UNLV Associate Head Coach Stacey Augmon barks orders from the bench versus San Diego State during their game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, January 30, 2016.
Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2021 | 2:07 p.m.
When the UNLV basketball coaching position was open in 2016, many supporters were vocal in advocating for program legend Stacey Augmon to get the job.
Behind the scenes, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid was doing the same, penning a letter to university officials advocating for Augmon, wrote Leslye Augmon in a Twitter post today.
The native Nevadan Reid, who represented Nevada in Congress for more than three decades, died Tuesday at age 82.
“An amazing supporter of my husband,” Leslye Augmon posted. “Reached out to us after the UNLV coaching change in 2016. He wrote a letter in support of him for the head coaching position. He was a #RunninRebel fans and a good man.”
After helping lead UNLV to the 1990 national championship and 1991 Final Four, “Plastic Man” Augmon enjoyed a 15-year NBA career. He became an NBA assistant in 2007 following his retirement and returned to UNLV as part of Dave Rice’s staff in 2011.
But when Rice was fired in 2016, Augmon was passed over. First, UNLV hired Chris Beard, who left after a few days for Texas Tech. Then, UNLV settled on Marvin Menzies, who in 2019 was fired after three seasons.
Augmon most recently was the head coach for Jeonju KCC Egis of the Korean Basketball League in 2019.
