Columnist Jeff German: The pride is gone at UNLV

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

You hate to say something like this, but UNLV's crushing defeat Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center has taken the pride out of the Rebel basketball program.

Some will say the pride left in 1992 when Jerry Tarkanian was forced to leave under the pressure of a National Collegiate Athletic Association probe, just two years after guiding UNLV to the national championship.

Since Tarkanian's departure, UNLV has seen four athletic directors and seven basketball coaches oversee a program that has lost hundreds of scholarship donors and millions of dollars in revenues.

Getting whipped this big at home, 98-73 by the University of Southern California, simply never happened during Tarkanian's 19 years at the helm. Tarkanian, though he had his faults, established a reputation as one of the winningest coaches in the country, making Rebel basketball the only game in town.

As a fan, all you had to do was experience one foot-stomping Thomas & Mack sellout during those days to know you were part of something special. Nationally ranked teams used to come here scared to death of the Rebels. Many big teams avoided the Thomas & Mack all together.

Sunday's rout was pathetic, maybe the most lackluster performance of all time for the Rebels.

The most disheartening part of the defeat was watching what it did to loyal boosters such as Bob Goldberg, who has stood by the team through the good and the bad years.

"The Rebels are my team," the 74-year-old Goldberg says. "I'll root for them no matter what. But after Sunday, I feel humbled and humiliated."

Joining Goldberg and thousands of other disgusted fans Sunday was Tarkanian, who sat cringing at courtside while the Rebels committed a record 34 turnovers. At one point, debris from the stands whizzed over the legendary coach's head onto the floor in yet another first for the Thomas & Mack.

There was plenty of blame to go around, but most of the responsibility should be shouldered by coach Charlie Spoonhour, who came out of retirement two years ago to take the reins of the Rebels after UNLV officials failed to lure Rick Pitino to Las Vegas.

This year Pitino has guided the University of Louisville to the No. 2 ranking in the country and the best record in Conference USA, while Spoonhour has landed UNLV near the cellar of the Mountain West with little chance of making it to the Big Dance.

Under Spoonhour UNLV has lacked inspiration, discipline and mental toughness on the court, things every team needs to win.

Spoonhour is a gentleman who has had an excellent career in college basketball. But let's face it, he's not looking to the future to build a new winning tradition here. He's looking to leave the game on a respectable note.

This is not what UNLV needs.

It needs a younger, dynamic coach who can relate to the players and recruit the best talent in the country.

It needs someone who can create excitement and bring back pride to the Thomas & Mack Center.