Florida State steals UNLV’s last-place softball coach

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 10:35 p.m.

NOW:

I guess it doesn't take much to be classified as a good coach these days.

That's what athletic director Mike Hamrick called Lonni Alameda, who apparently resigned as UNLV softball coach this week to take over as head coach at Florida State (although there's still no mention of it on the athletic department Web site.)

Alameda guided the Rebels to two winning seasons in five on the job. Big woop.

OK, I should point out that on Feb. 12 of this year UNLV was ranked in the Top 25.

But then I also should point out that on May 10 UNLV was ranked last in the Mountain West Conference, which isn't exactly The King and His Court when it comes to fast-pitch softball. The school's Web site said the Rebels finished sixth in the MWC this year. It did not say out of six teams.

UNLV went 6-27 over its final 33 games to wind up 25-40-1.

On second thought, maybe Willie Randolph didn't do so such a bad job with the Mets after all.

"When you have good coaches, sometimes it's hard to keep them," Hamrick said.

Maybe Alameda is a good coach but her career record of 157-158-1 wasn't all that hot. Her Rebels made it to the NCAA postseason once in five years.

Conversely, the coach she succeeded, Shan McDonald, had a career record of 511-469-2 and guided the Rebels to seven consecutive NCAA tournament berths and three berths in the Women's College World Series before her teams started losing a few more than they won.

Funny I don't remember anybody calling her a good coach when she was run off.

----- First, female racing divas Danica Patrick and Milka Duno get into a bilingual name-calling, towel-throwing match in the pit lane; then, women's basketball players from Detroit and Los Angeles turn the last five seconds of a WNBA game into one of those chicks-in-prison flicks they show late on night on Cinemax. If this keeps up, a lot of guys I know are going to start taking women's sports a lot more seriously.

----- The next time Afghan militants start giving our guys a hard time I think we should call Rick Mahorn to make peace. Or at least pull some commandos off the pile.

----- I spent today running around town watching high school boys play summertime basketball. From what I can tell, the only shoe company that doesn't have a tournament this year is PF Flyers.

THEN:

When I was 11 or 12, I remember going into the junk drawer where my mom kept these terrycloth things that I think you were supposed to wrap around glasses to keep them from "sweating." My brother and I thought they made really cool wristbands for Wiffle Ball.

Mom, as I recall, didn't agree.