Thursday, June 4, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.
Hawaii may not have been deemed good enough to join the WAC's Breakaway Eight this week, but UNLV football coach Jeff Horton would love nothing better than to continue playing the Rainbows each year.
The switch to the new yet-to-be-named conference by the Rebels leaves UNLV with an extra nonconference date left to be filled on future schedules. And Horton said Wednesday his first choice to fill that slot would be Hawaii.
"It's such a natural connection," Horton said. "There are over 30,000 Hawaiians who live here. This is where they love to come on vacation. They could get nonstop flights here. And it would be good for our recruiting."
The Rebels already have a game with the Rainbows in Honolulu in 2000. Horton said he would love to host Hawaii in 1999 and start a prolonged home-and-home series with the Rainbows.
"I'm going to try to contact (Hawaii athletic director) Hugh Yoshida in the next day or two and see if we can get something lined up," Horton said. "With the changes in the WAC, there's going to be a lot of (scheduling) scrambling going on."
Until the dramatic withdrawal from the WAC, Horton said UNLV's football schedule almost was completely filled up until the year 2003.
The Rebels have nonconference games with Iowa State and road contests at Nevada-Reno and North Texas in 1999. UNLV hosts Reno and North Texas in 2000 and has road games at Ole Miss, Iowa State and Hawaii. In 2001, Northwestern visits the Silver Bowl and the Rebels play at Arizona and Reno.
Horton says he has two dates now to fill in 2002 when Kansas and Reno are set to visit UNLV. In 2003, the Rebels host Wisconsin and visit Kansas and UNR.
If Horton can get the Rainbows to agree to a deal through 2003, the only open date UNLV would have to fill would be another game in 2002.
Because the new conference figures to be extremely competitive in football, Horton was asked if he might want to schedule some lower level Division I schools to give his schedules a breather or two.
"I don't think so," he said. "I've always liked to play good people. It's a way for us to help make a name for ourselves here."
* CAMP TIME: Other than trying to firm up future schedules, UNLV coach Jeff Horton finds himself busy this month with youth summer camps and passing league competitions at UNLV. Horton's fifth annual high school team and individual full contact camps will be held in two sessions: June 14-18 and June 21-25 at UNLV. He also has weekly youth fundamental noncontact camps for kids 7-13 on those same dates as well as single-day youth camps on June 13 and June 20. A 25-team passing league tournament will also be held one weekend. Horton said space is still available in all sessions. For further information, call 895-3400.
* IRON REBEL: Senior defensive tackle Troy Kirkpatrick edged 1997 champ Talance Sawyer in the team's Iron Rebel weightlifting competition recently. Kirkpatrick had a team-best 615-pound squat to go along with a 350-pound bench press and a 31-inch vertical leap. Sawyer, considered an NFL prospect, came in a close second and had a team-best 339-pound clean-and-jerk. He also benched 380 and had a 32 1/2 vertical leap. Defensive tackle Robin Maile had the team's top bench press with a lift of 430 pounds while running back Duane James had the team's top vertical jump -- 38 1/2 inches.
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