The RJ's UAB article

[willlevi]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/football/uab-decision-football-program-could-affect-unlv

My primary reason I have been a bit opinionated at times about the hype that some loyal fans have shown about the Sanchez hire is because I have a feeling that this could be an all-in gamble by the athletic administration that ends with discussion about going the UAB route.
The first thought that entered my mind when Hauck stepped down was that Sanchez maybe next in line but logic told me that it would not be a sensible. There was an FCS job he was expected to lock in that didn't materialize after the program pulled off a winning season leaving UNLV as the next target.
The one thing I can say is that Sanchez is an excellent face guy that has adjusted well to the spotlight during his stay at Gorman. He is good with social media and has put in great effort towards re-branding the program. He shows the leadership and organization skills that impress.
That said, the hire is still a long shot that, if it fails, is not a reflection on the program potential.
Sanchez sported just two undefeated seasons on the high school level prior to the hire, coaching a school that had an overwhelming amount of talent compared to the public school they faced. The majority of high school games won were against team that were incapable of fielding a team capable of challenging the depth Bishop Gorman brought to the table.
Cotton and Baer had stops at name schools but neither have a history of being consistently successful during their previous stops as coordinators with just 4 total bowl games during their careers as offensive or defensive coordinators in 46 combined seasons.
I can see the positives and but I also see the negatives. I feel this process should be accepted for high risk chance it is. We can maintain a high expectation but failure shouldn't end the program. Hopefully Sanchez is a magic man that nullifies any discussion.

 

[Rebel1986]

I really do not see any negatives from Sanchez as coach.

He may or may not be able to bring wins to the program, but what he has already done is a major upgrade in both facilities and interest in the program by the residence of Las Vegas

I also expect in the next couple of years we will see the construction of a new training facility.

No matter what happens things will turn around.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/football/uab-decision-football-program-could-affect-unlv

My primary reason I have been a bit opinionated at times about the hype that some loyal fans have shown about the Sanchez hire is because I have a feeling that this could be an all-in gamble by the athletic administration that ends with discussion about going the UAB route.
The first thought that entered my mind when Hauck stepped down was that Sanchez maybe next in line but logic told me that it would not be a sensible. There was an FCS job he was expected to lock in that didn't materialize after the program pulled off a winning season leaving UNLV as the next target.
The one thing I can say is that Sanchez is an excellent face guy that has adjusted well to the spotlight during his stay at Gorman. He is good with social media and has put in great effort towards re-branding the program. He shows the leadership and organization skills that impress.
That said, the hire is still a long shot that, if it fails, is not a reflection on the program potential.
Sanchez sported just two undefeated seasons on the high school level prior to the hire, coaching a school that had an overwhelming amount of talent compared to the public school they faced. The majority of high school games won were against team that were incapable of fielding a team capable of challenging the depth Bishop Gorman brought to the table.
Cotton and Baer had stops at name schools but neither have a history of being consistently successful during their previous stops as coordinators with just 4 total bowl games during their careers as offensive or defensive coordinators in 46 combined seasons.
I can see the positives and but I also see the negatives. I feel this process should be accepted for high risk chance it is. We can maintain a high expectation but failure shouldn't end the program. Hopefully Sanchez is a magic man that nullifies any discussion.

Will-

1)If this is an 'all-in' gamble as you say, I say good, finally. The program has been stagnant for far to long. NOTHING has been done to improve it since the Robinson days and adding some seats to the Silver Bowl. I would rather they take this shot then continue down the path of mediocrity we have been on for far to long. While I never want to see the program go the UAB route, it was heading that direction regardless if things didn't change. I also think you are missing huge things that are currently happening. Basketball just got an amazing complex, baseball just got a state of the art clubhouse, and now football is in the process of getting a new practice facility. These are not the moves of a program looking to fold up the tents. All of these moves are being made to make UNLV a more attractive addition to a Power 5 conference down the road.

2)The Robinson hire was sensible. The Sanford hire was sensible. The Hauck hire on paper looked to be the most sensible of all. Hauck was starting to get notice from bigger programs than UNLV and had he stayed at Montana another year or two may have found himself in a bigger job. Sensible as you say did not work outside of two seasons. When your schools best two seasons come nearly over a decade apart AND amount to barely over .500 football its time to shake things up.

3) Coach Sanchez has brought more attention to UNLV without ever coaching a game than Hauck and Sanford did in their combined tenure. Radio spots, TV spots are all positive press for the university.

4)Tired of hearing about the programs potential. Coaching hasn't been the issue. Despite what anybody thinks of Sanford and Hauck, both of them were well respected in football circles. Hauck didn't all of a sudden forget to how to coach after going 80-17 at Montana. Both of them failed for a couple of reasons. First being neither was able to get the fan base excited about the program. Secondly neither of them was particularly good at working a room and getting booster money. Money is what move everything. Oregon=$ Oklahoma States revival=$. UNLV needed an influx of money and based on what we have seen already Coach Sanchez has done that. We cannot reach our 'potential' until the facilities for this program meet or exceed those of teams we are competing against in recruiting.

