LOS ANGELES -- Rick Neuheisel returned to UCLA determined to do everything correctly after a coaching career filled with big successes and equally big trouble.

Even athletic director Dan Guerrero, who fired Neuheisel on Monday after four disappointing seasons, agreed the formerly scandal-plagued coach did most everything the right way at his alma mater.

All except the winning part.

UCLA is 21-28 under Neuheisel, who will be allowed to coach in Friday's Pac-12 title game at Oregon. Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will be the interim coach if the Bruins (6-6, 5-4 Pac-12) receive a bowl berth.

"Rick was a great representative for our school, and I'll always be grateful for that," Guerrero said. "I believe the sign of a good program is consistency. We just weren't there. We certainly had some losses that were of epic proportions ... in the second half of the season, and that simply wasn't good enough."

"As players I know to a man, we want him still to be our coach, but Dan Guerrero thought that we need to go in a different direction so it works out for the future, but it's sad coach Neuheisel is going to be leaving us," UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince said Monday on 710 ESPN's "Mason & Ireland" show.

Neuheisel never built the momentum necessary to challenge mighty Southern California for city supremacy, and Guerrero fired Neuheisel two days after UCLA's 50-0 loss to USC (No. 9 AP), the Bruins' largest loss since 1930 in their crosstown rivalry game. UCLA also lost 48-12 to lowly Arizona after a bye week, along with a 26-point loss at Stanford, a 29-point home blowout by Texas and a 25-point loss at Utah two weeks ago.

"I thanked Dan for the opportunity," Neuheisel said on the Pac-12's promotional teleconference for the title game, less than an hour after his firing was announced. "I don't need reasons and all that kind of stuff. Certainly when you're the UCLA coach, you'd like to play better against USC. I know that. We had our chances, but when you lose in the fashion we did, that's a difficult pill to swallow."

According to the terms of Neuheisel's contract, UCLA will have to pay Neuheisel a $250,000 buyout. That buyout can be spread over the remaining life of his contract, which expires Dec. 31, 2012.