Commentary: UOP coach front-runner for UNLV job

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

UNLV WILL name its new women's basketball coach this week and among the three finalists brought to Las Vegas and interviewed for the job, there's reason to believe Melissa DeMarchi is the front-runner. Currently the head coach at the University of Pacific, DeMarchi was the only one of the three to attend a Friday night cocktail party for outgoing coach Jim Bolla.

Whether she gets the job or it goes to one of the other finalists, UNLV has passed on hiring the candidate with the best credentials, Marianne Stanley.

Nothing against DeMarchi or the other finalists, but Stanley was the one person who almost certainly would have elevated the Lady Rebels' program to among the nation's elite. Stanley, with 10 trips to the Final Four on her r'esum'e, has long been regarded as one of the finest women's basketball coaches in the country.

She's currently the interim coach at Stanford. And what's keeping her from getting a new full-time job is a still unresolved sexual-discrimination lawsuit she filed against one of her former employers, the University of Southern California.

"We did look at her," said UNLV assistant athletic director Lisa Kelleher, who headed the school's search committee. "She and I spoke and spoke very frankly. Quite frankly, we felt we didn't need the instability of hiring someone who might win this lawsuit and want her old job back (at USC)."

But Stanley isn't apt to return to USC under any conditions, due to her lack of seeing eye to eye with athletic director Mike Garrett. Nonetheless, UNLV shied away from her.

Rebels? UNLV no longer has a rebellious bone in its body.

Kelleher said there were about 40 serious applicants for the job, including "several" who took teams to this year's NCAA Tournament. The university narrowed the field by requiring four years of head-coaching experience at the Division I level, plus a proven and successful record with graduation rates and academics.

"We've got a chance to get a heck of a coach," athletic director Charles Cavagnaro said. "We had a very positive response. We'll get someone who's had a lot of experience in the trenches."

DeMarchi qualifies in that respect. A 1974 graduate of Kent State University, she has been the head coach at UOP for eight seasons and has an overall record of 122-113. The Lady Tigers were 11-7 in the Big West Conference this season and 18-12 overall. The last two seasons they reached the championship game of the conference tourney, although in each instance UOP lost.

While those qualifications pale in comparison to those of Stanley, this is the road UNLV has chosen to travel. DeMarchi or one of the other two finalists will be named head coach of the Lady Rebels this week before the women's Final Four begins in Charlotte on Friday. The idea is to name a coach ASAP, as UNLV has yet to do any recruiting and finished this past season with only seven healthy players.

The current UNLV assistant coaches are in limbo and the new coach will not be under any obligation to retain them.