The Long and Short of It

We smell a rat, and it's a rather large one at that. Here's the deal: Former Temple assistant Toby Neinas, son of sports consultant Chuck Neinas, has been hired as an assistant at San Diego State by new coach Chuck Long, left. Toby is the son of sports consultant Chuck Neinas, who was used by San Diego State during the searches that landed Long and athletic director Jeff Schemmel. As one person commented to the North County Times, "I am sure the fact that both Chuck Long and Jeff Schemmel landed their jobs from Chuck Neinas had nothing to do with this." Yea, right. Chuck Neinas is arguably the most powerful player in college athletics these days, and he has quite a history with San Diego State. He help the school land Mike Bohn as athletic director in 2003, then helped Bohn get his new gig at Colorado. That paved the way for Schemmel, then Long. And who did Bohn turn to when he needed a coach to replace Gary Barnett earlier this month? You guessed it, Chuck Neinas, who made the initial contact with Boise State's Dan Hawkins.