Columnist Ron Kantowski: A nice guy at UNLV who deserves better than to finish last

Monday, Nov. 21, 2005 | 7:54 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

During my 18 years on and around the UNLV football beat, the Rebels have had five coaches. Four were nice guys. One was a horse's backside.

None, unfortunately, were winners.

First there was Wayne Nunnely. He coached the Rebels for four seasons (1986-89), most of which ended with 4-7 records. In fact, I used to tease him that if he ever got into the convenience store business after football, he should call his stores 4 and-7-Elevens.

But he was a class act who never had to get into the convenience store business. UNLV actually did Nunnely a favor when it fired him, as he has gone on to become a highly respected NFL assistant coach with the San Diego Chargers.

Then there was Jim Strong. Mister Warmth. His record in four seasons: 17-27. His legacy: Rubbing everybody he met the wrong way.

But at least Strong made things easier for successor Jeff Horton. First, Strong used his ties to Notre Dame (he was offensive coordinator under Lou Holtz) to recruit some good players. Horton coached them much better than Strong did, as UNLV went 7-5 in his first year with a lineup comprised mostly of Strong's leftovers.

Strong was so universally detested that it took a long time for somebody around here to notice that UNLV finished 2-9, 1-11, 3-8 and 0-11 after the players Strong had recruited were gone.

Finally, Horton was gone, too. He was/is another class act who has resurrected his coaching career as a top assistant for Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin.

Horton was replaced by John Robinson, a living legend. In addition to being that, he also was a heck of a nice guy, for somebody who has been to the top of the coaching mountain. And then, thanks to his years at UNLV, back down again.

Robinson had one winning season and one break-even season in five years. Only UNLV can turn a living legend into a mere mortal. Citing health problems four games into last year's 2-9 season, he announced plans to retire at the end of it. Maybe he was just sick and tired of losing.

So that brings us to Mike Sanford, the latest nice guy to coach the Rebels. Sanford is so well-liked by those on the periphery of the program that when the weekly luncheon in his office with the print media was put on hiatus by the end of the season, the print media reached into its collective pocket to keep it going for another week.

Outside of a misplaced daily double ticket, when was the last time the print media reached into its collective wallet for anything?

Other than about four more victories, Sanford is everything a sports writer could want in a football coach. Regardless of how you criticize him or his team -- and there certainly were a lot of ways to do it this year -- he doesn't hold it against you.

He'll usually say something about "you guys have a job to do." Then he'll ask you to pass the red beans and rice.

So in retrospect, if there's anything I regret about his first year on the job, it's when I said that before it started there was nowhere to go but up. I -- and he -- certainly didn't expect the Rebels to go sideways.

I thought the Rebels would win four games. And had quarterback Shane Steichen not gotten injured in mid-September, I believe they would have.

Had the Rebels gone 4-7 in Sanford's first year, nobody would be questioning his ability to coach. Or whether he's the right guy to turn around this forlorn program.

We'd just be asking him to pass the red beans and rice.