Columnist Ron Kantowski: If Hogan wants to escape, UNLV could be the place

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 | 8:59 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

My guess is that Wayne Hogan is going to be UNLV's next athletic director, for two good reasons.

First and foremost is that he is the first of the five ... er, four ... er, three ... finalists brought to town for interviews. No matter how many times I've gone used car shopping, and regardless of how many tires I've kicked during the odyssey, I almost always come back to the first four I booted.

Second, and probably more important to UNLV president Carol Harter and the search committee, Hogan's credentials aren't that bad for a guy who has been breathing all that fresh air in Big Sky country.

I know, it's only Montana. But as several readers who responded to my "small potatoes" reference in a Friday column that belittled UNLV for its mid-major list of finalists, it's all relative in the NCAA.

For instance, at UNLV, the athletic director always has to consider what headliners and celebrities are appearing on the Strip before scheduling a home game. Whereas in Montana, you might want to hit the road on the opening weekend of deer hunting season.

Same problem, different scale.

All jokes aside, Hogan certainly looks better on paper than Charlie Cavagnaro did, and he took up space in a private box for seven years before Harter finally got wise and sent him onto the golf course with a forced early retirement. Of course, that was basically where he spent all his time while on the job, only now he'll have to pay his own greens fees once his severance runs out.

Hogan spent 14 seasons, most of them in sports information and as an associate athletic director at Florida State, so that should help him deal with the media as well as the NCAA gumshoes, the next time they start snooping around. Which never seems very far off at UNLV, the athletic program's recent mediocrity notwithstanding.

Moreover, Montana has a fraction of our population, but just as many season-ticket holders as UNLV. And it probably has a better football team.

In his remarks to local media, Hogan called Las Vegas "a great place to live," said he liked UNLV's athletic potential and spoke highly of Harter's leadership.

OK, so we'll give him 2 out of 3.

Williams received a standing ovation from many in the sellout crowd at Green Valley High School Friday after scoring 34 points in an open division semifinal as Seattle Rotary Select lost 87-73 to the eventual champion Atlanta Celtics.

Recruiting geeks -- er, wizards -- are calling Williams, who has committed to North Carolina and Roy Williams, the best West Coast prospect since Jason Kidd in 1992.

Similarly, 51s manager John Shoemaker often has said that wins and losses are immaterial, or at least secondary, at the Triple-A to developing big-league players, so it begs the question:

Why keep score then? Especially when most fans leave after the seventh inning or when the sun begins to rise, whichever comes first.

Perhaps the PCL should just award its championship trophy to the team that has the most major-league call-ups.

I'm only joking, of course.

I think.