UNLV’s AD stepping down

Steve Addy

Thursday, June 21, 2001 | 10:21 a.m.

Here are the UNLV athletic directors:

1958-72: Michael Drakulich

1973-80: Bill Ireland

1980: Al Negratti

1981: Charles Bucher

1981-90: Dr. Brad Rothermel

1990-91: Dennis Finfrock

1992-95: Jim Weaver

1995: Fred Albrecht (interim)

1995-current: Charlie Cavagnaro

When Charlie Cavagnaro received a contract renewal as UNLV's athletic director in April, he insisted he hadn't pondered retirement.

"That's not something I've looked at," he said. "I don't see myself (working) until I'm 70, but whether I'll stop when I'm 63, 64 or 66, I don't know."

Now he knows. Cavagnaro, 60, announced Wednesday that he'll retire on June 30, 2002 when his contract expires, ending a seven-year run at UNLV and a 20-year career as a Division I athletic director.

Cavagnaro was unavailable for comment, leaving for Hawaii on business a few hours before the university's announcement.

In a prepared statement, he said making the decision now would help him assist UNLV's transition to a new AD.

"I look forward to continuing to run this athletic department," Cavagnaro said.

UNLV president Dr. Carol Harter said Cavagnaro began pondering retirement in the past few months, but said he hadn't been asked to tender his resignation after a contentious year for his department.

"We had talks, but it was (Cavagnaro's) idea," Harter said. "After the (contract renewal), I think he started to consider his future and put things in perspective. He's got family back in Memphis and grandchildren, and he felt this might be a good time to move on."

The search for Cavagnaro's replacement won't begin until winter, Harter said. According to UNLV bylaws, the search committee must include representatives from several university departments and boards.

When Cavagnaro was hired effective Aug. 1, 1995, to replace Jim Weaver, a 17-member committee recommended him from among 70 applicants.

"In early winter, we'll begin a national search," Harter said. "It's a marvelous job, and we'll have great candidates from a national pool."

Among the prominent hiring criteria will be fundraising capability and providing a vibrant public presence for UNLV, locally and nationally. Cavagnaro has often been criticized for lagging in those areas.

"Over time, the profile of the athletic director has changed from an internal administrative person to an outside, visible, community activist person," Harter said. "It has been a national change. In a place like Las Vegas, those qualities are especially important.

"Nowadays, that means a person who's out in the community, doing fundraising, a visionary person."

In the meantime, Harter said she's not concerned about the department's ability to function effectively for the next year despite the knowledge that Cavagnaro will be leaving. Senior associate AD Jerry Koloskie is handling the search for a new baseball coach.

"Charlie's got a strong staff," Harter said. "He will continue to make the decisions that an athletic director makes, and we'll all work together. I don't have any worries about that. The program is in good shape."

However, the department is coming off a bad year, on and off the field.

The Rebels did not win a Mountain West team championship in any sport; a revenue shortfall prompted budget tightening throughout the department; and the school's most lucrative sport, men's basketball, was placed on four years' NCAA probation and endured a fractious coaching change.

The latter situation placed Cavagnaro and Harter at the center of the Rick Pitino maelstrom that consumed UNLV from January to April.

Coach Bill Bayno was fired on Dec. 11 after the NCAA Committee on Infractions levied major sanctions against his program.

When Pitino resigned as coach/president of the Boston Celtics on Jan. 8, he showed immediate interest in the UNLV job, setting off a three-month courtship that culminated with a highly publicized visit to Las Vegas by Pitino's wife Joanne.

When Pitino turned down the Rebels job on March 4, Cavagnaro and Harter were criticized by boosters and fans who felt they had blown a ready-made deal to bring the ex-Kentucky coach to UNLV.

Cavagnaro said he accepted the criticism as part of the job, and went on to hire former Saint Louis coach Charlie Spoonhour on March 29.

Though Spoonhour has yet to coach a UNLV game, he said he isn't concerned that the man who hired him is already eyeing the exit.

"I'm sad to hear it, but if this makes Charlie and his family happy, I'm happy for him," Spoonhour said.

"But this shouldn't affect us, to be honest. My feelings toward Charlie don't change. There's still a chain of command. I respect the man and the position. I took the job because I felt Charlie was someone I could work with."

Attempts to contact vacationing football coach John Robinson were not successful.

Cavagnaro came to UNLV after serving as AD at Memphis State (now University of Memphis), his alma mater, from 1982-95. He oversaw UNLV's transition from the Western Athletic Conference to the Mountain West in 1999, and Harter praised his strides in Title IX compliance and athletes' graduation rates.

"Charlie deserves credit for a good number of improvements to the program," she said. "I don't think he's gotten nearly the credit he deserves, quite frankly."