Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006 | 7:22 a.m.
COACH TOASTIES
Miami University in Ohio has its famous Cradle of Coaches, so named for Earl "Red" Blaik and Paul Brown and Woody Hayes and Bill Arnsparger and Weeb Ewbank and Sid Gilman and Ara Parseghian and Bo Schembechler and all the others who have coached football at the Mid-American Conference school.
UNLV produced Jim Strong. Remember him?
But the Rebels also have had three football coaches who have walked - or will walk - the sidelines as NFL head coaches. Maybe that's not exactly a cradle. Maybe it's more like a highchair of coaches. But at least it's something for a relatively young school more known for slam-dunks than touchdowns on which to hang its helmet.
In addition to John Robinson, who stopped at UNLV on the way down, the Rebels were largely responsible for Ron Meyer going on to SMU and ultimately becoming head coach of the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. And this weekend, Scott Linehan will make his NFL head-coaching debut with the St. Louis Rams.
Linehan spent only one season as quarterbacks coach at UNLV, probably because he served under the prickly Strong. But he didn't let that stop him. Or permanently scar him. After apprenticeships at Washington and Louisville, the former Idaho quarterback made the jump to the NFL where he was offensive coordinator under Mike Tice in Minnesota and Nick Saban in Miami.
But even more interesting, at least to me, is that he is actor Jim Caviezel's ("Passion of the Christ") brother-in-law. Their wives are sisters.
So if the Rams get off to a slow start and the fans in St. Louis want to nail him to the cross, Linehan won't have to look far for advice.
AROUND THE HORN
Anybody registering for the Dec. 10 Las Vegas Marathon before Oct. 1 will be offered a personalized running bib. "Elvis" already is taken. But "Wayne" and "Charo" are still available Former UNLV Rebel Ryan Braun has been promoted - if that's the right word - to the Kansas City Royals. Braun, who pitched for the Rebels in 2003, had a 2.16 earned-run average in 17 games for the Royals' Triple-A farm club in Omaha Boxing writer Ron Borges of the Boston Globe took the Nevada State Athletic Commission to task for slapping the wrist of Jose Luis Castillo for a (maximum) $250,000 fine but only a four-month suspension for twice failing to make weight against local Diego Corrales. "The commission should have suspended his boxing license for a year or more," wrote Borges, "but that might have affected a fight with Ricky Hatton, which means big money if it lands in Vegas." It was a rough weekend on the high school football field for the AOT (Almost Original Ten) as Cheyenne (41-7 over Spring Valley) and Chaparral (40-0 over Pahrump Valley) were the only winners among the inner-city schools. Two games that will help set the tone for the Sun's AOT championship are on tap this weekend as Desert Pines visits Clark and Valley plays at Cheyenne.
Number of Las Vegas 51s promoted to Los Angeles this season.
"I am thankful for my father giving me this game."
Andre Agassi
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