Rice, Augmon look to recapture UNLV’s glory days — without the baggage

New York Times News Service

Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 | 4:01 p.m.

Editor's note: Led by first-year coach Dave Rice, a reserve on the 1990 national championship team, the UNLV basketball team is ranked No. 12 nationally and the talk of the Las Vegas Valley. The Rebels (18-3 overall) are getting plenty of national exposure, too. Here’s a sample:

The scene was eerily familiar: a UNLV basketball practice, and here was Stacey Augmon, posting up and playing defense, and there was Dave Rice, watching.

Two decades ago, Augmon was a mainstay of one of the most explosive teams in college basketball, UNLV’s 1990 national champion team; Rice was a little-used reserve. On game day Rice sat between assistants on the Rebels’ bench and watched. His playing time was limited to a few minutes at the end of blowouts.

Today, Rice is UNLV’s first-year coach; Augmon is in his first year as an assistant. Their joint mission is to continue restoring Runnin’ Rebels basketball to its past glory.

Without the baggage.

With Jerry Tarkanian as the coach, the Rebels became the most polarizing team in college basketball and the hottest ticket in Las Vegas. UNLV won the 1990 national title with a core of juniors: Augmon, Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony. UNLV was undefeated the following season before losing to Duke in the Final Four.

This season UNLV is 18-3. An 80-63 thrashing of New Mexico on Saturday night sent a message that the fast-paced, full-court-pressure style that distinguished the Rebels’ championship teams is on the way back.

“I’ve always felt fortunate as a player and a coach to be part of college athletics and to be able to feel like I can make a difference with young people,” Rice said last week. “To be able to do that at my alma mater is a very special feeling.”

Tarkanian’s UNLV teams represented the best and the worst of big-time college basketball. At its best, UNLV was a collection of talented players who used ferocious pressure defense to create transition offense. With Augmon, Johnson, Anthony and Anderson Hunt, UNLV adopted a selfless approach that culminated with a record-setting 30-point victory over Duke in the 1990 championship game.

At its worst, UNLV — more specifically, Tarkanian — became embroiled in a war with the NCAA in which reputations of players, and Tarkanian, became collateral damage.

UNLV under Tarkanian became known as a program that offered second and third chances to talented players. Most panned out, but there were enough high-profile mishaps to cast aspersions on Tarkanian’s motives.

“There were some disappointments, but the majority of guys who came here really capitalized on the opportunity,” Augmon said. “Not just in basketball but in life. I hope we continue to be a place where guys can get a second chance.”

Rice spent 11 years as a UNLV assistant but was not retained when Lon Kruger was hired in 2004. He spent one season at Utah State, then six at Brigham Young, where he coached Jimmer Fredette in a high-scoring offense that was antithetic to the pressure defensive style he would use at UNLV.

After Tarkanian’s forced retirement in 1992, UNLV faltered under a succession of coaches. Kruger, employing a slow-down style, led UNLV to the NCAA tournament in four of his last five seasons.

When Kruger left for Oklahoma after last season, Rice, a former Rhodes Scholar candidate, was a unanimous choice as his replacement. His priority was to let former UNLV players know they were welcome back. The best way to do that was to get a former Rebel on the staff.

“In my mind Stacey Augmon is Mr. Rebel,” Rice said. “You take a look at what he achieved on the court and as a teammate. Everyone knew he was a great player, but he was so committed to winning. He was so committed to team, and that was one of the things that kind of got lost in the fact that he was such a great player.

“He did all of the intangibles: he guarded the other team’s best player, made all the big plays, made the extra play, he just made everything OK. To me, he was the perfect guy, if we could get him.”

One problem: Augmon wanted nothing to do with UNLV because of the way Tarkanian had been treated.

After UNLV won the championship Augmon, Johnson and Anthony announced they were coming back as seniors, but “the NCAA said we would be ineligible to defend our title,” Augmon said. When Tarkanian volunteered not to coach so the players could pursue another title, Augmon was the first to say that if Tarkanian did not coach, he would not play.

After Tarkanian left UNLV, Augmon stayed away. “The only person I kept in contact with was Dave,” Augmon said. “I know that the institution is larger than one person, but it was emotional at the time, and I was right there in the middle of it.”

Rice eventually prevailed. He convinced Augmon it was time to come back.

“That sent a strong message to everyone that we have a chance to do a good job here because Stacey has basically given his blessing, not only given his blessing but he’s back,” Rice said. “He loves the day-to-day interaction with players. I think that it also means a lot to him to be able to put that UNLV back on again.”

The time was right for Augmon.

Augmon, 43, was an assistant on George Karl’s Denver Nuggets bench for three seasons. That, coupled with 15 NBA seasons as a player, was too much time away from his five children, the oldest of whom is 17.

“The oldest was beginning to act out a little and I needed to be there,” Augmon said. He also relished the idea of coming back and putting the bitter taste of Tarkanian’s departure behind him.

Tarkanian, 81, is now a welcome presence and even writes a column in the Las Vegas Sun in which he praises the team and takes an occasional swipe at the NCAA.

“Me and Dave talk with Coach all the time,” Augmon said. “We just sit down and pick his brain.”

What’s fascinating is to observe Augmon’s interaction with the players and their reaction to him. Many were not even born when UNLV won the championship, but they are familiar with Runnin’ Rebels lore. Most important, they know he survived 15 seasons in the NBA — about three times the average playing career.

“In college they listen and they do what you tell them to do,” Augmon said. “You tell them, ‘You go here, you go there, you do this,’ and if they don’t, you sit them on the bench.

“In the NBA you tell Carmelo Anthony to go here or Chauncey Billups to go there — there’s nothing you can do.”

After a recent practice Augmon was making a point when he looked around and the players were hanging on every word.

“It was a little weird at first, but I enjoy the communication,” he said. “I think they respect the fact that where I’ve been is where some of them want to go. I can give them the benefit of my experiences, and I really enjoy working with them.”

The challenge for Rice and his staff as they begin a new era of UNLV basketball is to build out from under Tarkanian’s shadow.

Rice wants his team to run like Tark’s teams, wants it to defend like Tark’s teams, wants to be a unifying force like those teams were before Tarkanian’s battles with the NCAA became all consuming.

“I remember the championship parade my junior year,” Rice said. “It was overwhelming, looking at thousands of people cheering. They weren’t just fans; the entire community rallied around Runnin’ Rebels basketball. That’s what we want to try recapture. I think that people want that feeling again. That’s what we want to build.”

Without the baggage.