UNLV has a losing record when it comes to key coaching hires
Whenever UNLV fires a basketball coach or a football coach, two things pop into mind when it comes to speculation about their replacements.
The first is an old song by the (sort of) classic rock band Supertramp. The song is called “Breakfast in America.” It’s about a guy who has never been to America fantasizing about the possibility, sort of like Rebels fans fantasizing that Rick Pitino would replace Bill Bayno as coach after Bayno got into hot water for recruiting Lamar Odom.
“Take a look at my girlfriend,” the song begins, “she’s the only one I got. Not much of a girlfriend. Never seem to get a lot.”
The Rebels didn’t get Rick Pitino, either. They got Charlie Spoonhour.
Somebody from the athletic department supposedly left Joanne Pitino standing on the curb at McCarran Airport. Remarkable story, most likely a true story. But not the reason Pitino didn’t take the job.
The second thing that pops into mind about UNLV and the coaches it hires is baseball’s Mendoza Line.
Mario Mendoza was a major league infielder, mostly for the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose lifetime batting average was .215. His ineptitude with a Louisville Slugger gave rise to the expression “Mendoza Line,” which generally means a batting average of .200.
A batting average of .200 is considered lousy.
A batting average of .200 is 117 percentage points higher than UNLV’s in hiring basketball and football coaches over the past 25 years.
Since 1986, when I stopped at a phone booth at the Pizza Hut in Boulder City to tell the boss I was on my way, UNLV has made 12 hires in the high-profile sports.
Six in basketball, six in football.
Only one — Lon Kruger, who coached basketball for seven seasons — left UNLV for a better head coaching gig. Kruger is at Oklahoma, and his Sooners are national championship contenders this season. Some people around here actually wished him good riddance.
When I arrived in town, it was football season, and Wayne Nunnely was just starting out as coach. He was fired after posting a 19-25 record. They should have put up a bronze statue of him. He was followed by Jim Strong (17-27), Jeff Horton (13-44), John Robinson (28-42), Mike Sanford (16-43), Bobby Hauck (13-38) and Tony Sanchez (3-9). The jury on Sanchez is like his starting quarterback. It’s still out.
Take a look at my football coach. Never seem to get a lot.
Here are UNLV’s basketball hires since Jerry Tarkanian: Rollie Massimino, Tim Grgurich, Bayno, Spoonhour, Kruger, Dave Rice.
Take a look at my basketball coach. Never seem to get a lot there, either. At least not in retrospect, which is always the best way to judge these things.
Were all of the aforementioned lousy coaches? No, at least not before they got here.
Two (Robinson and Massimino) won national championships. One (Hauck) came close multiple times, on a lower level. A few (Strong, Sanford, Bayno, Rice) were hot-shot assistants. One (Sanford) coached Alex Smith at Utah. One (Rice) coached Jimmer Fredette at Brigham Young. One (Grgurich) knew his X’s and O’s but did not want to be a head coach and quit after seven games.
They might have looked like good hires on paper. None, with the possible exception of Kruger, turned out. And people wanted him gone, too.
But maybe this isn’t on the coaches. Maybe this is on the search committees, and the athletic directors, and the commitment, and the boosters of influence, because 1-for-12 over 25 years doesn’t say a whole lot about the vetting process, or the guaranteed contract.
Maybe it’ll be different this time.
Maybe the search committee will pull a rabbit from the hat.
Maybe the boosters will put their money where their influence is.
Maybe Jupiter will align with Mars, and peace will guide the planets, and the Rebels will hire a basketball coach who knows how to protect a double-digit lead, and how to recruit a point guard.
It has happened at Butler and at Virginia Commonwealth. It can happen here.
Even Mario Mendoza once had a day.
During Game 3 of the 1974 National League Championship Series against the Dodgers, the slick fielding shortstop went 1-for-3 with a walk. (OK, so it wasn’t a huge day. But when you’re hitting .198, you’ll take a walk and an infield single in a playoff game.)
Mendoza would go on to become a successful manager in the Mexican League, which, if you subtract the sombreros and the hot sauce and the long bus ride from Monterrey to Yucatan, is sort of like the Mountain West, except that the Mexican League probably has a better TV deal.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski
