Columnist Steve Guiremand: Costa defends RB coach

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Nov. 8, 2002 | 10:04 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

UNLV fullback Steve Costa made an interesting observation this week.

When asked about the grilling his running backs coach, John Jackson, was getting for leaving the Rebels' 49-48 overtime win over Wyoming a few minutes early so he could attend a boxing match he had helped promote, Costa replied: "It seems like he's gotten more publicity for this than for all the great things he's done coaching here. That's sad."

Costa hit the nail on the head.

Jackson is a Hall of Fame caliber coach when it comes to coaching running backs. He produced two Heisman trophy winning tailbacks in a three-year span at USC in Charles White (1979) and Marcus Allen (1981) as well as another NFL first-rounder who might have been better than both of them in the late Ricky Bell.

And since coming to UNLV four years ago after spending almost two decades as Jerry Buss' right-hand man with the Lakers, Forum Boxing and Prime Ticket cable (now known as Fox Sports West), Jackson has helped mold UNLV into one of the West Coast's top running teams.

Even with an undersized and battered offensive line, the Rebels still rank 27th out of 117 Division 1-A programs in rushing offense with an average of 198.1 yards per game.

UNLV coach John Robinson knew Jackson was going to keep his hand in the boxing business when he brought him to Las Vegas four years ago but felt the gains far outweighed the risks. And they have, as evidenced not only by the rushing numbers but also the number of high-caliber running back recruits (such as Larry Croom, Deon Burnett, Kevin Brown and Jeremi Rudolph) that have decided to transfer to UNLV to play for him.

Unfortunately, Jackson's decision to leave a game a few minutes early on Saturday has tarnished his image with some. Others believe it hurts UNLV's image nationally, although after countless NCAA basketball probes and a 16-game football losing streak as recently as four years ago, it pales in comparison.

It isn't uncommon for coaches to leave their press box seats with five minutes to go in the game to head down to the field, especially in a game that is seemingly in control. Or for basketball assistants to skip games entirely to go recruiting.

Because of a bizzare set of scheduling circumstances, including a late game-time switch to accommodate local TV, Jackson got off the elevator on Saturday night and made a left to the parking lot to make sure there was no hanky-panky going on with his star boxer instead of a right to the field to watch the end of the game that appeared to be well in hand.

Should he have done it? No. Did he make a mistake? Yes. Did he apologize? Yes. Will it happen again? No.

So it's time to move on. And also to be glad that a coach of John Jackson's stature decided to leave Los Angeles and coach at a school like UNLV to begin with.

Making the right move

I told you so.

That was more of less the response of Colorado State quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt this week when he learned Michigan State head coach Bobby Williams had been fired.

Van Pelt left Michigan State after the spring of his freshman year when Williams replaced the man who recruited him to East Lansing, Nick Saban. Williams wanted to shift Van Pelt to defense, but Van Pelt, arguably the top quarterback in the Mountain West Conference this year, saw other problems with the program, too.

"You hate to see anyone get fired," Van Pelt told the Denver Post. "I don't think it's entirely his fault. I do believe what goes around comes around. I'm a firm believer in that. There's a reason why I don't treat people badly. There's a reason I don't burn bridges. I think he's burned bridges."

Besides being perhaps the biggest flop in college football this year, Michigan State has had more than its share of off-the-field problems with star quarterback and team captain Jeff Smoker leaving the squad to enter a substance abuse center and another team captain, Dawan Moss, getting arrested following a confrontation with police.

"I've told a lot of people that one thing a lot of people lacked there was judging people's characters," Van Pelt said.

"Compared to this program and coming from that program, it's like night and day when you talk about people's character, who the individuals are and what they stand for. It shows. It's all falling apart there."

Once around the MWC