Columnist Steve Carp: Rothermel was simply the best

HE WAS SIMPLY the best.

Nobody before or since has made an impact on UNLV athletics like Brad Rothermel did during his tenure as athletic director. From 1981-1990, the school flourished on the field and turned a $750,000 deficit into a $3.5 million surplus.

Rothermel never wanted to take a bow for the school's unparalleled success, preferring that coaches like Jerry Tarkanian and athletes like Armon Gilliam, Ickey Woods, Robbie Ryerson and Scott Warner get the credit.

As Rothermel stated time and again over the years, his job was to make sure the coaches and athletes in all UNLV sports were in a position to achieve success.

Rothermel may have been able to duck the spotlight before. But not tonight. He is being inducted into UNLV's Athletic Hall of Fame. Along with Tark, no one is more worthy of such an honor.

Tark may have put UNLV on the map, but he'll be the first to tell you that it wouldn't have been so easy had it not been for Rothermel's support. And while basketball was the school's flagship program, and still is today, Rothermel saw to it that the other 13 sports he oversaw were successful.

And let the record show he was right. Thirty-three championships in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association/Big West. Every sport had its moment of success. Even Rebel football made it to the 1984 California Bowl.

A former baseball player and coach, Rothermel felt it was his duty to give all of UNLV's teams -- not just the high-profile basketball team -- a chance to be successful. And while the overall program didn't win national titles in all 14 sports, which was Rothermel's ultimate goal, the Rebels dominated their league. That is something Rothermel remains proud of.

"I came to UNLV with a sense of what I thought I could do," he said. "We weren't able to bring the entire program to a national championship level, but the teams we played realized that to beat UNLV, you had to go gun to gun."

Rothermel stepped aside under difficult circumstances in 1990, shortly after Tark's Rebels won the national championship in Denver. He knew former president Bob Maxson was gunning for Tark and there was little he could do to stop it. He also knew he was going to be a casualty as well.

So he got out before they could get him. Yet, he will enjoy the evening and will accept the bouquets tossed his way with his usual grace and class.

"I'm pleased and proud," he said of his place in the school's athletic history book. "I'm sure there will be some excitement and it will be a bit melancholy.

"My dad always insisted on competing at your very best and I'd leave the Thomas & Mack Center feeling I had done my best every day."

Nobody did it better than Rothermel. Not before he arrived in 1981. Not since he departed in 1990. And while UNLV is a better place for having him there for 10 years, it's a poorer place for not continuing to apply his expertise to its day-to-day operations.

Fortunately for a select group of students, they do benefit from his wisdom in the classroom as he teaches athletic management courses. Maybe from that group another Brad Rothermel will emerge. It's doubtful, but we can always hope.

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