5) Sanchez' teams did play against inferior competition. I find it odd you saying that because in another thread you will talk about all of the 'elite' talent that plays in the valley. In Sanchez defense, Gorman did not just beat the other teams in Las Vegas they routinely destroyed them. They rarely had off days where games were even close. That shows me that he was able to keep his teams focused all the time, not easy to do when you are talking about 16-18 year old kids. Also lets not forget that Gorman also beat a number of very good schools from outside of Las Vegas a few of which were ranked nationally. Its easy to say how easy his schedule looked at Gorman when you leave out the fact he played a lot of very good schools from outside of Nevada.

6) Baer had very good success with both Notre Dame and San Jose State. His defenses at San Jose State were very good. His teams at Colorado did struggle defensively. He also was recognized as the top assistant in the country for his work with Notre Dames defense. I think Garrison was the most important hire of the bunch.

Nobody here thinks there will be instant success because of this hire. UNLV is not going to become a bowl eligible team overnight. The hire of Sanchez absolutely had to be made though. June Jones left SMU because he felt the University was not making a commitment to the program after he revived it from the death penalty. If he thought SMU was apathetic about the football program, what do you think he'd have thought about UNLV? Houston Nutt? Sure he would have been fun in interviews but he would have been a long way from his recruiting grounds in the SEC. The only hire I saw out there that might have made people take notice would have been to grab the OC from Oregon. Problem with that was, could we have afforded him? Probably not.What about Tee Martin from USC? Would the city get behind him? Would he have been able to drum up booster support? Doubt it. Sanchez was the only hire that made any sense at this point. If the money truly is following him, and we see new facilities how can anybody even question the hire. I wasn't sold initially on the hire. But after seeing the influx of money, the approach to recruiting, the experience of the staff, this was the only hire that made sense. If this is as a big gamble as you say. I say good. I would rather see them at least make an effort and burn out then to continue down the same path and simply fade away....

 

[LasVegasReb]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/football/uab-decision-football-program-could-affect-unlv

My primary reason I have been a bit opinionated at times about the hype that some loyal fans have shown about the Sanchez hire is because I have a feeling that this could be an all-in gamble by the athletic administration that ends with discussion about going the UAB route.
The first thought that entered my mind when Hauck stepped down was that Sanchez maybe next in line but logic told me that it would not be a sensible. There was an FCS job he was expected to lock in that didn't materialize after the program pulled off a winning season leaving UNLV as the next target.
The one thing I can say is that Sanchez is an excellent face guy that has adjusted well to the spotlight during his stay at Gorman. He is good with social media and has put in great effort towards re-branding the program. He shows the leadership and organization skills that impress.
That said, the hire is still a long shot that, if it fails, is not a reflection on the program potential.
Sanchez sported just two undefeated seasons on the high school level prior to the hire, coaching a school that had an overwhelming amount of talent compared to the public school they faced. The majority of high school games won were against team that were incapable of fielding a team capable of challenging the depth Bishop Gorman brought to the table.
Cotton and Baer had stops at name schools but neither have a history of being consistently successful during their previous stops as coordinators with just 4 total bowl games during their careers as offensive or defensive coordinators in 46 combined seasons.
I can see the positives and but I also see the negatives. I feel this process should be accepted for high risk chance it is. We can maintain a high expectation but failure shouldn't end the program. Hopefully Sanchez is a magic man that nullifies any discussion.

I see your logic and I can understand why you would think this way. However, I disagree with you on multiple points. UNLV will always have a football team. The talk of shutting down a program because lack of success is understandable due to the cost to the university.

Sanchez is NOT an all-in case scenario. If he's not successful, everyone will right it off as an experiment that failed, opening the door for a different strategy to make UNLV into a successful program. There is still another option that UNLV has failed to use, it's called money, real money, not the trickle that's existed for decades.

Most business leaders will analyze why there company isn't successful and create solutions to fix the problems. UNLV might be fixing this with the Fertittas and others, but it's been too quiet to know if it's real. The debate to drop the program will exist until UNLV has some consistent success.

You put coaches on too high of a pedestal. If you look at the characteristics of highly successful coaches across the country, you will see that each have strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Some are offensive or defensive gurus, some are master recruiters, others motivational powerhouses or orginational phenoms. They are not usually amazing at all the characteristics necessary for a successful program. The strengths generally compensate for the weaknesses and also addressed through coaching positions (team).

Nonetheless, Sanchez' great leadership skillset and motivational personality is obvious. What we don't know is how great his coaching ability is and whether any shortcomings are addressed through his staff. Saying that Sanchez doesn't possess these qualities because he coached a powerhouse team far superior to its competition is not evidence that he doesn't possess these qualities. You are going to have to dig a little deeper and supply a stronger argument.

In my business life, I used to hire people primarily on experience. It took me a long time to time realize I place too much emphasis on experience and not enough on personality and potential. When I figured this out, the teams I hired were much more effective and successful. Sanchez has the leadership personality and has the potential. The question is whether are the pieces as a program are going to be addressed.

When teams are perpetually bad, it is very hard to get out from the bottom. Look around the professional sports leagues and you can see numerous examples. But it can happen and it has happened.

Hauck got the monkey off UNLV's back with a winning season and a bowl-game. This was a necessary first step although it small and going to be forgotten very quickly with the next two seasons.

