Good wants job, but might not get a look

Steve Addy

Monday, March 26, 2001 | 9:55 a.m.

No Good

Rather than considering Max Good, UNLV is said to be focusing on these coaching candidates:

One of Max Good's ardent fans has posted a website whose name reveals its obvious purpose. It's called www.hiremaxgood.com.

The idea is to build grassroots support in hopes of persuading UNLV to retain Good as the Rebels' basketball coach.

Good said he appreciates the sentiment, and he agrees with the premise -- he wants the job.

But despite guiding UNLV to a 13-9 record as Bill Bayno's midseason replacement, Good has gotten no indication that he's being considered for the permanent position. While AD Charlie Cavagnaro pursues various candidates with long resumes, Good awaits an interview that might never come.

"I'd really like to have the job, but I'm not making the decision," Good said. "I have had no interview. My contract goes through June 30, I'm coming into the office every day. I'm staying on top of (the players') academics. I'm talking to the recruits, trying to keep them informed."

Instead of Good, Cavagnaro is said to be focusing on a group of seasoned candidates, including Purdue's Gene Keady, Pitt's Ben Howland, former Tennessee coach Jerry Green and former St. Louis coach Charlie Spoonhour.

Each has been contacted about the job directly or through third parties, according to sources with knowledge of the coaching search.

Keady's Boilermakers were eliminated from the NIT on Friday, and UNLV is expected to find out this week if he can be lured away. He has led Purdue to 456 wins in 21 seasons, but has not publicly ruled out leaving the school for the right offer.

Courting Keady could get complicated, however. Purdue AD Morgan Burke said he wouldn't grant UNLV permission to speak to Keady, 64, and that any school to sign Keady would have to buy out the remaining two years of his contract.

Keady has two years left on a seven-year deal. He receives $200,000 per year in base salary, and his total annual compensation is about $800,000. Keady is seeking an extension.

"I don't think there is any doubt it hurts your recruiting if you don't get (an extension)," he told the Indianapolis Star last week.

Also, because UNLV is seeking a coach with a clean record regarding NCAA violations, Keady might not be an ideal fit. The Boilermakers will complete two years' probation on June 30, the result of recruiting violations by former assistant coach Frank Kendrick in 1995.

Keady was not implicated in the case. But if UNLV president Carol Harter employs the same standard she used in firing Bayno on Dec. 12 -- that the head coach is responsible for the overall program -- Purdue's probation could make it harder for her to justify hiring Keady.

Though Keady is believed to be UNLV's leading target at the moment, Cavagnaro was talking to others while Purdue was in the NIT.

Green, who accepted a $1.1 million buyout at Tennessee last week, declined to comment on any conversations with Cavagnaro, though they are said to have discussed the job Thursday.

"I told them I wouldn't say anything, and I want to honor that," Green said Sunday from his vacation home in North Carolina.

Green was offered the Rebels post in 1995, but rejected a five-year contract and stayed at Oregon. He moved on to Tennessee in 1997 and guided the Vols to 89 wins and four straight NCAA tournament bids, but the university sought his resignation last week.

Spoonhour, who turns 62 in May, met with Cavagnaro and Harter in Las Vegas last week. He retired from coaching in 1999 after seven years at St. Louis (122-90) and nine at Southwest Missouri State (197-81). His teams made eight NCAA tournament appearances.

"Getting back into coaching isn't something that I'm dead set on," Spoonhour said Saturday from Hutchinson, Kan. "If I felt it was a job where I had a chance to be successful, I would be interested."

Howland, 43, has a two-year record of 34-29 at Pitt after guiding Northern Arizona to a 79-59 mark from 1994-99. He was an assistant at UC Santa Barbara from 1982-94. Howland has failed to return multiple phone messages.

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