Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.
Saying he didn't want to hurt his players or the university he has worked for during the past four years, UNLV assistant head football coach John Jackson on Monday offered to step down from his position if it would quiet the controversy over his leaving Saturday's Rebel football game against Wyoming a few minutes early.
Jackson left his spot in the Sam Boyd Stadium press box with a little over two minutes remaining and UNLV holding a 42-34 lead over the Cowboys. He wanted to beat the traffic so he could arrive in time to watch featherweight champion Marco Antonio Barrera, the boxer he has promoted since before coming to UNLV, fight Johnny Tapia at the MGM Grand.
Wyoming came back to tie the game, 42-42, on the final play of regulation. UNLV eventually won in overtime, 49-48.
"I would say I made a mistake in judgment," said Jackson, who coaches UNLV's running backs and previously coached Heisman Trophy winners Marcus Allen and Charles White at USC. "Personally, at this point I think this is a non-issue. Hell, I'm a big boy. I made a mistake in judgment.
"If people think I should be out of here, then I'm out of here."
Not so fast said UNLV head coach John Robinson, when told of Jackson's comments.
"Oh, no, no, no," Robinson said "That (Jackson being let go) is not even an issue."
Robinson said Jackson told him before the game that he wouldn't be coming down to the postgame locker room so he could leave quickly for the fight. However, it wasn't until later that night that Jackson informed Robinson he had left early.
"He made a poor judgment I felt," Robinson said. "He thought the game was over. He'll never do that again. He feels bad about it. In four years here he never had a conflict of interest (with his boxing promotion). He and I sat down and worked out some action on the matter. What that was is a private matter between me and him."
It is believed that Jackson will receive an official reprimand, although Robinson would not confirm it.
"John Jackson is the best coach I've ever been around," Robinson said. "I think (UNLV running backs) Steve Costa and Joe Haro would fight you in a second if you were to say anything bad about him. He apologized and we have taken action and we will go from there."
Said Costa: "I was surprised this story got so blown up. I knew he had a fight he had to get to because he had told us. It was no surprise to us (players) that he had left. He's always been straightforward with us."
For what it's worth, Rebels fans also seem to be in Jackson's corner. Most of the calls made Monday to The Clubhouse Show, a local sports talk-radio show, were in support of Jackson.
Jackson said he probably would have stayed until the end if UNLV had led by just seven points.
"I was looking at the score and the clock and I thought the game was over," he said. "We had an eight-point lead with only a couple of minutes to go. If it was only a seven-point lead, I would have probably stayed longer."
Robinson, who said he and Vince Alcalde called the plays in the game, said a late switch in the starting time from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to accomodate TV contributed to the logistical problem for Jackson.
"(The fight) was originally scheduled for the bye week (Nov. 23) so there would be no conflict (with football)," Robinson said. "But then the hotels decided that this would be a better weekend for it. Our game was supposed to be played at one o'clock. There were a lot of changes. That put the squeeze on him."
Jackson is a state employee who makes $119,000 a year as Robinson's right-hand man. Mark Alden, a member of the state board of regents, said it was up to Robinson to do what he deemed necessary to resolve the matter.
"It's John Robinson's decision," Alden said. "I'm not going to micro-manage it. He's the athletic director and the football coach there, so it's up to him to do what he thinks is best to handle it.
"I really don't have any comment other than that. I know both men very well and they're both very honorable people."
Jackson said he'd just like to move on and start preparing for Saturday's key game at Utah.
"I am surprised and very upset (that's it been made such an issue)," Jackson said. "The main thing is I don't want to hurt our players. That's the most important thing. I don't want to take away from them or what they're doing. I respect this university and the coaches and the players and would never do anything to hurt them."
Thomas completed 20 of 25 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for three touchdowns in the first quarter alone and threw the game-winning 25-yard touchdown pass to Steve Costa in overtime that gave the Rebels their first overtime win in school history.
It's the second time in his three-year career at UNLV that Thomas has won the award.
Saturday's game at Utah is not scheduled to be televised. There's a chance the Rebels' season finale at Colorado State on Nov. 30th could also be moved up to a noon start so that it could be televised by SportsWest on Channel 8 instead of the scheduled Georgia-Georgia Tech contest.
Channel 8 sports anchor Dave McCann said Saturday's game against Wyoming had a glossy nine rating and was viewed by at least 135,000 people in the Las Vegas area. Surprisingly, that was almost double the amount of viewers for the UNLV-BYU game on Oct. 19 in Provo.
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