I'm rambling but I leave the conversation with one last pontification; there is NO magic bullet for UNLV. It's going to take investment both financially as well as emotionally by the community. If Las Vegas wants a successful football, it's high time they did something about it. More the just the constant criticism. Donate, adovocate, attend the games, pressure the university to make the football program a success. Do something about it and stop standing on the sidelines.

 

[willlevi]

Will-

1)If this is an 'all-in' gamble as you say, I say good, finally. The program has been stagnant for far to long. NOTHING has been done to improve it since the Robinson days and adding some seats to the Silver Bowl. I would rather they take this shot then continue down the path of mediocrity we have been on for far to long. While I never want to see the program go the UAB route, it was heading that direction regardless if things didn't change. I also think you are missing huge things that are currently happening. Basketball just got an amazing complex, baseball just got a state of the art clubhouse, and now football is in the process of getting a new practice facility. These are not the moves of a program looking to fold up the tents. All of these moves are being made to make UNLV a more attractive addition to a Power 5 conference down the road.

2)The Robinson hire was sensible. The Sanford hire was sensible. The Hauck hire on paper looked to be the most sensible of all. Hauck was starting to get notice from bigger programs than UNLV and had he stayed at Montana another year or two may have found himself in a bigger job. Sensible as you say did not work outside of two seasons. When your schools best two seasons come nearly over a decade apart AND amount to barely over .500 football its time to shake things up.

5) Sanchez' teams did play against inferior competition. I find it odd you saying that because in another thread you will talk about all of the 'elite' talent that plays in the valley. In Sanchez defense, Gorman did not just beat the other teams in Las Vegas they routinely destroyed them. They rarely had off days where games were even close. That shows me that he was able to keep his teams focused all the time, not easy to do when you are talking about 16-18 year old kids. Also lets not forget that Gorman also beat a number of very good schools from outside of Las Vegas a few of which were ranked nationally. Its easy to say how easy his schedule looked at Gorman when you leave out the fact he played a lot of very good schools from outside of Nevada.

6) Baer had very good success with both Notre Dame and San Jose State. His defenses at San Jose State were very good. His teams at Colorado did struggle defensively. He also was recognized as the top assistant in the country for his work with Notre Dames defense. I think Garrison was the most important hire of the bunch.

Nobody here thinks there will be instant success because of this hire. UNLV is not going to become a bowl eligible team overnight. The hire of Sanchez absolutely had to be made though. June Jones left SMU because he felt the University was not making a commitment to the program after he revived it from the death penalty. If he thought SMU was apathetic about the football program, what do you think he'd have thought about UNLV? Houston Nutt? Sure he would have been fun in interviews but he would have been a long way from his recruiting grounds in the SEC. The only hire I saw out there that might have made people take notice would have been to grab the OC from Oregon. Problem with that was, could we have afforded him? Probably not.What about Tee Martin from USC? Would the city get behind him? Would he have been able to drum up booster support? Doubt it. Sanchez was the only hire that made any sense at this point. If the money truly is following him, and we see new facilities how can anybody even question the hire. I wasn't sold initially on the hire. But after seeing the influx of money, the approach to recruiting, the experience of the staff, this was the only hire that made sense. If this is as a big gamble as you say. I say good. I would rather see them at least make an effort and burn out then to continue down the same path and simply fade away....

When I say all in, I mean all or nothing.
My point is that this is likely to be a rough season. We aren't a fan base that maintains optimism for a long time and the Sanchez ride is over the next four seasons.
If he is successful, then that's outstanding. The shot in the dark worked and it proves to be a genius hire.
If he isn't, I feel potential discussion about ending the program would be unfair as the hire is a high risk decision that would be a reflection of the hire rather than the program.

As for the #5, what I mean by inferior competition is that public high school teams have outstanding individual talent with 4 or 5 great players per year (average teams have 1-2) but they can't build teams capable of physically lining up man for man versus a prep school like program that Bishop Gorman has.
When Sanchez arrived, Gorman played in the Southwest Division that was the weakest in the Nevada with 5 of the 9 teams being moved to D1A football due to struggling to field a competitive team.
Since the DeMarco Murray/Ryan Reynolds days, Gorman has built a reputation for giving players kids a better opportunity for exposure to college programs that has caused an influx of public school families and out of state transfers to load the program with far more depth then the opponents they face are capable of fielding.
Lets put it like this, Gorman carries a roster that averages twelve 270-pound plus players a season and eighteen 250-pound plus players per season.
A really good public high school team will carry between 4-7 total varsity kids weighing over 250 pounds.
That's before you add in the skill players that have flowed to the school looking to be the next DeMarco Murray or the three 4-star out-of-state transfers that joined the roster last season.
Guys like Jeremiah Poutasi (just drafted to the Titans), Kyle Van Noy (Detroit Lions), Devonte Boyd, Donnel Pumphrey, Tyrell Crosby, Jacobi Owens, Hassaan Henderson, Kai Nacua, Cameron Jefferson, etc are great individual talents that played public school football transitioning to dominate as college football plays as well.
Prior to last season, 2012 Our Lady of Good Counsil (MD), 2011 Servite (CA), 2010 Del Oro (CA) were the only out of state teams with winning records that the the Gaels beat in the Sanchez era though they played Armwood (FL) tough.
Gorman is a great football program but it doesn't belong in a public school league playing for a state title. They have an extremely unfair advantage in the ability to select players as well as the draw of the extravagant facilities and money
There isn't a single high school in the nation that features that amount of depth in the trenches that is average at Bishop Gorman. Even De La Salle (CA) rarely has more than 5 or 6 player over 250-pounds.
With a roster that averages over 85 players per season and choice talent at the skill position, any school that even challenges Gorman on the public school level is impressive.
http://www.maxpreps.com/polls/football/xcellent25.htm

