Columnist Steve Carp: Last stop for Rollie’s gravy train

Steve Carp

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 10:01 a.m.

Steve Carp is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. Reach him at carp@lasvegassun.com or 259-4087.

One of the most sordid chapters in the history of UNLV's basketball program -- and there have been several over the years -- comes to an end today.

In the wake of all the consternation currently surrounding Bill Bayno's team, you may have forgotten that his predecessor, Rollie Massimino, was still on the school payroll, making roughly $1,000 a day since stepping down Oct. 14, 1994.

Today, the gravy train grinds to a final stop. The last of those monthly $30,000 payments will be made to His Rolliness, who currently resides in Cleveland and was extended four more years at Cleveland State despite a 35-48 record the past three years.

Amazing how much mileage you can get out of one national championship.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, who was UNLV's interim president back in '94, brokered a deal to get Rollie out of town. At the time, the $1.9 million buyout of Massimino's contract was controversial. But Guinn really had no choice. The Thomas & Mack Center was virtually empty. The team underachieved, posting a 36-21 record during Rollie's two seasons. There was fallout from the academic scandal involving J.R. Rider from the year before and Massimino had alienated virtually the entire city with his arrogance.

And don't forget the "secret" contract Massimino had worked out with former school president Dr. Bob Maxson and ex-athletic director Jim Weaver, which hiked his reported salary with discretionary funds.

While it was quite a financial bullet for UNLV to bite, Guinn did the right thing. There's no way the program would have survived had Massimino stayed through the life of his contract.

You may or may not think much of the job that Bayno, the man Guinn hired to replace Massimino, has done. But think what UNLV basketball would be like in a Rollie Massimino world.

What's sad is it didn't have to be that way. Jerry Tarkanian had left Rollie with some pretty good players -- Rider, Evric Gray, Dexter Boney, Dedan Thomas and H Waldman among others. UNLV still was competing in the Big West, a league it had dominated since joining in the mid-1980s. Some basic maintenance and a little humility would have kept the status quo intact.

But no. Massimino had to put his personal stamp on things. He couldn't accept a caretaker's role. He was going to do things the Rollie Massimino way, the way he did them at Villanova, where he caught lightning in a bottle in 1985 and beat Georgetown to win the national championship.

Unfortunately, Rollie never got it into his head that Las Vegas wasn't Philadelphia and UNLV wasn't Villanova. He did everything a man could do to alienate a community. He stiffed service clubs that were willing to listen to him talk. He had a constant adversarial relationship with those who covered his team. Instead of embracing Tark, he tried to put the accomplishments of the program in his rear-view mirror.

That may work when you're winning national titles. But it doesn't fly when you're going 15-13 in the Big West.

Instead of gracefully stepping aside and admitting the courtship with UNLV had been a big mistake, Massimino held a gun to the school's head, threatening to take it to court.

But that all comes to an end today. The time has come to say a final farewell to Massimino. That $1.9 million bought a lot of pasta. Hope he enjoyed it, though it wouldn't cause alarm if he choked on it.