Columnist Dean Juipe: Change at UNLV means a chance for Hamrick

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004 | 10:03 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Mike Hamrick may or may not vote for George W. Bush in November, but in the interim he's apt to do the president a favor.

He's likely to hire an unemployed coach.

Hamrick, UNLV's athletic director, has been cast into a role where he can alter the country's employment picture for the better by virtue of his choice to succeed Charlie Spoonhour as coach of the school's men's basketball team.

While any number of active and employed coaches may seek the job of coaching the Rebels, the early phone-book-like list of names who are logical successors to Spoonhour include two or three good ones who are currently out of work (or at least not coaching for a living).

Although Hamrick wouldn't join in the speculation as he observed UNLV's 68-65 victory against San Diego State Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, he was surprisingly glib in reviewing the situation that led to Spoonhour's sudden retirement and alleged health issues.

"I'm not going to speculate on names. I've told everyone that," he said of pinpointing the contenders. "Any names are pure speculation.

"But that's what makes this whole thing fun. Plus, it gives you guys something to write about."

Hamrick did say "it's important to me to have previous head-coaching experience" when referring to the candidates who may apply.

That criteria would seem to eliminate a local favorite son, Reggie Theus, who is currently an assistant coach at Louisville. Theus, one of the all-time great Rebels, had a brief fling as a head coach of the Las Vegas team in the short-lived ABA 2000, but that experience would seem inconsequential overall.

Hamrick's criteria would also seem to eliminate a number of leading assistant coaches who are ready to run their own programs, according to noted college basketball analyst Dick Vitale. He lists 13 assistants who are ready to step up, including Norm Roberts (Kansas), Johnny Dawkins (Duke), Barry Rohrssen (Pittsburgh), Doug Wojcik (Michigan State), David Dickerson, (Maryland), Jimmy Patsos (Maryland), Frank Haith (Texas), Orlando Early (Alabama), Joe Holladay (North Carolina), Sean Sutton (Oklahoma State), Patrick Knight (Texas Tech), Anthony Grant (Florida) and Jeff Battle (Wake Forest).

So let's say it isn't going to be any of those guys. Let's say Hamrick, who will be a key figure in the search committee that pursues a successor to Spoonhour, gets his way and the next UNLV head coach will be a man with head-coaching experience on his resume.

Bear in mind this tidbit as well: Money will be no object. Hamrick didn't say that and he isn't in a position to ever say such a thing, but an insider with a clear view of the UNLV picture believes the school will cough up whatever it takes to bring in the right coach.

For the sake of a reference point, consider the money Louisville bestowed on Rick Pitino three years ago when Pitino was shopping himself around and UNLV was among his suitors. Louisville won the Pitino derby by granting him a six-year contract worth $12.4 million.

Pitino -- the perfect UNLV coach in theory, given his high profile and ability to sell tickets solely on his sideline presence -- might be available again, as there are indications that he may not be an ideal fit at Louisville.

But let's assume he's taken.

Let's also assume that Rick Majerus, who just quit at Utah due to health reasons, has coached his last game and isn't as interested in UNLV as he was a few years ago.

Who's left?

Lots of guys.

Among those who are head coaches today who have already had their names thrown into the hopper are Trent Johnson of Nevada-Reno, Mike Adras of Northern Arizona, Randy Bennett of St. Mary's (of California), Sidney Green of Florida Atlantic and Bob Huggins of Cincinnati.

Johnson gets a mention for doing a halfway decent job in Reno; Adras is a former Las Vegas resident and high-school coach whose team upset the Rebels earlier this season and wants the job; Bennett is viewed as a potential rising star; Green is another ex-Rebel who will actively pursue the vacancy; and Huggins is an established coaching star, albeit one with health issues of his own.

Also coaching today and under consideration, at least in a distant sense, is Jay Spoonhour, Charlie's son and the Rebels' current (and undefeated) head coach. But Jay would need to pull a Steve Fisher and take his team to a national championship, as Fisher did at Michigan in 1989 by going 6-0 in relief of Bill Freider, to get the UNLV job on a permanent basis.

Which brings us not so much to Freider, but to a handful of other coaches who are out of work yet likely to have an interest in coaching again if the right job came open. (And UNLV, only a dozen years removed from being a serious factor on the national scene, is very much a job with tremendous potential.)

Among those in this group presently cashing unemployment checks or working in ancillary roles as TV analysts, are Steve Lavin, Lon Kruger, Bobby Cremins, George Karl, Jim Harrick and, perhaps one that will surprise you but is worth a special note, Jim O'Brien.

Lavin is drawing a good deal of attention locally and most have his name at or near the top of the wish list. Others, recalling his troubles while coaching at UCLA, are dead-set against him and have already told Hamrick as much.

Kruger, a former coach at Illinois and with the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, had been with the New York Knicks as an assistant but is once again out of work. I don't know how seriously to take his candidacy.

Cremins' name cropped up during Tuesday's game, but the former Georgia Tech coach has been out of the business for a few years and would seem to be a long shot at best.

Karl is a former pro coach with tons of experience, but it's difficult to gauge his interest level from afar or whether Hamrick would even consider him.

Harrick is in a world of trouble after his coaching tenure at Georgia was interrupted by an assortment of inappropriate findings and allegations; he would not seem to be worth the risk for UNLV.

Last but not least in this preliminary assessment is O'Brien, formerly of the Boston Celtics and once a top assistant on Pitino's staff at Kentucky. I don't know the man and don't really know his history well enough to form an opinion, but he could be in the hunt.

So could several others, whose names will inevitably surface in the coming weeks and months.

But this much is known at this early stage: Hamrick has been inundated with phone calls pertaining to the UNLV coaching job for some time now (and long before Spoonhour stepped down) and he has no shortage of names and numbers in his Rolodex.

He has talked to men who are looking for work and he has heard their sometimes desperate stories, and he has George W.'s blessing to go ahead and hire one.