Former UNLV player and coach credits Tarkanian for opportunity

SEATTLE — From player, to mentee, to coach and mentor.

Throughout Dave Rice’s journey with UNLV basketball, one man played a significant role.

“Coach (Jerry) Tarkanian gave me an opportunity to come to UNLV as a scholarship player and be part of two Final Four teams,” said Rice, the former UNLV head coach and now University of Washington assistant.

Rice, who graduated from UNLV in 1991, said Tarkanian then gave him an opportunity to be an assistant on his coaching staff in 1991-92, Tarkanian’s final season at UNLV. “He saw something in me that he thought I had a future in coaching.”

Their relationship never wavered. They remained close long after Tarkanian retired from coaching after a seven-year stint at Fresno State.

“It was so special to me that 20 years after he gave me that opportunity to become a coach for him, he was sitting at a press conference at the Thomas and Mack Center as I was being named the head coach at UNLV,” said Rice, whose original plans were to attend law school or pursue a career in the medical field. “The one thing I know is that every day I woke up, I tried to to do what was right for the program and for the institution.”

Rice always accepted his place as a role player on the back-to-back Final Four teams in 1990 and ’91.

But the relationship he built with Tarkanian became stronger over the years.

“During my time (as head coach), (Tarkanian) was at practices. We talked on the phone. We beat North Carolina and had a number of great wins, and he was able to be there,” Rice said. “It was never about me; it was about trying to live up to the huge UNLV brand and be able to share it with former coaches and former players.”

Rice said Tarkanian “gave me a lot of pride. He represented what I wanted to be, and that was giving players an opportunity to achieve on the court and to be the best they can be off the court.”

Rice was 98-54 as UNLV’s head coach before being fired in January of his fifth season.