Columnist Dean Juipe: Ex-coach was wrong about UNLV

Dean Juipe

Monday, Dec. 18, 2000 | 10:10 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 words were uttered by no less an authority than Bill Bayno, then the head coach of the UNLV men's basketball team.

On the very day he was fired, although a few hours prior to being figuratively tarred and feathered, Bayno took a hatchet to his team by indirectly lamenting its lack of prep all-Americans and high-school sensations. The unsolicited verbal salvo was all but dripping with venom, Bayno implying that UNLV could no longer attract the type of extremely talented player that it once did.

"It speaks to how hard it is to recruit here," was his poignant remark, delivered, in essence, as a partial explanation for the Rebels' mediocre play this season.

Whether Bayno was rationalizing or musing, his message had this underlying summation: "I'm doing the best I can under adverse conditions."

Well, he did have five years to study the subject, so maybe Bayno is right. Maybe UNLV isn't only past its prime as a basketball powerhouse, maybe even an encore is out of the question.

And maybe, as many of us believe, Bayno couldn't be more wrong.

The Rebels will always have enough quality players on hand to defeat an opponent such as the one they play tonight, Alaska-Anchorage, yet what this city demands is the type of sufficiently talented team that can hang with an opponent such as Cincinnati, which beat the Rebels by 18 points Saturday night.

Here's a blanket generalization but one most of you reading this are apt to agree with: UNLV has everything it takes to return to the basketball penthouse.

It has tradition.

It has name recognition.

It has a beautiful facility.

What it hasn't had in several years is a coach who not only sets his sights on the finest recruits, but one who has the confidence in himself to get them here.

Ten years ago UNLV's image was revered by inner-city sleuths and farm boys alike. The Rebels were tough and relentless, a bit sinister, and they played with a swashbuckling charm that led to UNLV sweatshirts being sold by the truckload in places like New York City.

It was hip to like the Rebels and they were a very popular attraction both live and on national TV. That they played in and represented Las Vegas only added to their mystique.

Bayno might disagree, but that type of appeal is still there to be capitalized on today. It has just been dormant for a few years.

A sales pitch to an elite recruit should focus on the excitement of playing in Las Vegas; on the graciousness and fervor of UNLV's fans when their favorite team is flying high; on the long-term benefits of being a celebrity in a community that never forgets its heroes; and on rejuvenating a basketball program that was once the envy of many a competitor's eye.

Forget this stuff about UNLV's "outlaw" or "rogue" image working against it, or even the NCAA's knack for uncovering missteps and discrepancies. Youth being rebellious by nature, these are hardly deterrents.

As opposed to what Bayno said, this should be among the easiest places in the world to recruit a great male athlete.

After all, a quirky bald guy who chews a towel did it for years. Someone else can, too.