Columnist Adam Candee: McKay mastered job as district’s AD

Adam Candee

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 10:10 a.m.

Adam Candee covers high school sports for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

Al LaRocque easily recalls the first time he met Larry McKay in the early 1970s.

LaRocque, the longtime Durango basketball coach but then the head man at Western, remembers meeting a young Rancho junior varsity coach under local prep legend Joe Stein. Looking to bring some Southern California teams up for games over the Christmas holiday, LaRocque met the Rancho coaches to arrange a small tournament.

In the coming years, McKay volunteered to take over the scheduling and logistics of running the tournament. No problem, LaRocque said, and so was born the Holiday Prep Classic that attracted more than 90 teams from around the country in 2002.

Such efficiency was the norm with McKay, the CCSD athletics director who will resign after 30 years in the district.

"The town and the city and players are really in for quite a change," LaRocque said Tuesday. "You don't realize how well you have something until you don't have it."

Like any top dog, McKay, 55, had his detractors in the past six years. But he had the general respect and admiration of his co-workers and the prep basketball community.

"The position has never run so smoothly or been so professional," LaRocque said.

The pool of potential successors is yet to materialize, although most in the district agree that given the tricky situation with the upcoming budget, it would be wise to hire someone from within the ranks. There will be no shortage of applicants for a job that wields as much -- if not sometimes more -- power than that of Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association director Dr. Jerry Hughes.

There is also hope that McKay's retirement will allow him to rebuild the Holiday Prep Classic, which will scale back to 16 teams in 2003 for financial reasons. Don't be surprised if the Holiday Prep -- or some incarnation of it -- pops up anew in 2004.

Almost 300 teams, ranging from fourth grade boys through high school seniors, will take part in more than 800 games through Sunday with the tournament headquartered at UNLV's North and South gyms.

The real hook of the tournament is that Saturday morning begins the first "live" recruiting period of 2003. That means college coaches can actively recruit next year's senior class -- represented in the 17-under division in this tournament -- on both Saturday and Sunday, the final two days of the five-day event. New UCLA coach Ben Howland is expected to be on hand Saturday morning.

For a full schedule, visit the tournament web site at www.visionsports.com.

Daily admission is $8 for adults and $5 for children, and is good for all gyms. A full tournament pass costs $20.

Padgett is becoming a national symbol for the Abandoned College Recruit, his name bandied about on ESPN and major radio programs. Williams himself mentioned Padgett's name three times in a five-minute segment on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption," offering apologies for a situation the Padgetts contend Williams never privately handled.

Padgett and his father/coach, Pete, are fuming in the aftermath of Williams' decision to leave Kansas after promising David that he would stay in Lawrence when the big center committed.

"I'm really resentful that (Williams) hasn't called," Pete Padgett told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "I thought he would handle this a little better. We were close to being shocked about it."

The irony in this mess? Padgett narrowed his list to Kansas and North Carolina before choosing the Jayhawks, in part because of the instability surrounding former Tar Heels coach Matt Doherty.

Doherty's abrupt firing during the NCAA tournament led to Williams' departure from Kansas.