UNLV baseball coach Dallimore quits

Tim Graham

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

He is the only man to ever become synonymous with UNLV baseball. In fact, it was he who almost single-handedly built the program.

On Monday, however, the Fred Dallimore era came to an end.

After 23 seasons as UNLV's head baseball coach, Dallimore ended months of speculation by announcing his retirement.

"The timing was right," said Dallimore, who turns 52 next month.

As a tenured member of UNLV's physical education and human performance department, he was not under contract. An athletic department buyout was rumored to be on the table, but Dallimore insists retiring was his decision.

"I'm retiring on my own terms," said Dallimore, who will receive full retirement benefits. He looks forward to the possibility of next coaching in the minor leagues. "I wasn't forced out or asked to leave. It was a mutual agreement by both parties."

Dallimore's 794 career victories rank 31st on the NCAA's all-time baseball coaching list. He guided seven Rebel squads to NCAA postseason tournaments, including last spring's Big West Conference tournament championship. He has sent nearly 100 Rebels to the professional ranks.

"It's hard to imagine Rebel baseball without him," said assistant coach Jim Pace, who also played for Dallimore from 1982-85. "He is Rebel baseball. Everything you see -- the field, the scoreboard, the lights -- he built those things. It's hard to imagine the season going on without him."

But Pace and the rest of UNLV's coaching staff, including 12-year assistant Rod Soesbe, who will be named Dallimore's successor today, saw the writing on the wall.

"It's a build-up," said Dallimore, who started at UNLV as an assistant in 1969. "My first 21 years flew by and were fun. My last three years were a struggle. There was deficit spending, budget cuts, staff cuts, gender equity. I'm just tired of it."

Last November, Dallimore was told by UNLV's athletic department that more than $24,000 in donor funds earmarked for his program would be taken away to help balance the department's $800,000 deficit.

"This used to be a great place to work," Dallimore was quoted as saying at the time. "You'd get up in the morning and your pants would literally float on you. Now, it's a struggle to lift your leg to get your pants on.

"The clowns are running the circus. There's turmoil within the athletic department constantly because of personal agendas of the people that come in to run the damn department."

He threatened to quit immediately, but decided to stay for the program's sake. Thinking back, however, he still gets upset.

"Everything I got I earned," Dallimore said Monday, noting he annually raised twice as much money as UNLV granted. His total budget was $286,000.

"The university never gave me anything. Everything we got we went out and did it ourselves. (Taking donor money) was the straw that broke the camel's back."

Dallimore's displeasure with gender equity also is well documented. His program used to operate on 25 scholarships. Last year, however, his 24 players shared 11.7 scholarships, while women's athletic scholarships were increased.

"Gender equity is the cause of the demise of college athletics," he said. "It was meant to make things equal. It wasn't intended to restrict the number of baseball participants to include more female athletics. They've gone backward and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

"I'm sick of everything being taken from the men automatically given to (women's athletics). That's not the American way."

Still, Dallimore looks back on his UNLV career with pride.

"I'm not bitter," he said. "I had a run at it for 27 years. That program's in good shape. If all the other programs were in that good of shape (UNLV) wouldn't have anything to worry about.

"It was a nothing program when I got it. They had done nothing with it. They had never gone to the playoffs, they had never won a conference.

"If I had to do it all over again, I'd do it the same way," Dallimore said. "I hope I was a guy that made a difference. I worked hard. I took a lot of pride at what I did."

ote "The clowns are running the circus. There's turmoil within the athletic department constantly because of personal agendas of the people that come in to run the damn department." Fred Dallimore