Columnist Dean Juipe: No surprise if Pitino slips away

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001 | 10:36 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.

Perhaps with a caffeine-induced jolt of enthusiasm, Rick Pitino was boundlessly expressing his glee about the prospects of taking over the UNLV men's basketball program when he initially addressed the subject.

Hot off his stay with the Boston Celtics and looking for work back in the collegiate ranks where he really made his name, Pitino had his eye on Las Vegas and made it clear he was attracted.

Within a very short time, however, he was acting as if his friends and colleagues in the coaching fraternity had smacked him in the head so often he had seen the light. A mere two weeks after tantalizing the community with his interest, he withdrew into a cocoon-like existence on the guise of re-evaluating his options.

When a personal visit from UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro failed to turn his head, the handwriting became visible on the wall.

As such, it comes as no surprise that Pitino has cooled on the notion of taking over the Rebels.

Apparently every one of his acquaintances has advised him to forget it.

That may come as welcome news to "interim" coach Max Good, whose chances of securing the job on a permanent basis have taken at least a slight upturn as UNLV struggles to determine its Plan B.

The reality is, there no longer may be a front-runner for a position that came open when Bill Bayno was suddenly removed in December in the aftermath of still more NCAA sanctions on the program.

If UNLV advertised the opening as a casting call, it would request that candidates "be something of a proven commodity and preferably have a name of widespread promotional value."

Yet, as badly as some of us feel the need for the school to hire an established coach with a favorable image, it hired the unknown Bayno last time and might do something similar this time around.

Bayno at least seemed like he was worth the risk when he came aboard in 1995, having a fresh face and enough congeniality to put an optimistic front on the difficult challenge of correcting his immediate predecessors' errors. But the fact that he failed in the long run, due to a mix of personal shortcomings and oversights, could be enough to keep UNLV from traveling the same route again.

He was inexperienced and it eventually showed.

Given that we're all supposed to learn from our mistakes, why should UNLV take that chance again?

So, in all probability, it will be selective enough to require a coach of some repute. It will pay that coach handsomely and it will turn him into a folk hero in the event he can succeed at anything resembling the program's Final-Four-dotted heyday.

With Pitino seemingly losing interest, in the coming days and weeks any number of names will be floated for public consideration. Some will bring shrugs, some indifference, some nods of acceptance.

Hopefully at least one of the real, imagined or speculative contenders will match the type of enthusiastic response that Pitino generated when it appeared he might be headed here.

He may not have been perfect but he had the essential ingredients.

He'll be a tough guy to replace at the top of the wish list.