Columnist Ron Kantowski: Lady Rebels fall behind the times

Thursday, July 19, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears Thursday. His inside notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

These days, women's basketball is getting all kinds of publicity for the right reasons (a lucrative new TV contract with ESPN) and the wrong reasons (WNBA players considering posing nude for Playboy).

At UNLV, however, the women's basketball program operates in a publicity vacuum (even when it's in season) for one very simple reason: Nobody seems to care.

The sad thing is it's not as if the Lady Rebels, coming off a 19-10 season, aren't worth caring about. They've got a good coach in Regina Miller, a great player in German import Linda Frohlich and in the Cox Pavilion, a sparkling new home arena.

If ever Jupiter was aligned with Mars for a marketing campaign to stimulate interest in the Lady Rebels, this would seem to be year. But chances are you'll see a Zamboni in the devil's driveway before a billboard goes up to tout the women's basketball team.

That's because a billboard costs money, and UNLV doesn't have any. The athletic department, thanks to its penchant for hiring bad coaches and then having to buy them out before their contracts run out, is facing a $750,000 deficit.

But moths in the wallet are only part of the problem when it comes to promoting the Lady Rebels and women's sports. There's little, if any, leadership at the top. Lame duck athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro has gone into hiding since he agreed to relinquish his duties at the end of next year and the person he designated to guide the women's programs into the new millennium, Lisa Kelleher, also has come under fire.

According to UNLV sources, Kelleher has been so ineffective that the Lady Rebels were made the responsibility of Jerry Koloskie, Cavagnaro's other associate AD.

But the biggest problem UNLV may have in promoting its women's programs is that its vision seems more limited than Mister Magoo's.

For instance, because it took less time to build Rome than the Cox Pavilion, UNLV had a full year to determine how the Lady Rebels would christen the joint. If you're looking to create a buzz in your program, why not open the doors against a powerhouse program such as Tennessee or Purdue or UConn or Louisiana Tech, especially considering the latter two have traveled this way before?

Instead, the Lady Rebels will make their home debut against Cal State Fullerton.

That lack of foresight may explain why even though Las Vegas has been growing like a test site weed, interest in the Lady Rebels actually seems to be decreasing. Ten years ago, when Joan Bonvicini brought the Long Beach women to town, you needed a shoe horn to squeeze into the South Gym. The atmosphere at those games was electric.

Now it's like an oil lamp with a short wick. Average attendance last year was a paltry 869.

Last week, when ESPN signed on to televise the entire women's tourney as part of a $163 million deal, assistant Missouri Valley Conference commissioner Patty Viverito proclaimed "The days of critics saying (women's basketball) can't pull its own weight are over."

Unfortunately, that's not the case at UNLV, where John Robinson and Charlie Spoonhour are still hitched to the women's wagon and pulling like crazy.