Columnist Dean Juipe: Coaches don’t want to give cash to state

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 | 9:29 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.

Back from a few days of anything but R&R with some notes that have been piling up and a healthy dose of indignation.

For starters, let me speak on behalf of the coaching staffs at UNLV and Nevada-Reno and express the bewilderment if not outright disdain for a proposal drafted by a UNR professor that's headed for the Board of Regents. The prof's prop asks that every ticket for every sporting event on both campuses go up by a buck and that those dollars be earmarked for academics. Political correctness may keep the coaches from saying so, but here's their general reaction: We work too hard scrounging for the extra money it takes to run a sports program to have a ticket surcharge go to anything but athletics; let academia provide for academics. The idea should be voted down.

Speaking of wacky guys from Reno, two months after insisting he wouldn't use his success as coach of the Wolf Pack basketball team to further his own cause (beyond the five-year, $2.2 million contract extension he received) Trent Johnson left the school Tuesday for Stanford. Not that coaching the Cardinal isn't a better job, but Johnson shouldn't have sworn his undying allegiance to UNR during contract negotiations that privately included an "out" clause that only he could exercise. ... Former major league infielder Tim Flannery, who managed the Las Vegas Stars (now 51s) in 1995 and who strummed a guitar in his spare time, has released a second CD of self-penned songs. Entitled "Kentucky Towns," the disc is available at Tower Records.

The mock survey pertaining to Nevada's sports appetite, favorites and history that ran in the Sun earlier this month was better than the real one Sports Illustrated recently offered, if I do say so myself. We had Bob Maxson, who ran off Jerry Tarkanian as UNLV basketball coach, as the "Enemy Of The State" while SI suffered a brain cramp and named Tarkanian the "Enemy Of The State" for some bizarre reason. "My gosh," Tarkanian said Tuesday from Riverside, Calif., when apprised of the SI zinger. "Isn't that incredible? I've never been treated better in Las Vegas and I've always been pretty popular in Reno, so I don't get it." Me neither. ... Radio host Joe Chevalier has moved back to Las Vegas and is in the process of reorganizing his national show, which will once again be stationed here.

The British will bet on anything, as proven by the William Hill Bookmakers' annual "Man vs. Horse Marathon" event that will be June 12 in Llanwrtyd Wells, England. The competition pits 300 runners against 30 horses (and riders) over 22 miles, and bettors can wager on either side or on individual participants. ... NBC and the Arena Football League may have extended their TV deal through 2006, but a caller (and supposed expert on the league) says the television network isn't doing the AFL a bit of good. He wants features and profiles on the players and not shots of the zany antics the teams present on the field and in the stands during breaks in the play. From what I've seen of the AFL on NBC, I'd agree.

Eliminated in the opening round of the French Open this week, Andre Agassi might now turn his attention to selling a home (and sprawling compound) he owns in Tiburon, Calif. that is on the market. The villa, on a hilltop in the Bay Area, has something of everything including a hefty asking price: $24.5 million. Let's see Jerome Haehnel handle that.