Columnist Ron Kantowski: It’s tough to choose sides at UNLV

Friday, Dec. 15, 2000 | 9:51 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column usually appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com.

If the UNLV basketball melodrama were ever turned into a screenplay, the cast of characters would be limited to George Steinbrenner, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Don King, Kathie Lee Gifford and actor Rutger Hauer, who is always blowing something up in the movies.

There's not a sympathetic character among the bunch.

If there's anyone on Maryland Parkway who has suffered unjustly as a result of Bill Bayno's firing, it's the UNLV football team. John Robinson's overachieving Rebels are just six days out from lining up for what arguably is the biggest game in school history -- a nationally televised Las Vegas Bowl date with Arkansas. Yet the football team has been shoved out of the spotlight because the guys in short pants can't play by the rules.

That's too bad. On both counts.

But who do you side with in this latest mess? Well, let's run down the roster, starting at the top.

CAROL HARTER: With friends like the UNLV president, you'll need a surgeon -- to pull the dagger out of your back. Harter had been standing by Bayno -- heck, she even slaps palms with him in the Rebels' pregame huddle -- throughout the two-year investigation of his program. Then the NCAA turns up the heat in Bayno's kitchen by slapping a one-year postseason ban on his team and Harter freaks out and fires him.

Et tu, Dr. Carol?

CHARLIE CAVAGNARO: There was a major development at Tuesday's news conference that went virtually unnoticed: The UNLV athletic director addressed the media, and you could barely see Dr. Harter's lips move.

I believe the best ADs are neither seen nor heard, which, with the exception of posing for photos at halftime, describes Cavagnaro. But the best ADs also take responsibility when something goes awry under their watch. If Cavagnaro were a jockey, he'd be assigned to Buckpasser. What Harter and Cavagnaro should have done is wait until the end of the season, then consider the NCAA sanctions in the context of the overall state of the basketball program. Then they could have fired Bayno for all the normal reasons.

BILL BAYNO: Take away his decent winning percentage compiled at the expense of Air Force and other cupcakes and there's not much proof that Bayno can coach. Worse, he surrounded himself with assistants who always seem to be just one step ahead (or behind) the NCAA gumshoes. And as much as he tried to be buddies with his players, many left here bad-mouthing him.

But it's not all Bayno's fault. He might have asked for the job, but UNLV didn't have to give it to him.

THE UNLV PLAYERS: The talk shows and chat rooms are buzzing about how "the kids" -- the Rebel players -- are victims. Give me a break.

If this team wasn't so self-absorbed and statistically obsessed, it might be 6-1 instead of 3-4 and the administration would still be making excuses for -- er, defending -- Bayno. I haven't seen anybody in a UNLV uniform give up the ball since Mark Dickel received his cap and gown. Everybody's whining that the Rebels don't have anything to play for, now that the NCAA Tournament carrot no longer dangles before them. As if they were going to make it in the first place.

Forget the NCAA and the NIT. The way this team played at Nevada-Reno, it couldn't qualify for the Holiday Prep Classic.