No talk of retirement from longtime coach

Tim Graham

Tuesday, May 14, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

It might be a perfect time for Fred Dallimore to contemplate it, but the longtime UNLV baseball coach isn't about to let retirement talk distract his team.

"I'm not gonna com ment on that," Dallimore said Monday, one day after his Rebels beat Long Beach State 11-2 to win the Big West Conference tournament.

Not only was it the first title Dallimore had claimed in his 23 seasons as head coach, but it also was UNLV's first baseball title of any kind, gave it an automatic bid to an NCAA regional and placed it among the top 20 teams in the nation, according to all three collegiate polls.

But Dallimore has grown increasingly displeased with the administration's lack of support. He reportedly had not received a congratulatory phone call from athletic director Charles Cavagnaro or assistant AD Lisa Kelleher as of late Monday.

And as most coaches like to go out on top, the general perception within the UNLV athletic department, especially among Dallimore's closest friends, is that this year will be his last.

"We'll handle this at the appropriate time, when it's best for the program," Dallimore said. "We'll make a proper announcement. It won't be today. It won't be tomorrow. It won't be a couple months down the road.

"Right now, (discussing retirement) would be an injustice to this team. Things of that magnitude have an effect on the team. Right now, we have to focus, concentrate on this year's team to give them every chance to be successful and reach the goals they've set forth."

The Rebels, 43-15, will play in their seventh NCAA regional May 23-26 at a site to be announced Monday.

That's why Dallimore won't talk about anything other than preparing his team to reach its next objective.

Winning the Big West tournament "was the accomplishment of one goal in a four-goal setting," he said. "The first was to win the conference (regular-season) title, but a few bad calls kept us one game short. We honestly felt we were champions.

"Winning that tournament was the No. 2 goal. No. 3 was to make the regional playoffs and by winning this weekend we did that, too. The fourth goal is still out there for us. We want to go to the (NCAA) World Series and win it. Those things are highly possible with this team."

Dallimore rates this year's squad as the second best he has coached. The only one better in his eyes was the 1980 squad, which won a school-record 53 games against 13 losses and a tie. That entire squad was inducted into the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame.

"Our 1980 team was real complete. That was probably the best team ever in school history," he said. "We just messed it up one game from the College World Series. (California) beat us twice on the final day to go to the World Series. We beat them three times in the regular season, twice at their place and again in the first game of the World Series."

This year's team, however, is better in some aspects.

"In terms of camaraderie, closeness and emotion, they're second to no team I've ever had," Dallimore said.

"It was rewarding for me as a coach to watch them (after beating Long Beach to win the tournament). I was more than happy to see the love and respect these young men had for each other as teammates. That was more rewarding than the victory itself."

It is that emotion that Dallimore refuses to spoil with any distraction or trivial matter such as where the Rebels will play and whom.

"We don't care. We'll go anywhere in the world," Dallimore said. "If they send us to play in Mars, we'll play there."

They probably don't talk about retirement up there.