Columnist Dean Juipe: Mileage no deterrent at UNLV

Dean Juipe

Monday, April 2, 2001 | 10:32 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.

I've been thinking of old people all weekend and it's Carol Harter's fault.

She wants to tap into the senior reservoir to stock her UNLV coaching staff anytime there's a vacancy and I have to admit it might just be a good idea. Old isn't necessarily better and not everyone ages gracefully, yet there are a number of advantages an older coach may hold over a younger counterpart.

Harter, the school's president, hired 61-year-old Charlie Spoonhour last week to coach the UNLV men's basketball team, and at the press conference announcing that decision she made an earnest, yet somewhat flippant, remark concerning the optimum age of her coaches.

Importantly, 65-year-old football coach John Robinson was standing within plain view, and the outstanding job he has done -- and the commendable job Spoonhour might well do -- had Harter thinking gray.

"Maybe we'll do this from now on," she said of going with age over beauty.

And although her impish facial expression acknowledged the impracticalness of following this course of action 100 percent of the time, she meant what she said from a personal-belief standpoint. If it weren't discriminatory, she would assemble a staff of elder statesmen who had long since paid their dues and toss aside any and all applicants who hadn't at least tried a bottle of Grecian Formula.

Bill Bayno, who was a boyish 33 years old when he was hired to coach the Rebels six years ago, may have soured Harter on younger coaches. By the end of his tenure, last December, Bayno still had his youthful appearance but he also: had been the center of multiple accounts of late-night partying; admitted to seeing women (of questionable repute) brought to him while he was staying at the Mirage; gotten the basketball program on NCAA probation; and sacrificed a certain amount of respect by hanging cutesy nicknames on his players, such as "J-Lew" for swingman Jermaine Lewis.

Bayno was conscious of his image and tried hard to relate to a younger crowd. While Harter likely took no offense, she also knows Spoonhour will not be seen after midnight at the Rio.

Nor is he apt to refer to Lewis as "J-Lew."

There was a time when I had long hair and followed the Hippie creed of never trusting anyone over 30, yet I have come to see coaches twice that age in a positive light. Here's why: they tend to be forthright and dependable; they know the rules and they know better than to cut corners or to cheat; they can accept defeat in small doses without being prone to counterproductive outbursts; and, over the course of time, they have become astute evaluators of talent.

They're also comfortable when talking before an audience and they possess a wealth of humorous anecdotes and reminiscences.

Coaches such as Robinson and Spoonhour may be guilty of sneaking into the garage and turning back the odometer, yet they relate well to people and are clear in their missions. They'll represent the university in a distinguished manner and won't run afoul of the NCAA.

As Harter might well have been thinking, when it's appropriate they may even be "grandfathered" into the school's athletic Hall of Fame.