Courtesy of UNLV
UNLV football coach Tony Sanchez attracted plenty of attention at the Mountain West media event at the Cosmopolitan, Tuesday, July 28, 2015.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 | 2 a.m.
The Rebel Room
Is UNLV football on the rise?
Las Vegas Sun sports reporters Taylor Bern and Case Keefer ask Ray Brewer to explain why he's all in on the Tony Sanchez era for UNLV football, and what that will look like both in year one and down the road.
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When you’re only the fifth person ever to do something, as UNLV coach Tony Sanchez is, it piques outside interest.
When all four of the previous people in the modern era to go straight from high school to Division I coach essentially failed, it invites skepticism that the fifth will be any different. Especially at a place like UNLV, which the media picked to finish last for the fifth time in Mountain West history. They were right three times before.
During Tuesday’s Mountain West media days at the Cosmopolitan, a rotating cast of league and national media sought out Sanchez for various versions of the same question: Why, when everyone else has failed, will you succeed?
His answers throughout a session lasting nearly an hour and a half covered a lot of ground, and a central tenet was cautioning against comparing the unique former Bishop Gorman High coach to such a small sample size.
“If I was a scientist, I’d say there’s not enough evidence to make a conclusion,” Sanchez said.
The coaches before him — Jim Bradley (New Mexico State, 1973), Bob Commings (Iowa, 1974), Gerry Faust (Notre Dame, 1981) and Todd Dodge (North Texas, 2007) — didn’t have Sanchez’s experience learning from the best, and sometimes worst, recruiters in the country who came through Gorman’s doors every other day. They didn’t work at programs so flush that the common quip, ‘Gorman has better facilities than UNLV,’ elicited nods instead of laughs.
“Let’s be honest, those facilities were better than most Mountain West schools,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez’s high school to college predecessors didn’t have the cachet to build an extremely experienced staff and also weren’t well versed in the hype machine. New uniforms that can pair in different combinations, videos of screaming players circled around each other in the weight room and fireworks after daily 6 a.m. workouts have all become routine.
Senior quarterback Blake Decker called those things the keys to modern-day turnaround projects, and his teammates feel it too. The players are having fun and enjoying the game in a way they haven’t since, well, high school.
“He takes you back a little, as if you’re a little kid again. You feel more free,” said senior safety Peni Vea.
A lot of things suggest that Sanchez can be different, both from the quartet in his exclusive fraternity and from the last six men to lead UNLV. The first four coaches in Rebel history each left with winning records, and since 1986 the last six have gone a combined 108-230, culminating in coach Bobby Hauck’s five-year winning percentage of .234.
Decker said he could tell many of the players who have been in the program for three or four years were feeling jaded by their experience. With the exception of the 2013 run to the Heart of Dallas Bowl, the wins never appeared, and that lack of results wore on everyone.
“I have the utmost respect for coach Hauck, I just think that it was time for a change,” Decker said.
That change has felt like a breath of fresh air. But will it stale once the Rebels start working through one of the toughest schedules they’ve ever had?
As much as everyone around the program feels, suggests and believes that Sanchez’s salesmanship, the staff’s aptitude and burgeoning community interest can mix together to form something resembling a consistent winner, that’s very much in doubt. It’s still an idea, a vision Sanchez sells at the rotary club or at the little league fields or to any pair of ears willing to listen.
“You’re trying to rally an entire city. You’re trying to rally a program that’s won two games eight of the last 11 years,” Sanchez said. “That’s a big task, but it’s exciting. I don’t think any of us got into this business because we wanted to do it safe.”
In possession of a rare opportunity and a commanding presence, Sanchez was one of the event’s big stars. Soon, though, he can cut back on the rallying and ramp up the coaching, so this time next year the crowds might ebb based on record when they have more sample size to apply to the former high school coach.
“It’s going to be a conversation for all of about one year,” Sanchez said, “and after that I’m going to be a college coach.”
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas dares to be different. From the hotel’s red reservations desks to fine art found throughout the resort, The Cosmopolitan’s signature style is helping to pave its own path on the Las Vegas Strip.
Upon entering the resort, you’re greeted by pillars of video boards playing video art by Digital Kitchen and David Rockwell Studio exclusively produced for The Cosmopolitan. Just beyond that, you’ll find all your favorite casino games on the resort’s 100,000-square-foot casino floor.
The Cosmopolitan’s rooms standout as the resort’s most unique feature. About 2,220 of The Cosmopolitan’s 2,995 rooms have 6-foot deep terraces that span the length of the room, a first at a modern Strip hotel. Other in-room amenities include soaking tubs, kitchenettes and quirky accessories like artsy coffee table books.
The dining experience at The Cosmopolitan isn’t something you’ll find at other Strip resorts, either. All of The Cosmopolitan’s 13 restaurateurs are new to the Las Vegas market. You’ll find American steakhouse fare in a modern setting at STK, top-notch sushi at Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill and the freshest fish flown in from the Mediterranean daily at Estiatorio Milos.
Whether the sun is up or down, Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub is the place to find the party at The Cosmopolitan. The venue is a dayclub/nightclub, complete with a pool and cabanas outside and three different rooms with three different vibes inside.
If nightclubs aren’t your thing, you can grab a drink at one of The Cosmopolitan’s five other bars, like The Chandelier, which is encased in 2 million dripping crystals.
Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.
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