Rebels Football:

Revisit some of the pivotal moments in the Hauck era at UNLV

UNLV head football coach Bobby Hauck talks about new recruits during a news conference at UNLV Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014.

Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 | 2 a.m.

The Battle for the Fremont Cannon is in Las Vegas this week so Las Vegas Sun sports writers Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Taylor Bern predict its paint color and break down the basketball team's weekend in New York.

Nothing was surprising except maybe the timing. About 30 hours before the UNLV football team would kick off against UNR in the Fremont Cannon game, the university announced that coach Bobby Hauck was resigning effective Monday.

Mired in arguably the worst season of a mostly winless five-year tenure, Hauck’s departure means UNLV will now search for its 11th coach in program history. The university will give Hauck a one-time payment of $400,000 as opposed to the $700,000 over two years he would have been owed if UNLV fired him.

Throughout his time at UNLV, Hauck had a few highs to complement the many lows that come with a 15-48 overall record entering Saturday’s home game at 7:32 p.m. That included a couple of local recruiting battles plus many on-field highlights during 2013. However, pending Saturday's result that year could be the only one during his tenure that ends with more than two victories. Whether the players like you or not, that's not good enough.

Here’s a look at several of the headlines during UNLV’s Hauck era:

Steve Marcus
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UNLV hires Bobby Hauck

Dec. 23, 2009
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Two days before Christmas, Hauck was hired as the 10th coach in UNLV history. The five before him would all leave with sub-.500 records and Hauck joins them with the second-worst winning percentage (.238, pending Saturday’s game) of the group.

After seven strong seasons at Montana, which thrice made the Division I-AA championship under his watch, Hauck was the first hire for new UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood.

Here’s an impression from one of the then-current players at Hauck’s press conference:

“The No. 1 thing he said that gave me goose bumps was enthusiasm," said senior-to-be defensive lineman Malo Taumua, one of the team’s leaders. "That energy is going to help us get over the 5-7 (record) hump and to our goal of a bowl game."

After three two-win seasons Hauck would eventually lead the Rebels over that hump and into a bowl game, the Heart of Dallas Bowl on Jan. 1, 2014, for the first time since 2000.
Sam Morris

Rebels blown out by Southern Utah

Sept. 21, 2011

Hauck’s first season went about as expected for a first-year coach taking over a struggling program with five ranked teams on the schedule. However, it was the fourth game of his second season when the first major flag went up.

Coming off a big 40-20 home victory against Hawaii, UNLV got killed at home, 41-16, against Southern Utah. Quarterback Caleb Herring was dreadful, a trend that would get even worse in the following week’s shutout against UNR, and even as a bottom-tier Division I program getting blown out by a lower-division team was a big deal.

It was a problem that would pop up throughout Hauck’s tenure: In 2012 he lost at home to Northern Arizona, and this season it took everything the Rebels had to hold off Northern Colorado, which finished 10th in the Big Sky Conference. Montana finished third.
Sam Morris

Third straight two-win season ends at Hawaii

Nov. 24, 2012

Hauck’s third season was highlighted more by tough losses than blowouts, but still at the end there was an ugly 38-point loss at Hawaii, which had been arguably the only team worse than UNLV in the Mountain West.

Going into that game the calls to fire Hauck were already rather high, and this game only emboldened them. Even those who acknowledged the systemic issues in place couldn’t argue much in Hauck’s favor, but the coach had the most important person on his side: Livengood.

With an acknowledgement of UNLV’s struggling financials and looking at the two years remaining on Hauck’s deal, Livengood stood behind his guy. Livengood would exit the university in June 2013.
Sam Morris

Quarterback change sparks game, season

Sept. 14, 2013

Many were preparing Hauck’s UNLV obituary before the rally started. The Rebels were 0-2 after blowout losses and facing a 21-0 deficit at home against Central Michigan when Hauck benched sophomore quarterback Nick Sherry for Herring, who had been a receiver and backup quarterback since his disastrous turn at quarterback.

