Columnist Dean Juipe: Robinson digs into food issue

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 10:14 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.

Purely from the perspective of wins and losses, it can be said UNLV's athletic programs peaked about a decade ago.

Yet the school has steadily added to its athletic amenities in recent years and it continues to do so, bringing them up to par and hoping, if nothing else, for a second era of widespread success.

Along those lines, not only Sam Boyd Stadium but the football practice field has been given a face lift and light poles will be pulled into place today. The Rebels, like many of their competitors, will now be able to practice at night.

But they won't be able to eat, at least at the school's expense, unless it's a Tuesday or Wednesday night.

"Before I leave here, we'll solve that problem," head coach John Robinson said Tuesday. "We're a long way from being able to do it financially, but some day we will. It'll get done."

UNLV -- and its Mountain West mates -- is behind the curve when it comes to feeding its athletes. When the Pac-10 Conference voted last week to institute year-round "training tables" for its athletes, it made a commitment that puts it on equal footing with every other "major" conference. Now every Pac-10 athlete is entitled to one meal per day at his or her school's expense.

But UNLV athletes aren't so lucky, and that has to put its programs at a competitive disadvantage.

Robinson's team, for instance, eats free only two nights a week.

"We're trying to work something out with the hotel school, where they'd supply caterers and give their people some practical experience," he said. "I think that could happen."

Is this a minor issue, or is it something UNLV should seriously address?

"Oh, it's big," Robinson said. "The Pac-10 finally woke up and got in step with the rest of the major conferences. When I was in that league, (UCLA coach) Terry Donohue and I tried to get the league to do it but we were shot down.

"But eventually the people in the league realized it was something they needed to do to compete."

Robinson feels every athlete on campus runs the risk of being nutritionally deficient.

"You wouldn't believe how bad some of these athletes eat," he said. "The college athlete is poorly fed."

Robinson has been a lightning rod for positive change at the university and he's promising to do something about the training-table issue.

"I need to be able to say we're going first class in everything we do," he said. "This year we're flying on National Airlines, which is a big step up from where we were. We're improving our training facilities, and that affects your self-image too.

"But one of my big jobs is to get this program on a footing where it does everything first class. I need to see this changed so that whoever comes after me will not have to address it."

He laughs as he says "a few more wins on the field" would help, as it may take an outside contributor to eliminate the problem.

"Tell the people that if there's someone out there who wants to give us the $3 million we need for it, we'll name a building after them," he said, and he wasn't kidding.