 

[Rebel1986]

I keep reading about how Sanchez had all of these huge advantage as Bishop Gorman. Gorman had only won one state championship in over 20 years prior to coach Sanchez coming in as head coach. Gorman did not have all of these great facilities prior to Sanchez as head coach, Sanchez went out into the Bishop Gorman community and raised those funds. Coach Sanchez is the one that built those great facilities that everyone said gave him a huge advantage. Sanchez also routinely beat teams ranked as high as number 1 in the nation. Bishop Gorman was able to win against elite competition in football power states like Texas, Arizona and California. Many of these other programs also have unlimited budgets, so why is Sanchez able to draw in so many of the elite talent from across the nation to play on his team? The guy can motivate, the guy can fund raise, the guy can recruit, and as shown in high school, the guy can coach!

According to the national press, no team in the country was as good as Gorman last year. That came from a coach that is great at recruiting, fund raising, and certainly has the ability to coach. Now the only question is if he can bring the same magic to UNLV. I certainly hope so, and put my money where my mouth is by buying the same season tickets as last year, which include the RAF payment based on my seating section.

I just hope enough other people have also ponied up and purchased tickets. I know for a fact that UCLA fans are buying tickets in huge numbers. They have totally run out of their allotment and now are buying tickets directly from UNLV.

 

[bcvegaspt]

Where was this outcry in the 1990's when Gorman was a .500 team?

Now that they're dominant (as they were in the 1980's) those who are envious come back in full force.

The agenda gets old.

 

[willlevi]

I keep reading about how Sanchez had all of these huge advantage as Bishop Gorman. Gorman had only won one state championship in over 20 years prior to coach Sanchez coming in as head coach. Gorman did not have all of these great facilities prior to Sanchez as head coach, Sanchez went out into the Bishop Gorman community and raised those funds. Coach Sanchez is the one that built those great facilities that everyone said gave him a huge advantage. Sanchez also routinely beat teams ranked as high as number 1 in the nation. Bishop Gorman was able to win against elite competition in football power states like Texas, Arizona and California. Many of these other programs also have unlimited budgets, so why is Sanchez able to draw in so many of the elite talent from across the nation to play on his team? The guy can motivate, the guy can fund raise, the guy can recruit, and as shown in high school, the guy can coach!

According to the national press, no team in the country was as good as Gorman last year. That came from a coach that is great at recruiting, fund raising, and certainly has the ability to coach. Now the only question is if he can bring the same magic to UNLV. I certainly hope so, and put my money where my mouth is by buying the same season tickets as last year, which include the RAF payment based on my seating section.

I just hope enough other people have also ponied up and purchased tickets. I know for a fact that UCLA fans are buying tickets in huge numbers. They have totally run out of their allotment and now are buying tickets directly from UNLV.

Most of Gorman's talent is home grown sprinkling in a few elite out of area prospects at weak spots.
The facilities were in the works upon the opening of the new campus in 2007 with the school was already investing in the athletic programs as a whole. That's how they found Altshuler and Sanchez.
The athletic facilities house all sports team and every facility is of elite nature.
http://lasvegassun.com/news/2012/aug/06/gorman-fertitta-athletic-training-las-vegas/

Gorman went 26-2 in the two years prior to Sanchez under Altshuler earning the team's first state title.
Three year coach Dave White actually built that team going 26-10 during his time with Oklahoma signees Demarco Murray and Ryan Reynolds as his headline guys. He struggled getting through the playoffs but was outstanding locating youth talent to build the roster of the future.
The new stadium actually opened under Atshuler with White deciding to take a graduate assistant job with Oklahoma. The stadium itself was a huge recruiting tool after the program spent previous year playing at Sam Boyd and a few years playing at Valley HS under White.

Dave White's first roster (8-2)
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/bishop-gorman-gaels-(las-vegas,nv)/football-fall-04/roster.htm

Bob Altshuler's first roster (14-0)
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/bishop-gorman-gaels-(las-vegas,nv)/football-fall-07/roster.htm

Tony Sanchez's first roster (14-0)
http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/bishop-gorman-gaels-(las-vegas,nv)/football-fall-09/roster.htm

The 2012 Our Lady of Good Counsil (MD) win was Gorman only win versus a top 20 team prior to last season. 2011 win versus Servite (CA) was the only top 100 win.
For me, last season was an asterisk as minus the summer additions of Tate Martell, Tyjon Lindsey and Cordell Broadus to combine with four star tight end Alize Jones, Gorman had a 4-5 loss team that wouldn't have beat Reed for the state championship.

