Robinson not rejoicing in Hackett’s ouster

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2000 | 10:42 a.m.

John Robinson was beginning preparations Monday morning for the biggest game of his two-year UNLV head coaching career -- Saturday night's must-win contest at Hawaii -- when he heard the news.

Paul Hackett, the man who replaced him as head coach at USC three years earlier, had been fired.

It was hardly unexpected. After all, rumors of Hackett's firing had been reported in Southern California for several weeks.

But Robinson, who many USC fans thought got the short end of the stick because of his differences with the Trojans' volatile athletic director, Mike Garrett, wasn't laughing or dispensing "I told you so's" upon hearing the news.

In fact, the last man to coach USC to a national championship and a Rose Bowl victory seemed surprisingly solemn.

"I think it's kind of sad to see coaches bearing the brunt of a failed organization," Robinson said in obvious reference to Garrett and USC president Dr. Steven Sample. "USC's commitment to football has been mediocre for the last number of years. Their solution has been to just fire coaches and repeat the same commitment.

"It's like any business," Robinson continued. "You must look at the overall commitment and analyze that before you begin pointing fingers at individuals."

USC's next head coach is rumored to be Dennis Erickson, but the school is reportedly holding off making it official because it could hurt Oregon State's chances of gaining a BCS berth in the Fiesta Bowl, which may frown on bringing in the Beavers if they have a lame duck coach. And that would cost the Trojans and the rest of the Pac-10 schools more than $1 million in extra bowl revenue generated by an added $14 million Fiesta payday that would be evenly distributed among the Pac-10 schools if the Beavers are invited.

Regardless of who gets the job, it will mark the fifth head coaching change since just 1982 for the Trojans.

* LAS VEGAS BOWL WAITS: Las Vegas Bowl director Tina Kunzer-Murphy said the bowl has decided to wait until this weekend before inviting its Mountain West team as well as its at-large opponent.

It's no secret the Las Vegas Bowl is keeping its fingers crossed that UNLV can defeat Hawaii on Saturday night so the Rebels can fill the Mountain West slot. That would go a long way to helping the bowl fulfill the NCAA's mandate earlier this year to sell more local tickets or risk decertification.

If UNLV does win, the Rebels will likely play either an SEC school like LSU, Arkansas or Ole Miss or possibly Syracuse of the Big East. If the Rebels lose, Air Force will represent the Mountain West Conference and a school that travels well, such as WAC co-champ UTEP, will also be strongly considered.

Kunzer-Murphy said the Las Vegas Bowl committee has decided to locally black out the Dec. 21 game, which is to be televised by ESPN2, in another effort to boost local ticket sales.

Senior cornerback Amar Brisco, whose 72-yard interception return with less than a minute remaining proved to be the game-winning play, was selected as the MWC's defensive player of the week.

Meanwhile, senior wide receiver Nate Turner, who had careers highs in receptions (11) and yards (158), garnered offensive player of the week honors. Turner leads the Rebels with 61 receptions for 882 yards and nine touchdowns.

BYU placekicker Owen Pochman was the special teams player of the week.

The Rebels, who normally take Monday off, held a light walk-through. The team will practice tonight and Wednesday afternoon as usual, but will not work out on Thursday as had been previously planned. Instead, the squad will use that day to make the long 11-hour journey to the islands.

The Rebels will have a light practice on Friday at a site to be determined.