Now in LV, Gaines would pass on UNLV job

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 10:22 a.m.

With a top-10-rated schedule and more success, coach Quin Snyder is bound for the NCAAs during a season of turmoil.

The Scoop -- The top two teams in the Big 12 face off in Stillwater, where senior forwards Jason Miller and Ivan McFarlin should feel very comfortable -- both are among the league's top-five shooters, Miller (second) at .607 and McFarlin (fifth) at .571. Oklahoma State won, by five points, in Texas last month, and we believe a Saturday game against Texas Tech will wear out the 'Horns.

Prediction (5-5) -- Oklahoma State 89, Texas 86, OT.

UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick is seeking a veteran, proven coach who has NCAA tournament experience to run the Rebels.

He can save one phone call, because David "Smokey" Gaines isn't interested.

"I don't need all that," said Gaines, a former University of Detroit and San Diego State coach. "But I can help with the X's and O's, recruiting and discipline. I would love to do that. But, as far as being a head coach ...

"I would love to be an assistant coach, if I could help someone. Today, these kids want to be disciplined. And I look at teams playing today, man, and half these kids aren't even in shape. That's why they lose games."

Gaines, 63, played for the Harlem Globetrotters and had a stint with the Kentucky Colonels of the old ABA. A Detroit native, he moved to Las Vegas in November to become the director of celebrity golf tournaments for CMX.

His most recent hoops foray was with the San Diego StingRays, as coach and then vice president, of the now-defunct International Basketball League team. He is a regular at the Thomas & Mack Center for UNLV games.

In the preseason, he marveled over the team's talent and potential. Inconsistency, Gaines said, plagued the Rebels until Charlie Spoonhour's sudden resignation as coach early last week.

"If I had the team, I would get the ball to (Romel) Beck more," Gaines said. "I think they've overlooked Beck a lot. If you got a horse, ride him. I don't think they've ridden that horse enough.

"With Beck, he can be a superstar. But they have to go to him more. He can shoot, and he'll get more confidence. You have to make him feel like a superstar, and I don't think they make him feel that way."

At Detroit, Gaines tutored Terry Duerod and Earl Cureton. In 1998, the Titans made their first trip to the NCAAs in 19 years, since Gaines took them to the promised land.

At San Diego State, he recruited Michael Cage and Anthony Watson, the top two scorers in Aztecs history. He also wooed Tony Gwynn, whose 590 assists have stood as the program's career record for 23 seasons.

Gaines said Rebels point guard Jerel Blassingame plays like a mirror image of Gwynn, a lefty, did in many ways.

Under Gaines, SDSU went to its only NCAA appearance during a 25-year dearth in 1985, when it lost to UNLV, 85-80, in the first round in Salt Lake City. Armon Gilliam, with 21 points and 10 rebounds, led the way for the Rebels.

Gaines believes either former Rebels player Reggie Theus (although that might originate more from ESPN analyst Dick Vitale yapping in Gaines' ear) or former UCLA coach and current ESPN analyst Steve Lavin would be good fits for UNLV.

"Reggie is a guy who is very popular," Gaines said. "He's good people. I would think, with his inexperience, he would surround himself with good people, mix it with a little old and a little new.

"I think Steve Lavin would be ideal, too. One thing about Steve, he can recruit. And he has good rapport with his players. That's important, too."

Gaines might not mind getting a call from either Theus or Lavin, or whoever gets the UNLV gig.

"Some guys, like (Duke coach Mike) Krzyzewski, have had older guys on the bench," Gaines said. "It's not a shame to have (an older) guy on the bench, but Steve Lavin or Reggie would make a real good coach."

As long as there's flash, a la Jerry Tarkanian, according to Gaines. The program and its rabid fans deserve nothing less.

"They need a Showtime coach, somebody who's out there, flashy, and can bring the people back to the arena," he said. "If they can get the right people, they can pack that arena again. Either Lavin or Theus would be the choice, for me.

"Las Vegas is Showtime. Bring the show back. Get the lights on and jam pack (the Mack). Ol' Tark used to have that, and that's what Vegas is. This is Showtime, know what I mean? You have to have players who can put on a show for people."

Rick Pitino has supposedly kicked himself a time or two since he added Theus to his Louisville staff before this season.

Neither Lon Kruger nor George Karl, elite coaches, need the money or the frustration of losing games in Laramie, Wyo., or at the Air Force Academy. Thus, watch the trickle-down theory affect Hamrick's search.

To that tune, we recommend a resume update in about two years or so, Mr. Hamrick. Dr. Carol Harter, the UNLV president, would be wise to heed that advice, too.

Then the ball continues to bounce their way and they win a once or twice, or more, where it matters most, on the game's grandest stage. Madness. Hamrick will not entertain conversation about such thoughts, but he would most definitely find himself in a bind.

And in the current state of the game, much crazier scenarios have, and will, happen. Lavin experienced that as an interim boss at UCLA, nearly taking the Bruins to the Final Four after Jim Harrick's ouster. Then-athletic director Pete Dalis was left with no choice but to hire Lavin permanently.

UNLV players relish running under interim coach Jay Spoonhour's wide-open style, and the reception at the Mack for the last few games has been raucous. If the Rebels were to somehow advance to the Sweet 16, or beyond, Spoon Jr. would have to be retained.