Its important that people are investing in the program, there is a need for money if the team is to become competitive. Its also important to not fall apart if the program struggles and that people are willing to continue to support the team in year two, three and four of the Sanchez Era as well regardless of results.

 

[RebelScrub]

The Snoop Dogg show really was the difference maker..

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

It was the only hire at the time that made any sense at all and was/is not a gamble. A real gamble was/is any coach willing to take the UNLV Head football coaching job. When you consider the absolute apathy from the athletic department, the lack of fan support, lack of any type of home field advantage, below average facilities, a local talent base that has such a poor view of UNLV they would rather play anywhere else, and lack of booster money,and low salary vs other coaches in the conference, what coach in their right mind would take the job. It took Sanford years to get back to a head coaching gig and that is at the FCS level. He basically set his career back 4-5 years. Hauck went from D-1 head football coach to special teams coordinator for SDSU. How long do you think it will take him to ever see another head coaching gig at the D-1 level? With Hauck we are talking about a guy that was very successful at Montana. Had he continued to be successful and waited another year or two to make the jump to D-1 he would probably have been coaching at the D-1 level at a smaller Power 5 conference school like Washington State, or Iowa State etc.

People act as if there was long line of applicants for the job. There wasn't. And the ones that were looking into the job would not and could not have drummed up nearly half of the community support or pulled in any of the booster money we have seen come into the program. It was the only hire at the time that makes sense. Will you complain all the time about there not being a lot of local recruiting. Do you really think June Jones would have recruited Las Vegas heavily? Probably not. His first couple of years would have been relying on the Texas market heavily since that is where his last stop was. Ed Orgeron? He would have gone after the Southern Cal kids and some of the Northern Cal kids. Houston Nutt? He's been out of the game a few years and all his ties are to the SEC conference. Wanna bet he would have been a strong JUCO guy looking for those kids that missed out on SEC schools?

Sanchez was the only hire that made any sense when you really look at it.

 

[willlevi]

Anytime you hire a high school coach to make a major jump to the highest level of college football, you are taking a extreme gamble. Even hiring a successful D2 or D3 college football head coach would be considered a major gamble at the FBS level.
The overall point is that the program is facing a likely 0-2 win season in the fall and may take more steps backwards in the future depending on perception after this season. If that does happen, I hope the administration doesn't fold up shop rather than accept blame for the decisions made.

 

[LasVegasReb]

Anytime you hire a high school coach to make a major jump to the highest level of college football, you are taking a extreme gamble. Even hiring a successful D2 or D3 college football head coach would be considered a major gamble at the FBS level.
The overall point is that the program is facing a likely 0-2 win season in the fall and may take more steps backwards in the future depending on perception after this season. If that does happen, I hope the administration doesn't fold up shop rather than accept blame for the decisions made.

The fan base was scraping the bottom and most fans know that UNLV is facing a upcoming challenging season. However, if they can make it competitive and win one or two unexpected games plus a UNR win, most will be happy. It can be build from there. Fans will jump on the bandwagon in season 3.

The fans are not going to change the program, it's going to be the administration and the boosters. Any legitimate booster right (and future) knows the realistic timeline needed to be successful. In the terms of fans, you can't lose what you don't have.

Sanchez will build believers and then he needs to make it reality. If not, we know the scenario.

 

[DocRebel]

I think no matter who got hired we'd be facing a likely 0-2 season in the fall. Unless UNLV had hired Urban Meyer....

So far at least Sanchez has done everything right and then some. Only time will tell but he has as much chance at succeeding as anyone has had so far.

Up to this point I really like his energy and leadership, his staff of assistants, his potential connections financially, his engagement in the community, his ESPN reality TV show, and his taste in new uniforms. We'll know a lot more 4 years from now...

 

[willlevi]

The Snoop Dogg show really was the difference maker..

The amazing part with that show was the idea a man worth over 130 million dollars finding importance in their child earning a 30 thousand per year scholarship for education.
The logic is beyond me but they created a good show.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Anytime you hire a high school coach to make a major jump to the highest level of college football, you are taking a extreme gamble. Even hiring a successful D2 or D3 college football head coach would be considered a major gamble at the FBS level.
The overall point is that the program is facing a likely 0-2 win season in the fall and may take more steps backwards in the future depending on perception after this season. If that does happen, I hope the administration doesn't fold up shop rather than accept blame for the decisions made.

Why is it such a gamble? There is hardly a sample size big enough to say whether it would work or not. Obviously the two biggest examples Dodge and Faust failed. Dodge was quoted as saying his failure at the college level had nothing to do with his ability to coach football. He said it was all the other things that went into it that ultimately doomed him. (Hiring a staff, the administrative aspects of the job, dealing with boosters, the academics etc etc etc.) Faust also brought a number of his guys with him to Notre Dame. Sanchez brought a total of one coach with him. Sanchez seems to be handling the administrative aspects of the job quite well, and brought in a veteran staff to make the transition easier.

Again I wasn't initially for this hire, but after seeing what Sanchez did in a short time with recruiting, hiring an experienced staff, keeping the best recruiter from the previous staff, his ability to get things moving in terms of facility upgrades, I have a hard time seeing where the gamble is.

