Diddy Asked Rick Neuheisel Who He Was a Half-Hour Into a Campus Tour

Rick Neuheisel was the coach who originally recruited Diddy’s son, Justin Combs, to UCLA.  His son, Jerry, is a quarterback and expert videobomber on the Bruins football team. If anyone could give us some interesting details surrounding the Diddy – Sal Alosi incident, it’s Neuheisel. Luckily, he co-hosts a daily radio program on SiriusXM College Sports Nation.

According to Neuheisel – via CoachingSearch.com –  Justin Combs skipped some “discretionary” workouts to have private workouts with his father’s personal trainer. When he showed up on campus, he was a little out of shape and was sent home. That’s when Diddy showed up in Alosi’s office. UCLA wasn’t going to press charges, but campus security saw the video and now here we are.

Neuheisel also talked about the process of recruiting Justin Combs. It’s quite amusing. Transcription via CoachingSearch.com:

"“I took them on their campus tour,” Neuheisel said. “A half-hour into it, (Diddy) asked me who I was. He said, ‘Tell me what you do, Rick.’ I said I’m the head football coach here. He said, ‘You’re giving us the tour?’ I said, ‘Absolutely, this is my school. This is where I went. I want to give you a feel of what it’s like to be a student.’"

That’s like asking Diddy who he is during the second episode of Making the Band. Come to think of it, I wonder if Diddy has ever shown a young artist around the Bad Boy offices? Based on his reaction to Neuheisel giving a campus tour, I’m guessing not. When you’re rich and successful like Diddy, you probably start a lot of conversations by trying to figure out who the heck people are and what they actually do around here. Even college football coaches.

"When you’re weighing the assets of what a youngster can do for your program, there’s no question (being Diddy’s son) had something to do with it for me. Justin is a great kid. His problem was his size. He’s not big enough to be a dominant player. Could he be productive? Yes. The fact his father was an influential guy played into my decision to go ahead and offer him.”"

Duh. Combs had 2-stars on Rivals and 3-stars on ESPN. Diddy though… Diddy was a 5-star donor recruit. Just last month, Forbes named Diddy as the wealthiest hip-hop artist in the world. That’s a potential donor you want when you’re planning to build a new football stadium. Unfortunately, Neuheisel wasn’t around to see the money, the kettlebell incident, or the new stadium. Being able to tell these stories worked out pretty well for everyone else though.