Columnist Ron Kantowski: Nice guy Rice finally moving on from stretch at UNLV

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

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

He wasn't the heart and soul of the UNLV basketball team, as I believe that recognition will always be reserved for Jerry Tarkanian and his players, respectively. I mean, the real good players, the in-your-face and get-out-of-mine type, such as Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony. Maybe even George Ackles.

Dave Rice was one of Tark's players, too, but he never got in anybody's face. That's probably the biggest reason he became a role player on those great Rebels teams of the early 1990s (although you still can't leave him open from beyond the arc) while those other guys became the stars.

It's also the reason he managed to spend the past 10 years on the UNLV bench as an assistant coach.

As I said, assistant coaches don't became the heart and soul of a basketball program, but in that he was the only constant of UNLV's during all but one of the past 15 seasons, Rice was the link between its glorious, hell-bent past and its middling, toe-the-line present.

Death, taxes, double-digit losses to Utah and Dave Rice. Those are the things that every Rebels fan have come to take for granted.

Not anymore. If one of new coach Lon Kruger's new assistants can recruit a big guy, it's entirely possible the Rebels may only lose to Utah by six next season. But when Kruger calls time and huddles with his assistants to discuss how the Rebels can deny Andrew Bogut the ball, Dave Rice won't be part of the pow-wow.

Rice, along with Deane Martin and Vince Booker, the other UNLV assistants, were fired last Wednesday, atlhough that's probably too strong a word. Kruger simply wished them well and let them go, which is almost always the case when a new coach comes on board.

Somehow, Dave Rice managed to avoid that fate through thick and mostly thin around here. If the NCAA kept records on an assistant coach's survive-ability, to coin a word that Clark Kellogg might make up, Rice would own it. Including interims, Rice served under eight head coaches here. He's the Halley's Comet, or even the two-handed bounce pass, of his profession. Guys like him don't come around very often.

"I think anytime there's a coaching change in college athletics, the norm is for a new coach to bring in an entire new staff," Rice said. "Having said that, I've been real fortunate. I've always said that it's a special part of athletics when you can do something of extra significance at your alma mater.

"I was real lucky. I was a scholarship player on a team that won the national championship ... and I was able to stay for 10 straight years and work under a lot of good coaches. Las Vegas has become home for me and wife (Mindy, an insurance specialist in the athletic department). Heck, one of my boys (Dylan) was born on Oct. 14, and 2 1/2 weeks later he watched his first Rebel game. We're all Runnin' Rebels, through and through."

Rice said it will always be that way, although the color of his neckties will be changing soon. When the search for Charlie Spoonhour's replacement commenced, Rice decided to put a few irons in the fire for himself, just in case. One of them is so hot that by the time you are reading this, Rice could have another job.

He's spending today interviewing for a position at a solid Division I program in the West. By the middle of the week, it should be a done deal.

It's a good thing Rice was able to find a new job so quickly. It will allow him more time for goodbyes, something he's definitely going to need.

"There are so many people to thank, beginning with Coach Tark," he said. "It all begins and ends with him.

"The biggest thing I'll miss is all the relationships I've developed since coming here as a player in 1989. One of the most flattering things I'll never forget is all the people who stepped up to support me and enabled me to stay and make a home in Las Vegas and make some lifelong friends."

Rest assured the opposite is also true. Maybe there was a time and a place so far off the record that Rice felt comfortable saying something about somebody that was less than flattering. Then again, maybe not. After all, Rollie Massimino was the only UNLV coach since Tark he didn't work under.

Everybody that knows him has a nice Dave Rice story to tell, so here's mine. A few years ago, on one bright and way-too-early Saturday morning, a few Sun sports writers and one guy who should have known better gathered to help a mutual acquaintance move his personal belongings from one side of town to the other.

To this day, that's why I believe somebody at UNLV must have doctored Dave Rice's bio in the media guide. It said he graduated with a 3.95 GPA and was a Rhodes Scholar candidate. But anybody who would get up on his day off to help a sports writer move can't be all that smart.