Many coaching prospects for Lady Rebels

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Feb. 26, 1998 | 11:44 a.m.

It was a subtlety that may have escaped the players' attention.

But there at one game were no less than four individuals interested in filling the head coaching vacancy with the UNLV Lady Rebels. And a fifth was keeping tabs, albeit from a distance.

Athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro declined to comment on the applicants for the position, yet that didn't matter as each of the key figures was willing to speak for themselves.

"I haven't applied -- yet," said Hawaii head coach Vince Goo, accentuating the "yet" portion of his response after his Rainbow Wahine defeated the Lady Rebels 87-70 Thursday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. "Right now I'm saying 'no' to your question because I haven't applied."

That doesn't mean he isn't interested.

Definitely interested and already having applied for the position are Goo's longtime assistant, George Wolfe; former UNLV men's and women's assistant coach Howie Landa; current Lady Rebels interim head coach Steve Corraro; and UNLV's all-time leading scorer, Misty Thomas.

Former Lady Rebels coach Jim Bolla, who once hinted at being interested in returning to a job he quit two years ago, was also at the game but said he would not apply for the vacancy that was created when LaDonna McClain stepped down Feb. 2.

Whether indifferent or in the dark, players from both teams refrained from preening despite the fact each side may be facing a coaching change and so many potential coaches were in the audience.

Goo has the top credentials yet he may be using the UNLV opening as leverage to have his Hawaii contract rewritten. He's currently in the second year of a three-year deal that he finds financially unsatisfactory.

"I'm 12th out of 16 coaches in the league in salary," he said. "I'm waiting for my administration to get back to me about a new contract."

If Hawaii declines, Goo may throw his hat in the ring and he would be a formidable candidate. Now in his 11th season with the Rainbow Wahine, he holds a career record of 224-95 and six of his last seven teams have won at least 20 games.

His current team is 24-2, won the Western Athletic Conference's Pacific Division championship and is ranked No. 18 by USA Today and No. 19 by the Associated Press. Goo also has a 100 percent graduation rate and this year will take his fifth team to the NCAA Tournament.

It's believed his current salary is just into the $70,000 range and the cost of living in Hawaii is 25 percent greater than on the mainland. UNLV may be offering its coach something around $80,000.

His top assistant, Wolfe, would definitely take it.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested," he said. "I've applied. It would be a great job; UNLV is very well respected and you can see the good athletes they have just by the way they played tonight.

"But I know it's a wide-open field and I'm not currently a head coach. But I've been coaching for 21 years and I hope to get a look."

Getting a look at the tail-end of the season was Corraro, who stepped in to replace McClain after she resigned. (McClain, incidentally, was also at Thursday's game.)

"Oh sure, I'm interested," Corraro said of the full-time position. "I had a great time coaching these last seven games. The way I look at it, I might be the last candidate because everyone has more experience than me, but I'd like to get the job."

The Lady Rebels, who finished their season 4-23 and with six straight losses, were 1-6 under Corraro but played well in the finale. Led by Liz Wolfe's 21 points and Toby Girard's spirited play, UNLV trailed by only four points at the half and forged a 47-45 lead with 14 minutes to play before a 12-0 run by the Rainbow Wahine determined the outcome.

Sitting across from the players' benches and making his own observations was the 65-year-old Landa.

"I'm really interested in the job and have already applied," he said. "I've coached women and I still feel I can coach and be a credit to the university."

Best known as an assistant with the men's program under Jerry Tarkanian, Landa has the advantage of being a Las Vegan and known in the community. He also maintains excellent connections in college basketball, running camps around the world and serving as a speaker for Nike the past nine years.

"If given the opportunity, I can get the job done," he said. "I think the boosters would be behind me and there aren't too many people who have bad things to say about me. I've got connections to good players and could have the Lady Rebels among the top three programs in the league in two years.

"I know so many people in basketball and I know what's needed here. I'm a teaching coach, and that's what they need.

"I'm just hoping to get a break."

Landa said he didn't feel his age worked against him -- "I still play tennis every day" -- and that his enthusiasm would be a plus.

"I hope they feel I'm highly ranked," he said. "I love the game and I'm interested in taking over this team."

So is Thomas, who, as a 5-11 guard with the Lady Rebels from 1982-86 became the program's all-time leading scorer with a 16.6 per-game average. She's also No. 1 in career assists.

"I'm extremely interested," she said by phone from her Vancouver home. "I've applied and expressed my interest to Mr. Cavagnaro. I'm hopeful I'll be considered because UNLV means a great deal to me. It has shown it can be one of the top programs in the country, and it can be again."

Like Landa, Thomas applied for the position in 1996 before it was awarded to McClain. Both remain miffed that they weren't given stronger consideration then, although each prefers to look ahead and hopes to be interviewed by the UNLV selection committee after it decides on finalists for the position in the next few weeks.

"I didn't get an interview back then," Thomas said, "but I think they only brought in three people.

"But that doesn't matter now. What I want to stress is Las Vegas is the community I want to live in and UNLV is where I want to coach. I don't want to go to Missouri or somewhere and help them; I want to help UNLV."

She was head coach at the University of British Colombia from 1989-95 and resurrected a program there that had gone 20 years without a winning season.

"They not only weren't accustomed to winning, they didn't even have enough basketballs," she said. "They had problems UNLV will never have, but in the first year we got in the top 10 in Canada."

Thomas stepped down to start a business that provides late-night recreation programs "for at-risk kids." She said the program currently has 400 youngsters and 27 coaches participating.

But her heart, it seems, is in Las Vegas.

"To see how the Lady Rebels have gone down is disappointing for alumni like myself," she said. "I've had other opportunities to get back into coaching but UNLV is the only job I've applied for. It's the only place I want to coach."