Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | 10 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
Granted, this wasn't the place where the dissenters were going to meet. There weren't going to be signs protesting the hiring of Lon Kruger as the new head coach of the Rebels at the news conference announcing his hiring.
But the audience had its objective members, myself included, I'd like to believe. So it wasn't as if UNLV president Carol Harter and athletic director Mike Hamrick were preaching to the choir.
Yet, seemingly without fail, everyone who saw Kruger introduced Monday left with the belief that he was a good hire and that the program is at least in competent hands. As important, there was a notion that perhaps he can succeed where Rollie Massimino, Bill Bayno and Charlie Spoonhour at least marginally failed and bring the Rebels back to among the nation's elite.
"This is a place where you can win," Kruger said of taking over the reins at UNLV, where the men's basketball team once went to nine straight (1983-91) NCAA tournaments.
The man who took those teams to those tournaments was among the spectators as Harter, Hamrick and Kruger took their bows. Jerry Tarkanian roamed the back of the room, drew plaudits from Kruger and Hamrick for his achievements, and told just about anyone who would listen that the new coach will be a good one.
So did former UNLV athletic director Brad Rothermel, who came out in support of Kruger early in the process and was elated to actually see him get the job.
"He'll always teach the devil out of his teams and he has the ability to adapt to the talent he has at hand," Rothermel said. "He was a great athlete, he has been a great coach and I think he'll do real well here."
Kruger acknowledged that Rothermel steered him this direction.
"He said he thought (filling the UNLV opening) was a good fit and that got our attention," Kruger said, including his wife, Barbara, in the equation.
You couldn't help but feel Kruger deserves a fair, unbiased and nonprejudicial start at his new job even if you didn't feel the need to join in the standing ovation he received as he was welcomed to the podium.
Kruger, 51, clearly has the greatest capacity and potential of any of the men who have succeeded Tarkanian, whose dismissal in 1992 sent the Rebels reeling from NCAA tournament mainstay to a level only slightly above mediocrity. Massimino was a dismal failure and suffered a lack of personality; Bayno came in fresh and vibrant but left chastised and beaten; and Spoonhour did only what he intended to do, which was keep the program out of trouble and coach long enough that he could retire and kiss the business goodbye.
Kruger arrives with an optimistic flare and a background that not only reflects success but implies that he can do it again. When he says "I'm excited about what exists here" it's a sign to UNLV fans that the man believes he can succeed and can do it without drastic changes in personnel or a new arena, as some incoming coaches blatantly suggest will be required.
And for those who have been expressing a fear that he will implement a slow-down offense that has never been embraced here, Kruger put them at ease.
"It's exactly how we like to play," he said of the uptempo style the Rebels have taken in recent weeks, or since Charlie Spoonhour was succeeded by his son Jay as interim coach.
"We'll recruit guys who can play that way," Kruger added, referring to the newcomers he'll look to sign to join Romel Beck, Jerel Blassingame and Odartey Blankson on next season's team.
Recruiting (and finalizing a staff) are his most urgent tasks, but, as Harter said, Kruger arrives "with the ability to hit the ground running." He'll focus on the recruits the current staff has already courted, and look to see what he can pick up from the Southern California high school and junior college circuits.
Hamrick, whose reputation is at stake with this hire, was not only encouraging in his assessment of Kruger but matter of fact as well.
"We've got to go get some players," he said, knowing current UNLV starters and big men J.K. Edwards and James Peters are about to depart.
Further, Hamrick is entrusting Kruger to fulfill every UNLV fan's goal, saying "We want to go back to the top (and) we know it can be done."
Of course it can be done. And as Kruger takes control of the program, he does so knowing this: If he fails to get it done, that harmonious intro he enjoyed Monday will have been long since forgotten by the time he cleans out his office.
Las Vegas is ready for a new king but it also has little tolerance for imposters.
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