Columnist Dean Juipe: UNLV can boast about its facilities

Dean Juipe

Friday, Aug. 9, 2002 | 9:51 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

It's the game within the game. And it's played by every major university.

It's the drive, the compulsion, to have as fine -- i.e., as expensive -- an assortment of athletic facilities as your school can muster.

It's a contest that's played every day and never ends. Big projects ... items that need tweaking ... from multi-million dollar temples to nickel and dime improvements, for the sake of their own self-worth and to stave off the competition, universities judge themselves by the glimmer of their athletic assets.

Whether a new weight room or buffed field will translate into more wins is a riddle of chicken-or-the-egg proportions. But coaches will inevitably say they're at a disadvantage at the first sign of rust on their blocking sled or neglect in their batting cages.

Presentation is critical.

And UNLV, after many years of steering its recruits around both real and imagined flaws, has now steadily improved to where it not only needn't be embarrassed but can take a great deal of pride in its athletic arsenal. The Rebels, as a collective entity, are darn close to having what can be classified as first-rate facilities.

An impromptu tour of the campus on Thursday wasn't so much enlightening as it was reassuring. The money that the school (and its donors) has spent and is spending looks to be put to good use.

The new practice football fields stand as Exhibit A.

You've got to see these side-by-side gems -- or, walk on them, to be more precise -- to believe them. They're carpeted by a revolutionary synthetic turf, one that's nothing like the many forerunners which tended to harden and fade with repeated wear at domed and outdoor stadiums around the country.

You can pull up the surface, as if it were a throw rug, yet it's resilient and cushy. The only drawback, as the UNLV football team initially discovered but has since overcome, is that the surface gets incredibly hot until it's sufficiently broken in.

It's said that a number of football players came off the field with blisters, and that the players learned there was no standing still on this new stuff. But those problems have been alleviated with a little wear, and the complaints apparently have subsided.

Beyond the new turf and the doubling of what once was a single field, the enclosed football practice area also has a small grove that's so aesthetically pleasing that you expect to see exotic birds in the branches. This is a big step up from UNLV's past.

Likewise, the athletic department has, in recent years, been graced with a number of new stadiums and arenas, as well as a training complex and office compound.

As unnatural as it must be for coaches to not have grounds for complaint, UNLV's coaches should be a pretty contented bunch. From the Cox Pavilion, to the Eller softball stadium, to the Partridge track stadium, to the Fertitta tennis complex, these are significant upgrades.

Name any sport at UNLV, and, from a facilities perspective, there's not a weak link in the bunch (although swimming and soccer may have minor concerns).

It's a rosy picture, one that aids recruiting and permits UNLV to be seen in a favorable light. In its drive to keep pace with the Joneses, it's the Joneses who seem to have fallen behind.