USC boosters could lend hand in Las Vegas

Friday, Dec. 4, 1998 | 10:35 a.m.

John Robinson took a gamble by taking over the reins of UNLV's football program, but the move is already paying off for the university.

People close to the program said Thursday that there already was an unprecedented interest in UNLV football -- even before the ink had dried on Robinson's three-year contract.

"We have already started getting calls from some people saying, 'I want to be involved, what can I do to help?' from people who haven't been involved before," said Jim Bolla, UNLV's director of athletic development.

There may be another previously untapped source of revenue available to the UNLV football program as a result of Robinson's hiring, Bolla said.

"There is a large group of USC boosters and donors in this town and I would think that a lot of them are coach Robinson fans," Bolla said. "They still have their loyalties to SC but they have a relationship with him and I think it's a new opportunity for us as an athletic department and a university to take that next step."

Bob Rather, president of the UNLV Football Foundation, also said he has noticed a marked improvement among his ranks -- although it had nothing to do with money.

"I was just asked -- I've been around UNLV football for 25 years -- when was the last time you saw this much excitement around UNLV football and I said, 'never,'" Rather said. "We had good teams a long time ago but it has been a long dry spell and I just can't tell you how excited I am and how excited the people are who have contacted me over the last couple of days.

"For us, the turnaround in emotions from just a month ago, coming off that last loss, to today is monumental. After going 0-11, everyone I knew was either down in the dumps or apathetic about UNLV football. Now, the turnaround is a little overwhelming."

UNLV football booster and donor Mel Wolzinger, a member of the search committee, agreed.

"It's just great," Wolzinger said of Robinson's hiring. "It's a wonderful thing for the university, the town and the team. He has the personality to do (a good job) and I think people will gravitate toward him.

"He has so much energy about making this work and we (on the search committee) were impressed."

It will be the job of those with the foundation, Rather said, to capitalize on the current feel-good attitude surrounding the football program.

"We need to transfer this enthusiasm to the community and get people who, in the past, haven't been excited about UNLV football, we need them to get on board now," Rather said.

"We need them to buy tickets and come to games and we need them to be excited about UNLV football. Everybody needs to buy into the vision of where we want to be."

That may already be happening. During his press conference Thursday, Robinson related a story about meeting a retired New York policeman Wednesday at McCarran Airport.

"He said, 'Hey, are you gonna take this job?'" Robinson said. "I said, 'Well, if I do, are you going to go to the games?' and he said, 'Are you going to win?' And I said, 'You're damn right we are.' And he said, 'OK, I'll go to the games.'

"I should have had a season ticket application and just thrown it at him and said, 'Let's do this now.' That's how we've got to be and there isn't going to be room for people who don't want to have a fanatical belief. We want people who want to enjoy the adventure of trying to do something great, now."

Rather said he believes that Robinson is the one coach who can drum up interest in UNLV football without first establishing a winner on the field.

"Las Vegas has always been a 'show-me' town -- you show me and I'll come," he said. "In this particular case, I think the hiring of John Robinson is the catalyst and now we as a town have to get behind him and help him do his job.

"I can't imagine who else that you would have brought in here that has the background and the ability and the record of John Robinson. That in itself creates excitement."