AD search baffles some in department

Steve Guiremand

Monday, July 28, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.

A longtime Las Vegas sports figure attending the Big Time basketball tournament Saturday at Green Valley High School was not exactly bowled over when he heard the names of the finalists for UNLV's vacant athletic director job.

"That university seems to be stuck in perpetual puberty," the person said while shaking his head.

Welcome to Las Vegas, Wayne Hogan.

The Montana athletic director is the first of what started out as five finalists for the Rebels AD job to come to town for two days of extensive interviews that began today.

Hogan, who has an impressive Florida State pedigree, may be the front-runner to replace John Robinson as athletic director. He heads a list of candidates that didn't exactly knock the socks off many Rebels fans and athletic department members who believe their program is better than Idaho, Toledo, East Carolina and Saint Louis, which turned out the other finalists for the position.

Adding insult to injury is that two of the final five, Toledo's Mike O'Brien and Doug Woolard of Saint Louis, pulled their names out of the running within hours after their names made the wires as finalists.

That left Hogan, Idaho's Mike Bohn and East Carolina's Mike Hamrick as the top candidates to fill the position, although one athletic department source said on Sunday night that Woolard still may visit.

According to souces familiar with the search, UNLV President Dr. Carol Harter played a key role in limiting the search to mid-major schools such as Montana and Toledo, instructing the 16-person search committee to bring in an acting athletic director.

That ruled out some impressive candidates from major institutions such as Southern Cal, where highly regarded associate athletic directors Steve Lopes and fund-raising wiz Don Winston were very interested, as well as Texas, where associate AD Butch Worley reportedly applied. And Orange Bowl CEO Keith Tribble, a former UNLV assistant AD who was instrumental in helping form the Bowl Championship Series, also was overlooked despite the fact he was named one of the most influential minority figures in sports by Sports Illustrated recently.

"Why wouldn't you bring in somebody from a big-time program like a USC or a Texas to help take you to that next level?" one UNLV athletic department member asked. "You see what happened the last time they brought in someone from a lower level school."

Harter's last AD search ended with the hiring of Charles Cavagnaro from Memphis, considered by many as a major flop during his eight-year reign before giving way to John Robinson in 2002.

"It's mind-boggling not to see someone with Keith Tribble's credentials not on that list," said another longtime athletic department employee. "(Harter) seems to be thinking about trying to bring someone who can help us survive in the Mountain West Conference. What we need is someone who can take us to an even higher level in the coming years and has us in good position in case the Pac-10 ever decides to expand to 12 teams."

Hogan and Bohn, who grew up in Boulder, Colo., and also is considered a candidate for both the Wyoming and San Diego State athletic director openings, both have at least gone on record as saying they are seriously interested in the UNLV position. The same can't be said for Hamrick, who told the Sun on July 1 that "I didn't even know (UNLV) had an opening for an athletic directors job" and "You can scratch me off that list."

Not surprisingly, Hamrick did not return interview requests over with the weekend.

"Don't feel bad," said a memeber of the East Carolina media. "He lied to us two years ago when he went for the Kansas job (which went to Fresno State's Al Bohl). He told us the same thing then, that there was nothing to it, and then his named popped up as one of four finalists."

Rumors abound around the Greenville, N.C., campus that Hamrick, who drew the ire of many Pirates fans when he fired popular football coach Steve Logan after last season, has been told by new chancellor William Muse to begin looking for another job.

Now the question is will that job end up being at UNLV?