John Locher / AP
UNLV running back Shaquille Murray-Lawrence (33) drops a pass during an NCAA football game against New Mexico Saturday, Nov. 1, 2014, in Las Vegas. New Mexico won 31-28. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014 | 2 a.m.
A new UNLV football coach could be announced this week and given what some feel is the impossible directive of building a winner.
But he might have more resources at his disposal than his predecessors did.
Hauck left with class
Bobby Hauck finished with a 15-49 record in five seasons at UNLV, including four seasons with just two wins each.
But school officials took some of the blame when accepting his resignation, saying they realized building a winning football program involves more than just having a quality head coach.
Hauck easily could have used his bosses’ comments as an excuse and complained about a lack of resources. That’s the route Mike Sanford, Hauck’s predecessor, took when he was fired in 2009.
But during Hauck’s final news conference, he had nothing but positive words about his experiences at UNLV.
“Hopefully, we had some positive impact on some folks,” said Hauck, who received a one-time $400,000 payment to settle the remaining two years of his contract. “Despite the record, I think, in terms of how our guys played, we transformed into a team that plays hard and is highly competitive. We haven’t been good enough. We played our tails off and were physical. I wish our record was better, obviously.”
Bobby Hauck joined a fraternity of coaches — Jim Strong, Jeff Horton, John Robinson and Mike Sanford — who came to UNLV with high hopes but couldn’t overcome the program’s lack of financial backing.
Strong was the top assistant at Notre Dame, Robinson a coaching legend who led USC to a national championship, Sanford a top assistant for the nation’s most dynamic offense at Utah, and Hauck a highly successful coach at Montana. Each appeared ready for the UNLV job. Each failed to produce a consistent winner.
Finally, school officials have said what has long been known — the program is broken, stuck in the 1990s and in need of a makeover.
“We just can’t keep putting people in that (coaching) chair without changing the culture of UNLV football,” said Tina Kunzer-Murphy, UNLV’s athletic director.
Bishop Gorman High School coach Tony Sanchez, whose team is ranked No. 1 nationally and won its sixth straight state championship this weekend, is the leading candidate to replace Hauck. In addition to being a proven winner, Sanchez would bring what UNLV desperately needs — the ability to raise funds.
Gorman football has better facilities than UNLV, thanks to the backing of the Fertitta family, owners of Station Casinos and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Adding Sanchez could mean adding well-heeled connections, which could help get UNLV football out of the dark ages.
“It’s not the coach — it’s us,” Kunzer-Murphy said. “We have to change the culture.”
Here's what's broken:
• Facilities: When UNLV basketball recruits walk into the Mendenhall Center, a $13 million basketball-only facility with all the bells and whistles, there’s no doubting the university’s dedication to winning. That’s not the case with the Lied Athletic Complex, an outdated facility UNLV football shares with other sports. The weight room, coaches’ offices and training room desperately need to be modernized with new equipment, and more of it. It’s a long overdue project.
If a multimillion-dollar donation does come for UNLV football, this would be the first upgrade to take the program out of the early 1990s.
• Sam Boyd Stadium: An on-campus stadium isn’t a reality at this stage, but making a few fixes at Sam Boyd Stadium before next season would enhance the program. New turf already is planned. The next project needs to be tearing down the outdated locker rooms and building something the players can be proud of.
The current setup is small and outdated. And, more importantly, the facility is impossible to sell to prospects on recruiting visits.
Playing off-campus isn’t ideal, but it’s UNLV’s long-term reality. The school needs to make the best of what it has.
• Travel: When UNLV football played in the Heart of Dallas Bowl last season, players took separate flights to Texas to try to save the university money. For a game in Provo, Utah, this year, the team took a seven-hour bus ride. More resources would allow for more cushy travel, which would help the players feel more rested and energized in road games.
• Compensation for assistant coaches: In 2013, UNLV spent $1,053,345 for its 12 assistant football coaches, ranking eighth in the 12-team Mountain West Conference, according to a USA Today report.
UNLV learned the hard way: You get what you pay for.
Getting high-quality assistants is a must. You need coaches with proven track records in games and on the recruiting trail. Having coaches with solid national recruiting ties would bring better players, but to do that, the Rebels need money.
It need not be the $680,000 annual salary of Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin. But it can’t be a few thousand dollars more than a high school coach makes.
• Forgetting the past: Randall Cunningham is a quarterback icon who helped redefine the position because of his dual-threat ability. Ickey Woods had his touchdown dance shuffle. Keenan McCardell spent more than a decade catching passes in the NFL.
They all played at UNLV. Now, each needs to be part of helping re-establish the program.
Instead of focusing on the obvious — UNLV has played in only four bowl games and regularly wins two games a season — the new coaching regime needs to celebrate the past. Welcome the legends back. Have them speak to players and recruits. Retire a jersey, honor a bowl team or build a statue. Anything to link past successes to the effort to build a winner.
• APR score: UNLV was supposed to be banned from qualifying for a bowl this past season because of a low Academic Progress Rating score. APR is a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete.
UNLV’s number briefly fell below the minimum score of 930 allowed with no punishment. But through some nifty calculating from a hired APR specialist, officials got the score increased to have the ban reversed.
But UNLV isn’t out of trouble. The more than 20 seniors on this year’s team need to finish the fall and spring semesters strong. And considering they will have no ties to the new coaching staff, it could be a formula for disaster.
• Recruiting: There were three scholarship players on the UNLV roster this season from perennial Nevada power Bishop Gorman. Even worse, Rebel coaches rarely recruited there.
That needs to change. Gorman likely will win high school football’s mythical national championship this season, and it sends about 10 players each year to college football, to schools such as Notre Dame, USC and Arizona. It’s time those players stayed home.
Taylor Bern contributed to this story.
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