Every coach is a gamble. Hauck looked like a can't miss. Sanford looked like he would bring an exciting brand of offense to UNLV. Robinson had the pedigree. None of it worked.

What's that saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

This whole thread is mute since UAB is reinstating their football program anyway.

The university is not making moves like this and building new complexes to simply fold the tents if we have one or two bad seasons before things turn around. Watch how much better recruiting will get if/when the new practice facility is built.

 

[RebelScrub]

I don't see nothing wrong with having Snoop having his kid earn his way into USC.

I'm sure Snoop would be really proud to have his son graduate from USC. It's something That any underprivileged parent at one time, would want for their child especially growing up in The mean streets of Long Beach/South Central.

 

[bcvegaspt]

He's going to UCLA.

 

[LasVegasReb]

Here is a good article to remind us that UNLV can turn it around. Some good examples in there.

http://m.bleacherreport.com/article...atest-program-turnarounds-in-college-football

 

[bcvegaspt]

Navy and TCU are the only two on that list that did so without P5 money. Not really a great blueprint of how to succeed in today's landscape.

 

[LasVegasReb]

Navy and TCU are the only two on that list that did so without P5 money. Not really a great blueprint of how to succeed in today's landscape.

You can include Rutgers.

 

[LasVegasReb]

You can include Rutgers.

Also K State, yes now P5, but pre-BSC and before the real money started.

 

[willlevi]

Why is it such a gamble? There is hardly a sample size big enough to say whether it would work or not. Obviously the two biggest examples Dodge and Faust failed. Dodge was quoted as saying his failure at the college level had nothing to do with his ability to coach football. He said it was all the other things that went into it that ultimately doomed him. (Hiring a staff, the administrative aspects of the job, dealing with boosters, the academics etc etc etc.) Faust also brought a number of his guys with him to Notre Dame. Sanchez brought a total of one coach with him. Sanchez seems to be handling the administrative aspects of the job quite well, and brought in a veteran staff to make the transition easier.

Again I wasn't initially for this hire, but after seeing what Sanchez did in a short time with recruiting, hiring an experienced staff, keeping the best recruiter from the previous staff, his ability to get things moving in terms of facility upgrades, I have a hard time seeing where the gamble is.

Every coach is a gamble. Hauck looked like a can't miss. Sanford looked like he would bring an exciting brand of offense to UNLV. Robinson had the pedigree. None of it worked.

What's that saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

This whole thread is mute since UAB is reinstating their football program anyway.

The university is not making moves like this and building new complexes to simply fold the tents if we have one or two bad seasons before things turn around. Watch how much better recruiting will get if/when the new practice facility is built.

I don’t think Sanchez would have been nearly as successful in high school coaching at Western or Clark, even Cimarron or Canyon Springs.

He went 35-21 over 5 year period at a public high school prior to moving to Gorman. The Gorman program had just gone 26-2 just prior to Sanchez arrival with a sprawling new campus and major pub as a nationally ranked team. He then went 55-6 in 5 years for a school that played a public high school schedule with an overwhelming advantage week to week gaining 39 wins but he was 16-6 versus OOS opponents. The team was just 8-6 versus OOS opponents with winning records and similar advantages with 6 wins being by 3 or less points.

This is like the Johnny “Football” situation of college football hires that the media is usually ready to pounce on if it fails thus ESPN has two October games on tap. National stigma the program will face if the team wins 2 (or less) games with the UCLA and Boise games being available to the national market can be pretty ugly .

I wouldn’t expect much local love either with the amount of people that hate Bishop Gorman. There are a ton of non-Gorman alumni that would enjoy seeing Sanchez lose more so than a UNLV win.

There are plenty of great high school coaches but the position is very different from being a college football head coach. Especially in the case of a Bishop Gorman program that can outspend any local opponents by millions of dollars to ensure the program has the talent and depth advantage on the field. The team even used significantly deflated footballs last season during the team’s playoff run to maintain every advantage, which was a travesty to me.

It just really didn’t take coaching greatness to win at Bishop Gorman. The original team he took over was loaded. After that, you struggle developing very physically talented quarterbacks Randall Cunningham Jr and Danny Hong, you bring in guru Steve Clarkson trained Tate Martell. You struggle targeting and developing quality edge receivers, you bring in more polished 4-star guys like Cordell Broadus and Tyjon Lindsey. You struggle developing impact defenders, you bring in a couple star off Hawaii’s St. Louis team like Haskell Garrett and Nela Otukolo.

I know Folsom HS head coach Kris Richardson is 69-6 over the last 5 seasons rolling to a 16-0 record last season with the best offense on the west coast and a team ranked #5 in the nation last season but no one expects him to move to an FBS head coaching job. He actually has an amazing offense and dominates with lesser talent.

In final, hiring a high coach to jump to the FBS is an extremely risk hire and you would be kidding yourself to believe otherwise. Especially for a traditionally struggling program.

Faust actually had 18 year of head coaching experience and was a former college quarterback prior to making the jump. He had 6 winning seasons out 14 seasons as a college head coach.

