This isn’t pouring salt on our wounds but how solid is this?!?!
The improvement of Pitino’s teams
- Thread starter bcvegaspt2
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This isn’t pouring salt on our wounds but how solid is this?!?!
Going on 30 years now, UNLV has never been comfortable in its own skin. Instead of embracing their identity that is in line with Las Vegas as a whole, UNLV has wanted to see itself more like a "Harvard of the West" or some strange moral standard as if we are BYU. I loved Lon and thankful for his contribution but UNLV has always been a bit renegade at its core not conventional.
We had opportunities to hire Rick Pitino in 2017-2021 but we chose to play it "safe" whatever the hell that meant. Instead it turns out it wasn't safe at all and we ended up wasting a decade of the program. Sadly, I don't think UNLV and its leadership has ever taken time to be reflective and take stock of who it actually is and who it is not. This identity angst leads to UNLV spinning its wheels and making the wrong hires over and over again.
I hope Harper can break the cycle for the basketball program but I'm not hopeful.
We had opportunities to hire Rick Pitino in 2017-2021 but we chose to play it "safe" whatever the hell that meant. Instead it turns out it wasn't safe at all and we ended up wasting a decade of the program. Sadly, I don't think UNLV and its leadership has ever taken time to be reflective and take stock of who it actually is and who it is not. This identity angst leads to UNLV spinning its wheels and making the wrong hires over and over again.
I hope Harper can break the cycle for the basketball program but I'm not hopeful.
Great post, I feel the same way. I prefer the renegade. I like the Rebel. I like being despised by all but our own. It’s a unique and endearing identity to me.
With football, there is no established identity aside from a culture of losing. So it’s a blank slate in terms of style of play, attitude, demeanor.l, etc.
UNLV is still embarrassed by its past, unless they can cherry pick elements of pride that help the now, but as a whole, they like the woke, safe, stable, smiley, kumbaya. The wins and losses don’t matter as long as we don’t cause scandalous embarrassment, like Tark did, like a Pitino might.
If you shun the past, you shun the good and the bad.
And now we are left with overall irrelevance.
Yeah, Harper did such a shitty job hiring football coaches!
I am guessing you must be in charge of the athletic department? The same thing was said in regards to football, and he found millions more for the last two football coaches! From what I have read Dedan Thomas JR may have had a fairly good NIL deal, and it also appear UNLV has an NIL deal in basketball that would put them at the top of the MWC!
