Columnist Dean Juipe: Losses take their toll on Soesbe

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 9:59 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.

Just before the start of the UNLV baseball season, back in January, I went over to the school to see Rod Soesbe.

I had known him since we both were about to bolt from Texas in 1984, and each of us realized that this season he would be under some pressure. I theorized that he was the only head coach on campus -- aside from "interim" basketball coach Max Good, who clearly was on his way out -- in real danger of being fired.

He agreed.

But he talked about his pride in coaching the Rebels and admitted that he had turned down a chance the previous summer to take over a program at a neighboring state university. He didn't like the fact he was underfunded at UNLV and he didn't like being put in the position of having to raise money in addition to coaching, but he accepted those requirements as part of the deal.

His contract was up in June and baseball is just a high enough priority at UNLV that we both knew his team needed to win some games. He had had three losing seasons in four, and if the pattern wasn't reversed it might very well cost him his job.

Well, the Rebels went 23-33 and Monday afternoon the word came down: Soesbe was out, with no immediate replacement named but Community College of Southern Nevada coach Tim Chambers has already been approached about the UNLV position.

The bright and glowing sunrise that greeted the day this morning was the same as many that have graced the valley in the past, yet it was the first in some 6,205 days that Rod Soesbe was no longer a Rebel.

A 129-155 record and a corresponding dip in attendance sealed his fate.

Soesbe, who had come to Las Vegas in '85 as an assistant to Fred Dallimore, was victimized to some extent by his failure to fill his predecessor's shoes. While Dallimore went 794-558 over 23 years and regularly had the Rebels in contention for at least league championship honors, Soesbe had no such good fortune.

The price he pays is being unemployed at the age of 54.

His assistants, Jim Pace and Mel Stottlemyre Jr., are still on the payroll yet probably only 50-50 to be retained.

As Soesbe departs, you have to wonder if anyone would have done any better. His final team at UNLV was exceptionally young and somewhat injury prone, although a midseason column I did on the subject drew at least one negative response when an e-mailer said I had to quit defending a coach who wasn't up to the task.

But Soesbe deserved the support. He's a "baseball man" with a wealth of experience and who had seen both sides of life at UNLV and was comfortable with the surroundings.

There wasn't, or isn't, anything to dislike about him.

But coaching comes with its risks and being fired is clearly among them. Released a couple of weeks before his contract actually expires, Soesbe bowed out gracefully and publicly took the blame for his teams' shortcomings.

He's tough and resilient enough that it's a stretch to call what happened to him heartbreaking in the traditional sense, yet it's a reminder of the perils of the profession.

Sometimes you simply have to win, and sometimes it's a calamity when you don't.