LOS ANGELES — A losing first season has changed UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel.
The novelty of golden boy has faded. The whimsy in his blue eyes, dream-big boom in the voice and the cockiness that this new-kid-back-on-the-block displayed by taking aim early at crosstown rival USC have almost vanished as well.

A record of 4-8 last season and only his second postseason sitting idle in his nine-year coaching career have tempered even this most unflappable optimist.
So the second-year Bruin coach, taking a seat at the podium for UCLA football media day on Monday, seemed different than this time last season in ways beyond having sun burnt cheeks.
“I’m every bit as upbeat, every bit as positive, but I know much more about what needs to be done, having now taken a lap through the conference....,” Neuheisel said. “I have a good idea about where we stack up and a good idea of what we need to do to compete successfully again the powerful teams in our conference.”
There isn’t enough room in this column to list all that needs to be done to help the Bruins finish in the top half of the top-heavy Pac-10. The bucket list starts with field an untested quarterback in redshirt freshman Kevin Prince, plug newcomers into an offensive line and build a ground game from the ground up and ends with everything else.
The Bruins, sadly, appear to be only slightly better off than they were at the start of last season.
The difference is that now Neuheisel appears more realistic about the tasks at hand and less daring to dream. He is more serious and determined and less idealistic. He is more of a CEO and less of the brash and boyish Neuheisel of the 2008 yesteryear who wanted Bruins fans to fill their “passion buckets” and Bruin players to remain “relentlessly positive.”
“This season, he (Neuheisel) is a lot more business-like,” said Prince. “There’s a lot less room for error now. We need to win games.”
The blue and gold “Relentlessly Positive” sign still hangs in the team locker room near Spalding Field. But Neuheisel didn’t reference last year’s much-used mantra on Monday.
Neuheisel, a former Bruin quarterback, appeared a coach no longer consumed by the glory of his own homecoming or by his own enthusiasm over being hired to coach Division I football after controversy-checkered stops at Colorado and Washington. He emerges a wiser man set on proving himself a capable architect for UCLA’s ambitious rebuilding.
His players can see this. They noticed the change Sunday night when Neuheisel gathered the players for an hour-long team meeting the first to open fall camp inside the Acosta Sports Training near Spalding Field.
“Coach showed up wearing a suit, black coat, white shirt and black tie, which was kind of strange since he always wears UCLA coaching clothes,” recalled sophomore wide receiver Nelson Rosario.
The players howled at the sight of slick Rick before he calmed them down at addressed them sternly.
“Bet you’re wondering why I’m wearing this,” Neuheisel told them, lifting his lapels and cuing up a slideshow.
He presented the players with images of the Bruin teams who played in past postseasons. He showed off how the coaches and players arrived in suits, dressed appropriately for their success.
And the Bruins, at 4-8, had no reason to visit the tailor last season.
“I’d be disappointed if we don’t make the postseason,” said Neuheisel, setting out his goal for the season. “I want to be wearing this (suit) again.”
He told them to forget last season, chalking up his first season’s struggles to the transition itself. The season’s pains were like those one gets breaking in a new pair of sneakers.
These are Neuheisel’s players now. He demanded that they “push, push, push,” and made this season’s motto, “Play Hard,” which is on all the gold rubber bracelets that offensive coordinator Norm Chow distributed before camp began.
“They have a whole set of raised expectations for us this year,” said Prince. “They are going to be harder on us this year and demand more of us. They are going to make us take it (football) a lot more seriously this year.”
Serious is the tone for this season. Neuheisel has already set it from Day 1.