Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

DULY NOTED

TROTTING THE GLOBE AND BACK AGAIN

He was once director of basketball operations at UNLV under Bill Bayno, which under normal circumstances would probably be enough for Barry Rohrssen to have his name mentioned in this space - especially now that he's headed for his first head coaching opportunity, at Manhattan in his native New York.

But did you know that Rohrssen also played for the Washington Generals?

That moves him to the top of the batting order today.

I suppose playing the straight guy for the Harlem Globetrotters was the proper prerequisite for working under Bayno, who made a lot of basketball fans around here laugh, too, although it had nothing to do with hurling a bucket of confetti into the crowd.

Rohrssen, who recruited the New York City area as an assistant at Pitt under Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon, once was voted "Funniest Coach of the Year" by CBS SportsLine.com. He also had a small part in the movie "Glengarry Glen Ross." He played "Police Officer 2" in a scene with Al Pacino, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris and Jack Lemmon.

There were a lot of Oscar nominees on the set that day. But only one guy who got punked by Geese Ausbie.

CELL-ING OUT AT FRESNO STATE

Fresno State's basketball team went back on probation this week - and this time Jerry Tarkanian had nothing to do with it.

The Bulldogs received probation under Tark in 2002 and 2003 for violations stemming from academic fraud and illegal payments between agents and players. Now they've been put on double-secret NCAA probation (four years) for exceeding the number of allowable phone calls to recruits.

The NCAA limit is one call per week. Then-Fresno coach Ray Lopes and his staff went slightly over that. They made 457 illegal calls to recruits from April 2002 to October 2004.

Steve Cleveland, the ex-BYU coach, took over the Bulldogs' program when Lopes resigned in March 2005. It can be assumed he was not issued a cell phone.

0

The number of football games that Bryant Gumbel, the new play-by-play voice of the NFL Network, has called during his 30-year career in broadcasting.

43.73

The 400-meter dash time of Silverado High grad Eric Hendricks while running for Southern Utah at Utah State last week, the second- fastest time in SUU history.

5

Number of times in the past eight years that the last player picked in the NFL draft has hailed from the Mountain West.

TRIBBLE BREWING AT CENTRAL FLORIDA

Former UNLV associate athletic director Keith Tribble has resigned as the Orange Bowl's chief executive officer, a position he held for 13 years, to become athletic director at Central Florida.

It makes you wonder why UNLV didn't inquire about Tribble's availability when it was looking for an athletic director a couple of years ago.

In 2003, Tribble was named the 23rd Most Influential Minority in Sports by Sports Illustrated.

Another former Rebel is thought to be the heir apparent to Tribble at the Orange Bowl. Eric Poms, a former marketing executive at UNLV, went on to become the chief operating officer of the Orange Bowl and is expected to move up on the company stationery.

INS AND (MOSTLY) OUTS OF WNBA SCRIMMAGE

There have been some changes regarding the WNBA scrimmage that is coming to the Tarkanian Basketball Academy on Monday.

The Phoenix Mercury and Diana Taurasi are out.

So is former UNLV star Linda Frohlich, who has not yet reported to training camp with her new team, the Indiana Fever.

And access to the scrimmage is out, too.

The defending WNBA-champion Sacramento Monarchs, Indiana Fever and Detroit Shock will take part in a "controlled scrimmage," which basically means it is closed to the public

Venerable college football announcer Keith Jackson:

"I don't want to die in a stadium parking lot."

A BIG BIRD TOLD ME ...

... that Karen Weitz is returning to Southern Nevada, most likely to coach the Centennial High girls, whom she guided to four consecutive state basketball championships before spending last season at Pacific as an assistant and then interim head coach ... that there have been introductory talks to bring together the Ultimate Fighting Championship and PRIDE mixed martial arts tours for a night of serious fisticuffs at Sam Boyd Stadium ... that Russell Martin, one of two French-speaking catchers on the 51s' roster, could be headed to Los Angeles in a hurry if Dodgers backstop Dioner Navarro doesn't start throwing out baserunners (0-for-13 through Thursday) or becoming one himself (.228 batting average).

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