Soesbe fired as UNLV baseball coach

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, May 22, 2001 | 10:49 a.m.

UNLV baseball coach Rod Soesbe was fired Monday after 17 years of service to the school. He spent the last five seasons as head coach of the Rebels and the previous 12 as the top assistant under Fred Dallimore.

Athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro informed Soesbe that his contract would not be renewed effective June 30.

"That's the first time I've been let go, fired, in 31 years of baseball," Soesbe said. "So you know, I was disappointed.

"I sure didn't look to get fired."

In five seasons, Soesbe coached UNLV to a 139-155 overall record, 66-83 in conference play. This year's squad finished 23-33 overall and 13-17 in the Mountain West Conference.

"I was hoping to stay on," Soesbe said. "It's just one of those things.

"The last couple of years as head coach I hadn't gotten it done. I thought I could get the job done with what I had to work with, the budget, not the kids, and I just didn't get it done.

"When you don't have enough money to recruit, it's tough. But it's nobody's fault because I knew what the situation was going in."

Cavagnaro thanked Soesbe for his efforts.

"Rod ran a classy program and he put his all into the program," Cavagnaro said. "We just felt the program needed to move in another direction."

Dallimore, head coach of the Rebels for 23 years, lobbied hard to get Soesbe hired as his replacement and said he was sorry things didn't work out for his friend and former assistant.

"It's too bad it happened," Dallimore said. "He didn't deserve it.

"He has a lot to offer young men as a coach. He's a great man and a great baseball man. I'm sure he will be back coaching again."

Dallimore echoed Soesbe's sentiment about the sparse funds doled out to run the baseball team.

"We never had a recruiting budget," Dallimore said. "The athletic director and his staff are not very supportive of the minor sports.

"They cater to football and basketball, but don't care what happens to the non-revenue sports, which is a shame because, as an athletic director, he should want every sports team to be successful, not just the ones that bring in the most money."

Soesbe will spend the next couple of days cleaning up his office before taking a few days off.

The next UNLV baseball coach will be selected by a committee headed by senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie.

"Certainly, we'd like to have somebody here by July 1," Cavagnaro said.

Sources have indicated CCSN coach Tim Chambers, who has led the Coyotes to a 99-19 record in two years, and former Stars player and coach Craig Colbert are two possible replacements for Soesbe. Colbert is the manager of the San Diego Padres' Class A team in Lake Elsinore, Calif., and has a home in Las Vegas.