Neuheisel lied about interview
February 14, 2003
By Cam Inman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
University of Washington coach Rick Neuheisel has admitted he lied about meeting with 49ers officials, saying he indeed interviewed Sunday for the 49ers coaching job even though he issued a public denial Monday.
Did the 49ers also lie?
Technically, no. Even after naming Oregon State's Dennis Erickson as their new coach Tuesday and introducing him at a Wednesday news conference, 49ers officials never said Erickson was the only college candidate they considered.
"We had to maintain a level of confidentiality with the college coaches we were interested in speaking to," 49ers general manager Terry Donahue said in a statement Thursday. "We handled each of them the same. No college coach can be exposed to the media during a search."
Neuheisel fessed up to two Seattle newspapers Wednesday night, informing them he interviewed Sunday with the 49ers and that he issued false statements Monday regarding the 49ers' interest in him.
"My knee-jerk reaction was to protect an agreement of confidentially I had with the 49ers," Neuheisel told the Seattle Times, "but the life of the story that has followed has raised the question about who I am. It has questioned something more important, my credibility, and that isn't worth it."
Neuheisel initially told reporters Monday that he flew to the Bay Area on Sunday to play golf and discuss a business venture in the Napa Valley. He also issued a statement Monday on Washington's Web site declaring he had not been contacted by the 49ers.
John Levesque of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote a column Wednesday about how he encountered Neuheisel at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday, and how he overheard Neuheisel telling his parents in a phone call about interviewing with the 49ers.
After issuing denials, Neuheisel said Wednesday he interviewed Sunday in Santa Clara with Donahue, 49ers owner representative John York and 49ers consultant Bill Walsh. Erickson interviewed Saturday and was offered the job Monday night, Donahue said.
During their coaching search, the 49ers did not inform the media of their dealings with any college coaches.
Kirk Reynolds, the 49ers public relations director, said Thursday that he believed Erickson and Neuheisel were the only college coaches to come to the 49ers for interviews. Reynolds was unaware that one of his assistants denied Monday to the Times that Neuheisel had interviewed Sunday, and he said the assistant was uninformed.
"No college coach can be exposed to the media, when you currently have a team you are coaching," Donahue said Wednesday. "It isn't the right thing to do for the coach. It isn't the right thing for us. It just isn't what you would normally do. An NFL assistant coach doesn't have a team, a community, a university that he is responsible for."
Apparently, Neuheisel wasn't considered a finalist even though he interviewed for the 49ers job a day before it was offered to Erickson.
Added Donahue: "At the end of the day, we had four finalists that we interviewed. We talked to three defensive coordinators from the NFL and we talked to Dennis."
NOTES: Former Cal coach and current Washington offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson said he's talked with Erickson but is not interested in returning to the Bay Area as a member of the 49ers staff. ... Oregon State assistant head coach Gregg Smith, an assistant to Erickson the past 20 years, said if he doesn't succeed Erickson as the Beavers coach, he expects to join the 49ers and possibly coach the offensive line or tight ends.
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