Rick bows out

Steve Addy

Friday, March 9, 2001 | 11 a.m.

It didn't take Rick Majerus two months to decide the UNLV coaching job wasn't right for him.

And it took him even less time to notify athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro of his feelings.

Cavagnaro wanted to sit down with the longtime Utah coach Thursday to measure his interest in being the Rebels' new basketball coach. But Majerus quickly withdrew from consideration, as he told Cavagnaro in a brief phone conversation.

Majerus, who has missed most of the season due to health and family issues, was "flattered by (UNLV's) interest," according to Cavagnaro, but declined to interview for the job.

Majerus returned to Milwaukee on Thursday and couldn't be reached for comment. Cavagnaro said in a statement that, "At this time (Majerus) thinks the best thing is for him to stay with the Utah program.

"Our goal is to get the very best basketball coach for both UNLV and our community. That is what we plan on doing."

But Plan B just went down the drain, in a much speedier fashion than Plan A. That plan went belly up Sunday when Rick Pitino rejected the Rebels after a nearly two-month courtship.

Even before UNLV began pursuing Pitino, it had Majerus on its radar. He had interviewed for the Rebels job twice before -- in 1992 and 1995 -- but stayed at Utah. Some UNLV boosters felt there was reciprocal interest by Majerus this time, but that obviously wasn't the case.

Perhaps he was interested at some point, but the timing just isn't right. Majerus' mother has been battling lung cancer, and he has spent much of the season in Milwaukee with her.

Majerus is also tending to his own health after knee surgery in October, two heart procedures in January and an ongoing weight problem.

In light of Majerus' rejection, UNLV must now turn to others on its candidates list, though the search is beginning to resemble the 1995 search that resulted in the hiring of Bill Bayno. The Rebels were turned down by several coaches before Bayno took the job.

A UNLV source insists that Cavagnaro is considering Purdue's Gene Keady, as well as ex-Iowa coach Tom Davis, but Keady's team is still in the Big Ten tournament after beating Minnesota on Thursday.

There are other possible candidates, but most will likely have teams in the NCAA Tournament, so the process could slacken for the next few weeks. Those coaches include Creighton's Dana Altman, Cal State Northridge's Bobby Braswell and Xavier's Skip Prosser.