Rebels’ coach Soesbe suspended for week

Tim Graham

Monday, March 29, 1999 | 9:57 a.m.

UNLV on Sunday suspended baseball head coach Rod Soesbe for one week after a confrontation with two of his players. The incident occurred in the wee hours Tuesday morning outside Soesbe's motel room in College Station, Texas, where the Rebels were playing in the Aggie Continental Express Classic.

The Rebels lost the championship game to Texas A&M on March 22. With three days off before visiting Rice in Houston, Soesbe allowed his team a rare night without curfew.

The players, whom the university refused to identify, woke Soesbe from his sleep at around 3 a.m. According to the coach, the players were "just getting in" at the Manor House motel.

"In their defense," Soesbe said, "I didn't set a curfew. Ninety-eight percent of the time we set a curfew, but we were in College Station, where there's not much to do, and some of the guys knew players on the other teams."

Soesbe, 52, left his room and approached the players. He made physical contact in trying to assess if they had consumed alcohol.

"I didn't push or shove or hit anybody or anything like that," Soesbe said. "I just wanted to make sure they weren't drinking because there's no drinking on the road or else we send you home.

"I grabbed one kid by the collar and lifted his chin up with my finger and told him to blow in my face. He did, and he hadn't been drinking.

"It was nothing violent or anything like that. I just got in their face a little bit."

Soesbe said one of the players notified his father of the incident, and the father then contacted UNLV.

"Coach Soesbe has exhibited tremendous care and concern for student athletes in his 15 years as a coach at UNLV," athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro said in a Sunday press release. "However, he realizes that his recent actions were unacceptable."

Soesbe, who took over the program in 1997, will miss the Rebels' trip to Hawaii. They play Hawaii-Pacific on Tuesday and start a three-game series with Hawaii on Thursday. Assistant coach Jim Pace will be the acting coach in Soesbe's stead.

Soesbe met with his team after Sunday's 16-5 loss at Rice. He returned to Las Vegas today.

"I told the kids the situation and the decision of the administration," Soesbe said. "I agree with the administration's stance. There's no hard feelings on my end at all.

"They're a good bunch of kids, it's just one of those instances. Hopefully, we can go on from there."

UNLV is 15-20 but playing its best baseball of the season. In the past 10 days it defeated No. 6 Texas A&M in the first round of the Aggie Classic and No. 3 Rice, formerly ranked first in the nation, on Saturday.