Something clicked, with Herring leading UNLV on a touchdown drive before halftime and then to one of the biggest comebacks in school history during a 31-21 victory. The Rebels’ season, and seemingly Hauck’s career, changed that night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Steve Marcus

Rebels paint the Fremont Cannon red

Oct. 26, 2013

The year before was brutal — UNLV’s big halftime lead disappeared in a 42-37 home loss — and this was a chance not only redemption for that game, but for the past eight in the series. The Rebels’ breakout season wouldn’t have felt the same if not for painting the Fremont Cannon red after a 27-22 victory at UNR.

The following Monday, Hauck and the Rebels rolled the cannon through campus to an event outside the student union. The main speakers at the quasi-pep rally were Hauck, President Neal Smatresk and then-interim Athletic Director Tina Kunzer-Murphy. Of the group, only Kunzer-Murphy remains at UNLV.
Sam Morris

Hauck agrees to new 3-year contract

Nov. 27, 2013

Standing just inside the entrance to Rebel Park while the Rebels prepared for the regular-season finale against San Diego State, Kunzer-Murphy announced a new contract for Hauck that would keep him under contract through the 2016 season.

Hauck had one year remaining on his current deal, so the impetus for giving him a new contract was not only to reward the production but also keep him from lame-duck status.

Speaking to the media after announcing Hauck’s resignation, Kunzer-Murphy still supported the decision.

“I absolutely think it was the right thing to do,” she said. “We made a commitment to UNLV football by rewarding our coach for something that nobody had done here in so many years.”

When asked that if she felt it was the right decision then why was Hauck resigning, Kunzer-Murphy said of the new deal “It comes with some expectations and those expectations weren’t met.”
L.E. Baskow

Rebels hit with APR ban

April 10, 2014

A problem that had been an issue for years came to the forefront this past offseason as the Rebels became the first Division I football program banned from the postseason for a low academic progress rate (APR) score.

Much like the total losses, this was an issue bigger than just Hauck but as the coach it ultimately fell on him. It’s a credit to UNLV academic support team that they went looking through the numbers again and found the needed points to lift the ban — that should have happened to begin with, but better late than never.

Only two players departed the program during the ban, which many took as a players vote of confidence in Hauck.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rebels take mantle as worst team in Mountain West

Nov. 1, 2014
The Rebel Room
Time for UNLV Football to Move On?
Following UNLV's home loss to lowly New Mexico, Las Vegas Sun reporters Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Taylor Bern discuss whether coach Bobby Hauck should stick around past this season.
The team Hauck often referred to as his best at UNLV was already off to a rough 2-6 start, but this was the tipping point. Kunzer-Murphy said Friday that it was the following week’s game, a 48-21 loss to Air Force a year after UNLV beat the Falcons by 20, that really let her know how big the gap had become, but at home against the lowly Lobos is a better place to start.

No matter how low things got, “There’s always the New Mexico game” was an acceptable optimistic view. That’s the only team in the current Mountain West that UNLV had a winning record against, and following this year’s 31-28 defeat the all-time series is now a tie at 11-11.

Before this game the losses were all lopsided but any home defeat, no matter the margin, against New Mexico was reason for worry. And when everything else was trending the wrong way, too, it felt like a change was coming.
Sam Morris

UNLV announces Hauck’s resignation

Nov. 28, 2014

So what’s next? For Hauck it will be another coaching gig, or a year off then another coaching gig. Hauck knows the game and he’s personable, so whether it’s back at Montana or as a coordinator somewhere through one of his many connections Hauck will find a landing spot in the coaching world.

For UNLV it can be a crossroads or another Band-Aid. Kunzer-Murphy said all the right things about understanding the systemic issues at UNLV and how far the facilities and perception must go in order to gain any kind of recruiting advantage, but enacting the necessary change is another matter.

The traditional routes for UNLV to explore are a coordinator looking for his first head-coaching job or an older coach looking to get back in the game, but a name floated for years that will get a look is Bishop Gorman High coach Tony Sanchez.

When Gorman grads Ron Scoggins and Marc Philippi flipped their commitments from New Mexico to UNLV on the night before signing day in 2012, it was considered a big development for the program. However, Hauck never recruited Gorman well and no Gaels committed after those two.

Gaining favor with the area’s best program, along with the potential financial support of the Fertitta family, could be big benefits for UNLV’s program.