It is an interesting discussion. It works for both football and basketball really.
A lot of discussion how a coach for either program is almost doomed as soon as they get here due to all of failures that proceeded them.
I fully agree that it seems like there is something going on.
But on the other hand, once they get the job it's on them to make it work. They hire their own guys. They have to recruit and coach these players. They may not have all the resources as many programs, but they have a decent amount. Most coaches have been given enough time to make it work.
The administration doesn't do that much other than hire them, give them a budget, and sit back.
You can't blame the administration for a defense that gets lost, for a team that falls apart in the second half. For players looking lost of the field/court.
Agreed, regardless of whatever the situation is, coaches have to overcome. Whether it’s budgetary onstraints, a general lack of support from admin and/or fans, substandard facilities (football), etc, etc, etc. A lot of that is beyond a coaches control and existed before they got here; the coaches still control between the lines.
So it’s no single issue that leads to failure here. But I think we’d all agree, the better you are setup, the easier it is to succeed. UNLV is hamstrung out of the gate, but coaches are still paid to perform. Just get at it. Do it.
But especially with football, when nobody has ever succeeded, you have to look deeper than just coaches.
Basketball to a lesser extent, but it’s still pretty obvious. Tark smashed all barriers and is an extreme outlier and fluke for this school. Outside of him, has any coach “succeeded”? Kruger? Perhaps, but Muss will probably accomplish more in these two seasons than Kruger did over his UNLV career. Kruger nothing, nothing, S16, R32, 1 and done, 1 and done... Muss nothing, nothing, S16, ?)
So if UNLV football has “failed” and UNLV basketball has “failed” we are either extremely unlucky or we are broken.
