Hagen leaving the Rebels

Steve Carp

Thursday, Feb. 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Jeff Horton lost a good friend and his offensive coordinator Wednesday, but he may be regaining an old friend and coach in the process.

Steve Hagen, who has been in charge of UNLV's offense and has coached the Rebels' quarterbacks the last two seasons, resigned to become the head coach at Wartburg College, a Division III school in Waverly, Iowa. His replacement may be former Rebel assistant Brian White, who is currently coaching the defensive backs at Wisconsin.

Horton confirmed he had talked to White but nothing had been decided by Wednesday night. White's wife, Sally, runs a successful photography business in Las Vegas and White would be looking at a career promotion as well as a salary increase along with rejoining his wife.

Horton is also said to be considering former California assistant Tim Lappano and Charlie Stubbs, who is currently at Tennessee-Martin but had worked at Oregon State with UNLV assistant head coach Mark Weber.

"We're going to move quickly on this," Horton said. "It's tough losing Steve because he's been with me for so long and we know each other so well. But I think it speaks well of our program that so many people thought highly of Steve that they wanted him to coach for them."

It is Hagen's first head coaching job and he turned down a similar position earlier in the week at his alma mater, Cal Lutheran. Hagen also passed on the offensive coordinator's job at Baylor. Last year, he declined the offensive coordinator's post at Syracuse.

"The iron was pretty hot for a while," Hagen said. "But I've always wanted to be a head coach and this is a good opportunity. The program's in real good shape -- they were 11-2 last year and their defense only allowed eight points a game, so I don't think I'm going to mess around with that."

Hagen said he felt the time was right to move on, even though he admitted it was tough leaving UNLV as it prepared to compete this fall in the Western Athletic Conference.

"I feel I'm ready, but you don't know until you do it," he said. "But I'm leaving knowing the program is headed in the right direction under Jeff and the future is bright. If everyone will be patient and stay supportive, he'll get it done."