They call their favorite audible again.
One quarterback guru contacts the other for help in creating a dynamic offense.
The answer is always yes. The results say as much about Jerry Neuheisel and Noel Mazzone’s dedication to each other as they do about their ability to mass produce yards and points for UCLA.
“No matter what happens,” Neuheisel said in an interview with The Times, “as long as you’re with him, you have a smile on your face.”
Noel Mazzone, then offensive coordinator at UCLA, looks across the field during a game.
(Don Liebig / UCLA Athletics)
The final call came from the long-time apprentice to his mentor.
As the Bruins headed to an 0-4 start, Neuheisel talked with Mazzone about the possibility of returning to Westwood to help with the offense. Just as he had regularly done when he was UCLA’s offensive coordinator a decade earlier, Mazzone cultivated the necessary intelligence, learning that Neuheisel would be promoted from tight ends coach to playmaking player before Neuheisel.
“He was in the car, I think, the next morning and he was here that night,” Neuheisel said, “and he was off trying to beat Penn State.”
They beat Penn State, reviving an offense and team that are the talk of college football. UCLA’s 40-point average in its two wins nearly tripled its previous output during this winless start, reminiscent of the offense the Bruins ran under Mazzone with Neuheisel as their backup quarterback from 2012-15.
This was just the beginning of a winning combination.
Shortly after they parted ways at the end of their four seasons together at Westwood, Mazzone contacted Neuheisel, convincing him to stop playing for the Obic Seagulls of the Japanese X League so he could help Mazzone in 2017 in his second season as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator.
“When he called me and said, ‘We’re going to the SEC, we’re going to College Station, Texas,’” said Neuheisel, who had long known he wanted to coach, “I didn’t even ask any questions. I took the next flight home.”
Quarterback Jerry Neuheisel looks to pass the ball during UCLA’s game against the Texas Longhorns at AT&T Stadium on September 13, 2014.
(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
After driving 22 hours from Los Angeles to College Station, Neuheisel stayed in a hotel for a week and a half looking for a place to stay — even though he hadn’t officially been hired.
All that mattered was that he was back with his mentor. Now they are together again, only the roles have been reversed.
“It’s just the first time in my life he’s had to listen to all my ideas,” Neuheisel said with a laugh, “so I enjoyed being able to turn it around.”
Just a few weeks ago, Mazzone reconnected with two other former UCLA quarterbacks.
Gathering with Brett Hundley and Mike Fafaul in the Phoenix area to watch football the weekend UCLA lost to Northwestern to fall to 0-4, Mazzone and his former players let Neuheisel know they were thinking of him.
“They sent a picture from the bar of them watching us play,” Neuheisel said.
What they didn’t tell him was that they were already considering possibilities for Mazzone, 68, who was then offensive coordinator at Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“At the time we weren’t doing very well,” Hundley said of the Bruins, “so we were joking that Mazzone would probably be back at UCLA.”
A lifelong coach, Mazzone had made more than 20 stops at the high school, college and NFL levels by the time he agreed to get in his car and return for his second stint with the Bruins after the team replaced departed offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri with Neuheisel.
Several days later, after rushed preparations and a few early-game mistakes, such as Neuheisel fumbling with the button on his helmet that allowed him to talk to his quarterback, UCLA scored on each of its first five drives en route to a 42-37 victory over then-No. 7 Penn State which has been called the upset of the college football season.
Jubilant players hoisted Neuheisel onto their shoulders in a scene reminiscent of his greatest moment playing for Mazzone and coach Jim Mora, when he came off the bench to lead a comeback victory against Texas in 2014.
UCLA quarterback Jerry Neuheisel, top, is carried off the field after UCLA’s 20-17 victory over Texas on September 13, 2014, in Arlington, Texas.
(Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press)
About a half hour after beating the Nittany Lions, his hair still soaked from the water the players had sprayed into the locker room air, Neuheisel revealed what it meant to share this new memory with one of his favorite mentors.
“Having Coach Mazzone here has honestly been one of the coolest things ever,” Neuheisel said. “Seeing him help the quarterbacks, allowing us to bounce ideas off him, it’s awesome. Brilliant.”
In a way, the circumstances weren’t so different when they met.
Neuheisel was the new guy, just trying to prove himself.
