Columnist Dean Juipe: UNLV band taking its hits, too

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2001 | 10:31 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.

Openly apologetic for his team's repetitive failures this season, UNLV football coach John Robinson gazed at the audience before him and asked if there were any questions.

He knew there would be several and he had to be expecting something venomous after still another close loss last week, this time at the hands of Colorado State. After all, the Rebels are 2-5 at a time when 6-1 or maybe even 7-0 was within reach.

A gentleman at the back of the room upstairs at Big Dog's on West Sahara was quick to raise his hand at Monday's weekly boosters luncheon. And he didn't mince any words.

He wanted to know why the UNLV band was "so pitiful."

Robinson's jaw dropped accordingly.

"There's my kind of guy," he replied. "We have just a terrible loss and the guy's pissed at the band."

It was a nimble response and expressed with a certain glee, traits that Robinson comes by easily in his role as a full-time coach who is soon to add the school's athletic director's duties while displaying a nightclub comic's spontaneity. Refined and soothing, Robinson routinely gives the impression that anything within his control is in good hands.

He exudes competency, so much so that it diffuses any and all hostilities that in theory could be directed his way. He puts his listeners at ease.

Consequently, it was the UNLV band's alleged shortcomings that drew not only a question from the crowd but several minutes of discussion. Those who pay the freight apparently believe it's the band -- and not a football team that came into the season with high expectations -- that has become moribund.

Robinson likely appreciated the diversion. Yet he was blunt about his team's poor showing(s).

"I'm embarrassed and sad about last week's game," he said. "It's exasperating. We've got to be sick and tired of being there at the end of a game and letting it slip away."

Loss No. 5 bore a remarkable similarity to its predecessors, leaving the Rebels with a streak of seven consecutive games in which they've failed to play as well as they did in last season's finale. If only UNLV could duplicate the effort and the crispness it displayed in its 31-14 Las Vegas Bowl victory over Arkansas last December it would be making bowl plans again today.

Instead, it is merely hoping to win the four games left on its 2001 schedule and finish a disappointing year on something of a high note. A win Saturday at Wyoming is a reasonable assumption, although with UNLV's passing attack reduced to rubble nothing is assured.

"Our passing game is still our biggest failing," Robinson said. "We are struggling mightily with that."

UNLV backs have caught only six balls this year and its receivers have a bad case of the dropsies. Add in quarterback Jason Thomas' habit of wobbly throws and many of the team's fans are suggesting it may be time for Kurt Nantkes to take a turn behind center.

"They love the second quarterback until he gets to be the No. 1 quarterback," Robinson rationalized, putting the issue to rest.

So Thomas doesn't have to look over his shoulder, which puts him a leg up on any of his schoolmates in the marching band.