Dodge is also a former college quarterback (Texas Longhorns). He had been a 2 year college assistant coach prior to moving to the high school ranks eventually going on to a 98-11 record at South Lake Carroll (TX) with 2 national high school titles. He went 6-37 as a college head coach.

My big concern is that the school is locked into a situation for the next four years for 2 million dollars. I really didn’t feel strongly about the first recruiting class for having too many are shorter, poorly framed guys that lack of physical upside. That group is the core for the last year of Sanchez current contract.


http://athlonsports.com/high-school/top-10-high-school-football-coaches-america

 

[tomrut]

I may be translating this wrong will but you are showing that he is a great recruiter.
Going out and getting 4 and 5 star talent at whatever position he needed help at.
Also he had far less time to recruit players than most other coaches for that period and still came away with a decent class

 

[Rebel1986]

Will it sounds like you are doing your best to point out that coach Sanchez is not a very good coach?

First coach Sanchez was hired at California High to help turn around a program that from my understanding had a losing record for years and had had very little success and had bad facilities before he came on board. In a short period of time he not only was able to make the program competitive, he was also able to help find funds to upgrade a public high school to the point that they have been extremely successful over the last 4 years with 4 straight league titles. Considering the program was struggling for decades before he came on board, and that they have been the top program in the conference since he has left, I tend to believe he must have had something to do with the improvement in facilities and culture of the high school football program. A 35-21 record at a top level program would not be very impressive, but when a program is struggling and trying to find a way to just win games, it is far more impressive. I don't tend to believe that Bishop Gorman was looking for a coach across the country and said we need to hire a coach with a 35-21 record. They must have seen what he did to change the culture of the program at California High, and that is why they hired him as head coach.

As for what he did at Bishop Gorman, it appears that you are talking up all of the advantages he had and talking down what he actually did at Bishop Gorman. First of all, Bishop Gorman won the state championship in 2007, but that was the first time in almost 35 years that they had been the state champion. As for the sprawling new campus that had recently been constructed for Bishop Gorman, that did not include an athletic training facility for the Bishop Gorman football team. Coach Sanchez is the one that went out and found the funding to construct the training facility and to provide other major upgrades to the football stadium. None of the coaches prior to coach Sanchez had brought in the money to build these facilities, it was coach Sanchez that went out and found the funding.

I am not sure where you came up with a 55-6 record over 5 years when what I found was a 85-5 record over six years. Somehow you misplaced 30 wins, 1 year, and added an additional loss to his record. As for the schedule with an overwhelming advantage against public schools, it does appear that the majority of their games are against either out of state teams, or teams in the playoffs that include programs like Reed which receive a large amount of non-public funding and may as well also be called a private school. I am not sure how many of the games they played out of conference where also out of state, but I tend to believe they played a lot more than 14 teams with winning records. I

According to your write up, they played only 14 teams with winning records out of state during his coaching career at BG:

2014

Brophy College Prep 10-4 record lost to BG 44-0 (must be 1 of only 2 wins by more than 3 points)
Bingham 14-2 record lost to BG 23-20 and was ranked 14th in the nation
Centennial, CA 12-3 record lost to BG 43-42 and was ranked 18th in the nation
Santa Margarita 6-5 record lost to BG 41-10 (must be the only other win by more than 3 points over a team with a winning record)
St. John Bosco 12-2 record lost to BG 34-31 and was ranked 19th in the nation - I also believe they were #1 when BG played them.

Reed 11-4 for the state championship lost 70-28.

2013

The only losses of the year for BG were against the #1 and #6 ranked teams in the nation

Based what you have written, BG did not win a single game in the other 5 years against an out of state team by more than 3 points with a winning record. You also saying they went 3-6 in the other 5 years. Considering they only lost 5 games during his coaching career, I find that unlikely.

2012

Our Lady of Good Counsel 11-1 lost to BG 27-22 and ranked 19th in the nation - (that is over 3 points - wait a minute - didn't you say he only won 2 by more that 3 points - I guess you are wrong)

I don't need to look in further to make my point. It should also be pointed out that several of the teams they played that went 6-6 played national caliber completion and were ranked in the top 1% in the nation even with those records.

2009 Bishop Gorman 15–0 8–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
2010 Bishop Gorman 13–2 8–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
2011 Bishop Gorman 16–0 7–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
2012 Bishop Gorman 13–1 5–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
2013 Bishop Gorman 13–2 5–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
2014 Bishop Gorman 15–0 4–0 1st (Southwest) W NIAA 4A Championship
Bishop Gorman: 85–5 37–0

Coach Sanchez was hired by BG due to his ability to raise funds and win.

Coach Sanchez was hird by UNLV due to his ability to raise funds, recruit, and win!

 

[willlevi]

The Armwood game was forfeited for the 2011 season but was a loss on the field which even Sanchez stated was a fair loss.
That said, I did make a mistake on the total wins but the OOS win record versus teams with winning records is correct.
I feel Sanchez is a good coach but I don't feel he what he did at Gorman was that amazing of a feat. He produced to get the job done.
What happens at UNLV is a different beast. It was a questionable hire that could go well or go the opposite way with complete regression.

