WHO’S NEXT : Neuheisel, Barnett in Wide-Open Field

Now that Terry Donahue has finally dropped the reins of the UCLA football program after 20 years on the job, who will pick those reins up?

It’s too early to say with any certainty, but UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis plans on moving quickly, hoping to have a new coach in place by New Year’s Day. The longer a decision is delayed after that, the more the school’s recruiting effort will suffer.

Dalis said he had felt since the start of the season that this might be Donahue’s last at UCLA. So even though Dalis didn’t act on his hunch, not wishing to affect Donahue’s decision, he has at least a mental list of candidates.

Some who figure to be on it:

--Rick Neuheisel--In a perfect situation, he would probably be the choice. But the timing for Neuheisel in returning to Westwood, where he was a star quarterback and an assistant coach, couldn’t be worse.

Neuheisel is in his first season at Colorado, where he has been successful enough to get his team into the Cotton Bowl.

“We have not talked to him,” Dalis said Monday, “but we think there would be a lot of interest in him because so many here have so many fond memories of him.”

Neuheisel said Monday that he doesn’t plan on leaving Colorado, but. . . .

“If I am contacted . . . I feel that because I went there, I know so many people there and they’ve opened a lot of doors for me--I need to listen,” Neuheisel said. “But my aspirations are to stay right here.”

Although under Colorado law, Neuheisel cannot sign more than a one-year deal, he has an oral agreement with school officials to stay at least five seasons.

Neuheisel is making a base salary of $130,000 this season, but bonuses could push that up to $275,000. Although it is not known what UCLA will offer, it is known that Donahue was making about $367,000 a year.

Neuheisel may well become the Denny Crum of UCLA football football. Crum was once considered the heir apparent to John Wooden as UCLA’s basketball coach, but ultimately stayed at Louisville, where he has gone on to a highly successful career.

--Other prime candidates among head coaches--Kansas’ Glen Mason, Kansas State’s Bill Snyder, Oregon’s Mike Bellotti and Northwestern’s Gary Barnett.

Expect Barnett’s name to surface a lot in the coming days when jobs become vacant. He is the hot commodity of the moment, having gotten once-lowly Northwestern into the Rose Bowl. If Barnett has thoughts of moving, there might never be a better time. But he might like the idea of staying right where he is and continuing to raise those eyebrows over the next couple of seasons.

The biggest factor working for Barnett, Snyder and Bellotti is that they have all coached their teams into bowl games. But that may also work against them, since it will keep them tied up through the crucial days when Dalis must make a decision if he is to honor his own deadline of New Year’s Day.

That might leave Mason in the best position since he’ll be playing his bowl game right in front of Dalis in Hawaii where Kansas will meet the Bruins in the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day.

Talk about timing.

--The UCLA assistants--The defensive coordinator, Bob Field, and the offensive coordinator, Bob Toledo, will probably speak with Dalis about the job.

Asked if he’d be interested in an assistant, whether from UCLA or elsewhere, Dalis replied, “Nobody is born a head coach.”

Longshots--Denver Bronco defensive coordinator Greg Robinson and Rich Brooks, former Oregon coach, now finishing his first season with the Rams. A year ago, Brooks might well have been the favorite. Now he makes about twice as much as UCLA would probably pay and might find it difficult to return to the college game.