It’s time for someone else to complete Dave Rice’s vision for UNLV basketball

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Dave Rice controlled the room with a powerful introductory speech, emotionally telling UNLV basketball supporters how coaching the Rebels was his dream job. He was determined to uphold their standard of excellence.

Rebel Nation bought into the hype — they, after all, are desperate to relive the glory years.

Rice played on the national championship team and understood the program’s history and traditions. Like Jerry Tarknian’s teams, he promised they were going to run. And win.

They did a little of both — just not consistently enough, especially the running.

That’s why “mutually” pulling the plug on Rice’s tenure Sunday, midway through his fifth season after the Rebels sputtered to a 0-3 start in Mountain West play, hurts everyone involved. It’s tough to break up with someone you care for, but necessary with the Rebels again stuck in neutral and headed for a third straight postseason on the sideline.

But why now, just three game into league play and with plenty of time to turn things around? It’s simple for UNLV decision makers: Rice, as witnessed in blowing leads at Colorado State and Wyoming last week, didn’t have the answer. He had his chance.

Rice was a great representative of the university and a first-class gentleman to all he encountered. He’s a UNLV graduate who spent more than two decades as a Rebel player and coach. He’s been through the good and the bad with the program, never wavering in his passion for being a Rebel.

So, yes, Sunday was a pretty awful day for all parties, most notably Rice.

“This is a special place. It will always be about the players and it will always be about the tradition of this program,” Rice said when he was hired in 2011. “I don’t know exactly why it is my turn to have this, but I represent all the former Rebels who are equally qualified.”

Rice excelled on the recruiting trail, hauling in multiple five-star prospects and other top-50 recruits, but he couldn’t get those players to execute his vision. Whether it was poor foul shooting, ugly turnovers or bad shot selection, the Rebels were consistently outplayed at the end of games. They should be 3-0 in league, not hitting the reset button midseason.

It was the same story the past two seasons with head-scratching defeat after head-scratching defeat, ultimately leading to a coaching change. Rice, who finished with a 98-54 record, was under contract through 2019 and will receive his base pay of $300,000 annually for the final three years of the deal.

As Rice told supporters in 2011, UNLV is a great job. It is even more so now, partially because of Rice.

It has top facilities in the Thomas & Mack Center and Mendenhall Center, Las Vegas is a world-class destination with tremendous job opportunities for graduates, and UNLV is still a national brand. Don’t say it isn’t — Rice, despite the shortcomings, still sold top recruits on the Runnin’ Rebels.

There will be a long list of candidates, some of which surely already have tried to reach out, jumping over each other to come here. They see what Rice was building — everything from the hip kickoff event downtown to the multiple first-round NBA Draft picks and tough schedule — and know the Rebel program is close to breaking through.

It’s up to the next coach to complete his vision because in Las Vegas, as Rice enjoyed as a player and suffered through as a coach, winning is everything.

"As a coach you always want to win more games and get to more NCAA tournaments and so there’s some unfinished business, no doubt, but I think we left the program in better shape than we took it over, just like Lon Kruger did,” Rice said Sunday.

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21