After yet another disappointing start to the season for UNLV, the Runnin’ Rebels have announced a mutual separation with their head coach. In all reality, though, athletic director Tina Dunzer-Murphy had Dave Rice fired.
Rice, who was a reserve on UNLV’s 1990 title team, finished his career in Las Vegas with a record of 98-54, a run of four and a half seasons that included two NCAA Tournament berths in his first two seasons but nothing of any substance since then. In fact, since his team’s 25-10 record in 2012-2013, the Rebels failed to win more than 20 games despite consistently accruing the kind of recruiting talent that would make most Power 5 conference programs jealous.
UNLV signed 11 players ranked as a four-star prospect or higher in Rice’s tenure, including the likes of former No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick Anthony Bennett and current freshman–not to mention local high school legend–Stephen Zimmerman. Despite the talent, which some would say was easily the best in the Mountain West despite San Diego State’s similar recruiting prowess, Rice’s teams failed to finish higher than third in the MWC standings by year’s end in each season.
By the time Rice was clearly on his way out, the Rebels had become a model of inconsistency and underachievement, with many saying that the coaching staff had done less with more than anyone else in the country. As this year’s team moved to just 9-7 overall and 0-3 in MWC play after a road sweep at the hands of Colorado State and Wyoming, the administration had deemed the damage irreversible.
Associate head coach Todd Simon was tabbed as the interim coach for the remainder of the season and figures to be a candidate for the opening, though Dunzer-Murphy did say in a press conference that a national search will be underway for the position.
Simon led Findlay Prep, a national powerhouse prep program located just outside Las Vegas, for one season as head coach after spending the first six seasons as an assistant under head coach Michael Peck. Simon’s lone season running the show resulted in 35 wins and the unanimous pick as the No. 1 team in high school basketball, with that win total being the highest ever posted by a school finishing first in the rankings. With that much success, Rice thought it valuable to bring Simon back to UNLV, where Simon had served as a video assistant from 2004-06 under then head coach Lon Kruger.
While a full list of candidates has yet to be determined, one has to think that the UNLV job will be among the most attractive in the country. The administration spares no expense with regards to resources or facilities and previous staffs have established that Las Vegas is still a prime destination for some of the country’s top high school talent. What remains to be seen, though, is whether or not a staff can capitalize on that appeal through player development. As a top two job in the conference, one has to assume that the administration will first start by trying to lure attractive high-major head coaches before moving on.
No matter the jabs taken at the program recently, “Dave Rice Fired” is not a headline that anyone wishes to read. However, winning is king in college basketball no matter the level, no matter alumnus status.
