I had been blacklisted for over a year and unable to post for a reason I couldn't even figure out but I am going to try to give a civil breakdown of all of the problems caused by UNLV and Dave Rice. Some of these are Coach Rice's fault, some are the athletic administrators fault, and some are the fault of the fans.
1st: Loyalty: UNLV is a loyal school to their alumni and want their alumni to be involved with UNLV. This is especially true of the basketball program and people from the Tarkanian era. While I was at the time a huge fan of the hire of Coach Rice, looking back, we may have been better off hiring someone outside the program. Coach Rice made a goal to emulate the style of Coach Tarkanian. Unfortunately in today's college, that style of play is difficult with advanced scouting and the fact that there are very few teams that will ever be as loaded as Coach Tark's teams. Every year we were promised "let's run" but it turned into "let's run poor half court offense." Good coaches adjust their style based on the players they have on their team. Good coaches do not all out commit to playing a certain style if they do not have the proper players to execute. One of Coach Rice's biggest downfalls is that he committed to be loyal to a style that he does not have the right players to play and does not seem competent to coach.
2nd: Roster: Dave Rice recruits two types of players. Elite 4 and 5 star high school kids and disgruntled transfers from other D1 programs. Elite 4 and 5 star high school kids have been used to being told they are "the man" for the past 3 years. Many of them have aspirations of playing professionally in the NBA or over seas. At least at UNLV, Coach Rice has seemed to have issues getting all of these elite players to play together which has resulted in poor team chemistry, poor shot selection, and players transferring. The other type of player that Coach Rice has recruited is the player who has been at another division one program and has transferred because they have been upset. It seems like many of these players bring their problems to UNLV and when they know they only have one year to play, they become selfish and make sure they get their shots every night. Combined this with a bunch of incoming freshmen who have no intention in staying for more than 1 or 2 years and we get our current roster. I would much rather have a team of 2 and 3 star guys who will stay for 4 years put together with 1 or 2 elite players. That would give us much better team chemistry. Our players are good players but they are not a good team and I don't think Dave Rice has the right leadership skills to get them to all buy in and work together.
3rd: Fan Support: UNLV fan support is great. We are in the top 25 of the nation every year in attendance and the fans are loud during the games. As long as UNLV keeps filling 12,000+ in the Thomas and Mack every year the administration will not feel the pressure to bring in an elite coach. This is UNLV. This should be a top 10 coaching job that every coach should want. Instead of bringing in an experienced, winning coach, we took a chance on an unproven head coach that we thought had potential. They were able to do this because they know that no matter what happens there will always be 12,000 people at the Thomas and Mack.
I haven't liked Dave Rice as a coach since his second year. Dave Rice is a good guy, a great recruiter, and has a great basketball mind. He tried to implement his vision but so far it has failed miserably. Some people have great minds and make great assistants but fail when it comes to leadership. Dave Rice is one of those people. Even with the hiring of Max Good UNLV was unable to fix their coaching problems. I would let Coach Rice finish the season and either accept his resignation, assign him to a different position in the athletic program, or fire him.
UNLV then needs to begin a national search that involves every candidate. We should reach high and contact coaches from major college basketball programs as well as top assistants and see who can return our program to the glory days. UNLV fans also should not be bitter towards Coach Rice. Coach Rice is a great guy, who loves this university, but unfortunately he is not the right guy for the job. While the execution of his leadership skills have been bad, it has not been due to lack of effort.
Go Rebels!
1st: Loyalty: UNLV is a loyal school to their alumni and want their alumni to be involved with UNLV. This is especially true of the basketball program and people from the Tarkanian era. While I was at the time a huge fan of the hire of Coach Rice, looking back, we may have been better off hiring someone outside the program. Coach Rice made a goal to emulate the style of Coach Tarkanian. Unfortunately in today's college, that style of play is difficult with advanced scouting and the fact that there are very few teams that will ever be as loaded as Coach Tark's teams. Every year we were promised "let's run" but it turned into "let's run poor half court offense." Good coaches adjust their style based on the players they have on their team. Good coaches do not all out commit to playing a certain style if they do not have the proper players to execute. One of Coach Rice's biggest downfalls is that he committed to be loyal to a style that he does not have the right players to play and does not seem competent to coach.
2nd: Roster: Dave Rice recruits two types of players. Elite 4 and 5 star high school kids and disgruntled transfers from other D1 programs. Elite 4 and 5 star high school kids have been used to being told they are "the man" for the past 3 years. Many of them have aspirations of playing professionally in the NBA or over seas. At least at UNLV, Coach Rice has seemed to have issues getting all of these elite players to play together which has resulted in poor team chemistry, poor shot selection, and players transferring. The other type of player that Coach Rice has recruited is the player who has been at another division one program and has transferred because they have been upset. It seems like many of these players bring their problems to UNLV and when they know they only have one year to play, they become selfish and make sure they get their shots every night. Combined this with a bunch of incoming freshmen who have no intention in staying for more than 1 or 2 years and we get our current roster. I would much rather have a team of 2 and 3 star guys who will stay for 4 years put together with 1 or 2 elite players. That would give us much better team chemistry. Our players are good players but they are not a good team and I don't think Dave Rice has the right leadership skills to get them to all buy in and work together.
3rd: Fan Support: UNLV fan support is great. We are in the top 25 of the nation every year in attendance and the fans are loud during the games. As long as UNLV keeps filling 12,000+ in the Thomas and Mack every year the administration will not feel the pressure to bring in an elite coach. This is UNLV. This should be a top 10 coaching job that every coach should want. Instead of bringing in an experienced, winning coach, we took a chance on an unproven head coach that we thought had potential. They were able to do this because they know that no matter what happens there will always be 12,000 people at the Thomas and Mack.
I haven't liked Dave Rice as a coach since his second year. Dave Rice is a good guy, a great recruiter, and has a great basketball mind. He tried to implement his vision but so far it has failed miserably. Some people have great minds and make great assistants but fail when it comes to leadership. Dave Rice is one of those people. Even with the hiring of Max Good UNLV was unable to fix their coaching problems. I would let Coach Rice finish the season and either accept his resignation, assign him to a different position in the athletic program, or fire him.
UNLV then needs to begin a national search that involves every candidate. We should reach high and contact coaches from major college basketball programs as well as top assistants and see who can return our program to the glory days. UNLV fans also should not be bitter towards Coach Rice. Coach Rice is a great guy, who loves this university, but unfortunately he is not the right guy for the job. While the execution of his leadership skills have been bad, it has not been due to lack of effort.
Go Rebels!
