Fien Stars in His Own Private Idaho

Ryan Fien can’t keep a straight face as he details how perfectly his life seems to be going these days. His grin becomes a chuckle and Fien shakes his head, almost in disbelief.

Hard to explain how quickly things have changed.

Since pulling off a UCLA football uniform for the last time 10 months ago at the Aloha Bowl--ending what the quarterback described as the worst year in his life--Fien’s football fortunes have taken a dramatic turn for the better.

Fien transferred to the University of Idaho, where he is finally behind the wheel of the type of offense that perfectly suits a 6-foot-4 dropback passer with a rifle arm.

He has put up such remarkable numbers--377.8 yards passing per game, tops in Division I-A--that his new coach has referred to him as a godsend.

And he has proved to NFL scouts who show up daily at Idaho practices that he is the prospect he always believed he could be.

“I’m loving it,” he said. “It’s funny. Last year was so bad, and this year everything is going so good.”

Fien doesn’t mind trading the Rose Bowl for the Kibbie Dome--the Vandals’ 16,000-seat home, which looks like a 14-story airplane hangar. He doesn’t mind trading Westwood for Moscow, where he has already been stopped on the street and asked for his autograph more times than he was in four seasons at UCLA.

Fien has found bliss among the rolling wheat fields in rural Northern Idaho.

“I’m not dwelling on what happened in the past,” Fien said. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity I’m getting now.”

Last year, as Fien’s quest to become UCLA’s starting quarterback was stalled by injuries, an offense that didn’t suit his talents and, in the end, his own mouth, his frustration boiled over.

Only fear kept him from quitting football and dropping out of college. Fien was afraid he’d wind up middle-aged and in a bar, hitting bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye on a dart board while explaining how he could have been an NFL quarterback if he’d just gotten along with his college coach.

Fien decided the problem was not football, but UCLA. He searched for a program in which he could spend his final year of eligibility and make a push toward the NFL. Everything pointed toward Idaho: a head coach he had known for years, a vacancy at quarterback and an NFL-style passing offense.

“It’s like it was meant to be,” Fien said.

Ironically, the place in which Fien’s college football career has been resuscitated is only eight miles from where it almost died.

It’s a short drive along a winding, two-lane road from Moscow to Pullman, Wash. That is where Fien, months removed from his high school prom, was first thrust into a game against Washington State in 1992.

Fien was sacked four times. He fumbled twice and threw an interception. Three years later, September 1995, Fien and the Bruins were back. This time Fien was the starting quarterback.

Though not for long.

Coach Terry Donahue yanked him briefly in the second quarter and again in the third with UCLA trailing, 24-8. Fien thought he had been treated unfairly, noting that the Bruins fumbled away a potential touchdown near the Cougar goal line and dropped a pass in the end zone on another series, neither mistake being Fien’s fault.

After the Bruins lost the game, Fien complained to reporters about Donahue’s quick hook.

“Put me in No. 1 or No. 2,” Fien told Donahue, unfortunately using a few million Sunday newspapers as his messenger. “I finally started to get some momentum, and the next thing I know, I’m out. It’s tough and frustrating playing under those circumstances. I get two long drives going in the second half, and I’m out. What can you do?”

Donahue was upset by Fien going public with his complaints, and he told the quarterback he felt “betrayed,” Fien said.

Fien backpedaled publicly, saying he was wrong to air his disagreements with Donahue in the press. But Fien is convinced his apologies didn’t matter to Donahue. He didn’t start another game after that day in Pullman.

“As soon as that got in the L.A. papers,” Fien said, “that’s when my career ended.”

Bob Toledo, who was promoted from offensive coordinator to replace Donahue after he resigned, said Fien simply didn’t fit the offense as well as Cade McNown.

“Cade was able to avoid the rush a little bit more and he was a bit more mobile,” Toledo said.

His perspective on the situation has come only with time. As the season unfolded, Fien was bitter about being a backup.

“I was ready to quit football and even quit school,” he said. “I was so fed up with the way my life was going. There were days I said I’m quitting and getting a job and getting married and getting started with my life.”

But Fien’s parents persuaded him to stick it out and Idaho emerged as the obvious choice for his new home.

The Vandals had just hired Chris Tormey, who had recruited Fien in high school while he was an assistant at Washington. They had a quarterback-friendly offense, and because the school had not yet moved up from Division I-AA to I-A, Fien could play right away without losing a season of eligibility.

“Everything really just clicked,” Fien said. “There weren’t any questions. I never looked any further. I was set on coming to Idaho when I heard they were I-AA, then when I heard they were going to I-A, that was icing on the cake.”

With little publicity, Fien left UCLA after the Bruins’ 51-30 loss to Kansas in the Aloha Bowl.

Said Tormey: “[Fien] came in and didn’t try to be the big man from UCLA that’s going to show these Idaho hicks how to play football. He came in and kept his mouth shut and worked hard.”

Fien made such an immediate impact that he was featured in a television commercial promoting the football team before he had played a game. Fien was the “gunslinger,” wearing his football uniform and a cowboy hat while whizzing a spiral at the bad guy as he tried to get away on a horse.

Fien lived up to the hype in his Idaho debut, passing for a school-record 542 yards in a two-point loss to Wyoming, which is now 7-0 and ranked 23rd. In Idaho’s five games--the Vandals are 2-3, the same as UCLA--Fien has completed 138 of 220 passes (63%) for 1,889 yards. He has thrown 13 touchdown passes and seven interceptions. Fien is second in Division I-A in total offense, at 369.2 yards per game.

One NFL scout said Fien “has got the size, a good feel for the game, a good arm. . . . He looks like he’s good enough to get an opportunity in the NFL.”

That chance is all Fien wants. It is, after all, why he packed his bags and left California, rather than sitting quietly on the bench at UCLA on his way to a history degree.

“I just want people to know my career didn’t end on a bad note,” he said. “Whether I go into the NFL or it ends here or whatever, there’s no regrets now.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

One That Got Away

RYAN FIEN WITH UCLA

*--*

Year Att Comp Yds Pct Int TD Lg 1992 27 9 73 .333 1 0 16 1994 38 19 195 .500 2 0 22 1995 63 36 521 .571 0 2 51 Total 128 64 789 .500 3 2

*--*

Note--Fien was a redshirt in 1993

Best Game--Sept. 2, 1995

UCLA 31, Miami 8

*--*

Att Comp Yds Pct Int TD 17 10 74 .588 0 0

*--*

FIEN WITH IDAHO

*--*

Date, Opp. Att Comp Yds Pct Int TD 8/31, Wyoming 58 36 542 .621 1 4 9/7, San Diego St. 51 33 381 .647 4 2 9/14, St. Mary’s 32 25 354 .781 0 3 9/28, SW Texas St. 45 27 307 .600 2 2 10/5, Cal Poly SLO 34 17 305 .500 0 2 Totals 220 138 1,889 .627 7 13

*--*