In the fall of 2012, he was a freshman quarterback, wanting to show he belonged on the same campus where, just months earlier, his father, Rick, had been fired as head coach. Mazzone was also a recent arrival after being hired on Mora’s first staff at UCLA.
“Jerry comes in and you have Kevin Prince, Brett Hundley, Richard Brehaut — I mean, he walks into a quarterback room with some studs,” recalled Johnathan Franklin, the running back who would become UCLA’s all-time leading rusher at the end of that season. “All three had played before, and Brett Hundley was obviously a rock star.”
UCLA quarterback Jerry Neuheisel sits on the field before a game against Virginia at the Rose Bowl on September 5, 2015.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
It was a unique kind of pressure for a legacy born at UCLA Medical Center during a time when his father was an assistant coach with the Bruins, after playing for his alma mater as a Rose Bowl-winning quarterback.
“I was just there trying to make the team,” Neuheisel said.
What quickly became apparent, given his inherently savvy and curious nature, was that his long-term future would likely be sidelined.
“Jerry, of course, you could always tell he was going to be a coach from day one,” Hundley said. “It was like his Pops 2.0.”
Equally impressive was the astute offensive coordinator who was quick with a quip and response to any challenge a defense might present. Mazzone led an attack short on plays and long on possibilities. He explained why certain plays worked in given situations and made sure even the quarterback understood the blocking schemes so everyone appreciated each other’s roles.
“Basically, you get your best players in space and you play,” Franklin said of the prevailing philosophy. “I remember he used to call the plays, and he’d say, ‘Man, a guy shouldn’t tackle you, so we’re not going to work to block this guy – it’s between you and him, you have to make it happen.’ »
UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone leans on the sideline and looks across the field during a game.
(Don Liebig / UCLA Athletics)
UCLA won 29 games in its first three seasons with Mazzone running the offense and Neuheisel playing a reserve role, except for the day in September 2014 when he got a megawatt.
With Hundley sidelined with an elbow injury against nationally ranked Texas, Neuheisel came off the bench and threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Payton with three minutes remaining, rallying the Bruins to a 20-17 victory. His teammates hoisted him into the air and carried him off the field.
“I mean, unbelievable,” Mazzone said after the game. “Jerry came out and handled the situation better than anyone. I mean, he really did a tremendous job. Really proud of him.”
When he called a reporter after 8 p.m. Wednesday night, Neuheisel hadn’t finished his day. It was only a momentary respite from watching the game video, there were several hours before he could finally go home.
His schedule has become so busy since his promotion that tight end Hudson Habermehl recently answered a call from Neuheisel’s wife, Nicole, asking him to pick up an Uber Eats delivery order from Neuheisel’s office upstairs inside the practice facility.
Habermehl was happy to do it, a small gesture of thanks to the 33-year-old coach who has done so much for him and an offense that doesn’t look like it did earlier in the season even though the Bruins are running essentially the same plays.
If this looks more like a Mazzone offense, that’s no coincidence.
UCLA offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel hugs Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava during the Bruins’ win over Penn State on October 4.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
“What made Noel’s offense so great and why I liked it was there was a use of space on the field,” Neuheisel said, “and I would say that’s what we tried to emulate, trying to create space on the field and trying to create matchups for our players to be successful.”
No one has benefited more than quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who has thrown five touchdowns without an interception over the past two weeks while adding three rushing touchdowns. A previously inert running game picked up considerable speed, averaging 253.5 yards in wins over Penn State and Michigan State.
“There seems to be a new energy on offense,” Hundley said. “You know, it’s not like they have a whole new starting lineup. I mean, they’re the same guys we were talking about at the start of the season, but now they’re putting Nico in position to play.”
Habermehl said everyone played freely and instinctively because Neuheisel explained the reasoning for each play and involved all position groups in offensive meetings to provide a universal understanding of concepts.
“When you coach guys,” Neuheisel said, “you have to tell them the ‘why.’ I think that’s what I always appreciated when I was a player here and on any good team I’ve been a part of.
Neuheisel’s latest success will likely earn him a permanent offensive coordinator position, or even a head coaching opportunity, next season. His old friend can probably expect to get a call asking if he would like to be part of this team, the answer is given.
“Wherever there is ball,” Neuheisel said, “it will always find its way.”
