sending and comes to the window so he can see for himself how much he wants the recruit to come to UCLA.

UCLA got a good deal with Neuheisel in the short term. But like all such deals, eventually it will be time to pay.

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