Columnist Dean Juipe: City’s image hurts UNLV recruiting

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, April 11, 2000 | 10:46 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The caller, a UNLV employee, was responding to a column on the school's softball team and its mediocre record the last few years.

"Don't forget," he said, "that a lot of families don't like sending their daughters away to Las Vegas. It's something that every coach on campus has to face, even Dwaine Knight."

The implication: While those of us who live here may not see the negatives, there are instances where the UNLV coaching staff loses recruits to other schools simply because of Las Vegas' image and perceived bad habits.

Asked about being painted with that broad brush, Knight, the coach of the university's most successful sports program, didn't hesitate to agree.

"It has always been a tough sell," Knight said Monday, reflecting on his 13 years with the UNLV golf team. "I've sat in the living rooms of some of the most successful people in the country and there's always a hesitation about the school and city. People wonder about the quality of education and the lifestyle experiences of Las Vegas, and there's no question that makes it a challenge when it comes to recruiting."

While admitting he has lost recruits for no greater reason than Las Vegas' penchant for an extravagant -- and sometimes rowdy -- way of life, Knight is able to offset the negatives with a host of positives. But he may be the exception among UNLV coaches.

"We have unparalleled community support here," he said, referring to what seems to be unlimited access to the area's golf courses and, not to be understated, to people with money in positions of authority. "We have a highly visible program and the depth of our support may be unmatched in the country."

Nonetheless he knows what he's up against.

"I do a lot of public speaking and sometimes I'll ask 'Ideally, where would you send your son or daughter for college?' and the people will say Stanford, or Duke, or Texas, or something like that," Knight said. "It's an interesting thing because the people that live here have a lot of pride in Las Vegas, but it's not where they'd send their sons or daughters to go to school."

He feels if he can take the second step with a recruit -- as in, get them out of their living room and onto the campus for a visit -- it makes for an easier sell.

"Once they're here it's completely different," he said. "After they've seen the excitement of the city and maybe the type of people they can meet, things can change."

Knight's a great salesman and a superb coach, as proven by his team's continued success and its national championship in 1998. Yet that sparkling record doesn't guarantee anything, as shown by the Rebels' No. 9 ranking in the latest poll and by the fact they finished ninth (of 12 teams) over the weekend in the U.S. Collegiate Championships at Los Cabos, Mexico.

It was an event they had won a year earlier.

"I still expect us to compete for the national championship," he said. "I know I'm certainly not going to lower my standards."

But as he spoke he seemed rather insular in compared to UNLV's other head coaches, many of whom aren't winning the games and matches that they had in years past. For whatever solace this provides, maybe it's the city that's working against them.