Bern’s-Eye View: Possible candidates for UNLV’s next basketball coach

By Taylor Bern

Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 | 12:58 p.m.

UNLV nearly made a coaching change in March, and if they had, it’s very possible Ben Howland would be coaching here instead of Mississippi State. But instead, the program leaders decided to give Dave Rice more time, and now that time has run out. So what’s next?

Third-year assistant coach Todd Simon will take over as the interim coach for the remainder of the season. This could change, especially with a big run, but the early indication is that neither Simon nor UNLV Athletics Director Tina Kunzer-Murphy are looking at this as a probable jumping-off point to the full-time gig.

Assuming the Rebels perform a full national search — and since they’re looking for a splashy hire, that’s likely a requirement — here are a few names that have or likely will have a role in the search:

Mike Brown

• Brown’s last appearance as coach was a brief one, when the Cleveland Cavaliers brought him back three years after firing him and ended up firing him again after one season in 2014.

Overall, Brown was an NBA coach for eight years (six with the Cavaliers and two with the Los Angeles Lakers), which followed eight years as an assistant. The 2009 NBA Coach of the Year has been just a spectator the last two years as he’s been trying to find his way back into coaching.

Brown’s oldest son, Elijah, is a sophomore at New Mexico, where he’s averaging a team-leading 19.3 points per game. Could both father and son make an appearance at the Mack on Tuesday night?

Dan Majerle

• Following a 14-year NBA playing career, Majerle was an assistant with the Phoenix Suns before taking over at Grand Canyon University in its first season of Division I basketball. This year, the Antelopes are 15-2 with victories against San Diego State and Houston, and they went to the CIT each of the previous two seasons.

Steve Lavin

• The former UCLA and St. John’s coach is back in the broadcast booth after the Red Storm ended his five-year tenure last March. Lavin went 81-53 at St. John’s and 145-78 over seven years at UCLA, a run that included five appearances in the Sweet Sixteen.

Lavin is working for FS1, which is based out of Los Angeles.

Steve Henson

• Henson has followed former Rebels coach Lon Kruger to several of his stops since joining Kruger’s staff in 1999 at Illinois, including seven years as a UNLV assistant. Being part of Kruger’s successful staff at Oklahoma only helps his case.

Tim Floyd

• Floyd has had a history with NCAA issues, so that could end up being too much of risk, but the former NBA coach has generally won at his college stops, too. Floyd had success at Iowa State and USC, although UTEP (10-7) hasn’t won Conference USA or made an NCAA Tournament in Floyd’s five-plus seasons.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.