UNLV assistant Thomas to take Western Ill. job

Steve Guiremand

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 9:55 a.m.

UNLV assistant basketball coach Derek Thomas will be named head coach at Western Illinois University at a press conference today at the Macomb, Ill., campus.

The Macomb Journal reported Sunday that Thomas, 36, the son of longtime NFL assistant coach and ex-Kansas City Chiefs star Emmitt Thomas, got the nod over former UAB coach Murray Bartow.

Thomas didn't return phone messages Sunday. UNLV head coach Charlie Spoonhour, said he thought Thomas would make an excellent choice to replace Jim Kerwin, who resigned last month because of health concerns.

"I think Derek has done a good job of preparing himself to become a head coach," Spoonhour said. "If he does get the job at Western Illinois, I think he'll do extremely well there."

Thomas has been an assistant for Spoonhour at three schools -- Southwest Missouri State, Saint Louis and the past two seasons at UNLV. He also was an assistant for Dan Monson at Minnesota and for Lon Kruger at Illinois and the Atlanta Hawks.

"He's put in the time and done the stuff to put himself in position to become a college head coach," Spoonhour said. "I think he'd do very good there. He knows the area and he has great contacts around there. I'm tickled to death for him."

Spoonhour said Dave Rice, a member of the 1989-90 NCAA championship team who has been the school's director of basketball operations the past two years, will take over Thomas' spot on the staff. Rice has previously been an assistant coach for UNLV under Jerry Tarkanian (1991-92) and Bill Bayno (1994-2001).

Meanwhile, UNLV announced on Sunday that it had received a signed national letter of intent from 6-foot-6 swingman Andy Hannan of Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Hannan, who averaged 20.5 points and 7.2 rebounds en route to first team NJCAA first team All-American Division III honors, is UNLV's first spring signing.