 

[j. spilotro]

The Armwood game was forfeited for the 2011 season but was a loss on the field which even Sanchez stated was a fair loss.
That said, I did make a mistake on the total wins but the OOS win record versus teams with winning records is correct.
I feel Sanchez is a good coach but I don't feel he what he did at Gorman was that amazing of a feat. He produced to get the job done.
What happens at UNLV is a different beast. It was a questionable hire that could go well or go the opposite way with complete regression.

What is "complete regression"? It's been one of the most insignificant D1 programs ever, with a minor highlight blip every ten years or so. That's bottom of the barrel.

If he fails, it's not regression. It's more of the same. So I don't get "complete regression". God forbid he stops the momentum that UNLV has gained over the past decade...

 

[rebelbuck]

Joe you nailed it. We have nowhere to go but up. I think some are taking the "positive vibes" around the program now as , higher year 1 expectations. I dont see that at all.

What I see are people who are now at least a little excited to be more part of the process with Videos of the team from spring, Interviews with coaches and the use of social media in recruiting. We are finally getting a look behind the curtain so to speak. It is making the program more tangible to the average fan and is exciting to follow for a die hard like myself.

This new excitement does not change the fact that year one we have a very daunting schedule. I think there a few chances for wins and maybe a surprise. I think what most want to see is a team that is better prepared , plays hard, and has games more competitive going into the 4th quarter. I think starting in year 2 we can expect to see a slight tick up in the wins column. Either way there is a new buzz around the program that hasn't been present since Robinson was here.

 

[j. spilotro]

I don't expect much the first year. Or the second year. I think it's completely unreasonable to expect anything significant in terms of wins and losses.

Even more than UNLV needs a head coach, players or anything else - UNLV Football needed a culture change first and foremost. You werent going to have any sort of success with the infrastructure, money and culture UNLV was operating under.

 

[rebel Homer]

I would say, even if we lose the same amount of games and win the same amount of games over the same life span of the past two coaches (Sanford and Hauck) and we go no further in that respect than we have previously, the influx of capitol and infrastructure alone makes him more successful by Default. Now, let's say he is somehow able to lead this team to lets say, One, maybe two more wins a season than the past two coaches did (Sans the bowl year two years ago) I would say he is indeed better. Let's say he doesn't, Still a net gain to me.

Our facilities are atrocious. Practice, Game day, all of it. If they would have said during the Hiring Process that they were going to hire my Mother (Mind you she has no idea about any sport let alone football and is 65 years old) but a whole upgrade to the facilities and infrastructure was to occur due to a friend of hers that was coming with an open check book. I would have pounced on that idea in a heart beat. I believe too many are focusing on the W/L and not on the real reasons this hire benefited the university. Furthermore, the fact that realistically there was no other real option is a huge selling point as well. This team was on the brink of collapse, and still is. No big name was going to recruit here with the crap facilities we have. Added plus for this hire over others. In the end, let's say we get the same tenure out of Sanchez as Hauck and Sanford, we land on top in the end.

 

[rebelbuck]

Sorry one more little tidbit from One of Will's earlier posts where he stated that the Folsom Coach did more with less, He had 7 D1 Commits off of lasts year team. I dont think that constitutes doing more with less at any high school regardless of schedule. He had a QB commit to Wash, an OL who is going to Arizona and a WR who committed to Cincinnati. The other commits were to Boise St, Harvard, SJSU, UNLV respectively . Not to mention a 5 Star O Lineman for 2016 who is commited to Alabama.

"I know Folsom HS head coach Kris Richardson is 69-6 over the last 5 seasons rolling to a 16-0 record last season with the best offense on the west coast and a team ranked #5 in the nation last season but no one expects him to move to an FBS head coaching job. He actually has an amazing offense and dominates with lesser talent"

 

[willlevi]

I just hope its not going from competitively bad to completely incompetent.

 

[j. spilotro]

I just hope its not going from competitively bad to completely incompetent.

We've been at incompetent for more years than not. Dodge Masters was the posterboy for that.

 

[bcvegaspt]

A timeout before a fake FG/Punt isn't already completely incompetent?

 

[willlevi]

Southern Miss went from 12-2 in 2011 to 0-12, 1-11 and 3-9 with just two FBS wins in the last 3 years.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Will-

Comparing Southern Miss and UNLV makes no sense. Prior to the last three years Southern Miss has had a pretty solid program and had a few players make it to the NFL. Southern Miss knows what it feels like to be ranked the top 25. I have seen enough 2-3 win seasons over the last 20 years at UNLV to know there is no further down we can go. Would 1-11 really feel that much worse than 2-10? The drop from 12-2 to 0-12 is far more significant than 2-10 to 1-11 or 0-12.

 

[DocRebel]

Our previous coach got beat by SUU and Northern Arizona. Nowhere to go but up.

 

[willlevi]

Will-

Comparing Southern Miss and UNLV makes no sense. Prior to the last three years Southern Miss has had a pretty solid program and had a few players make it to the NFL. Southern Miss knows what it feels like to be ranked the top 25. I have seen enough 2-3 win seasons over the last 20 years at UNLV to know there is no further down we can go. Would 1-11 really feel that much worse than 2-10? The drop from 12-2 to 0-12 is far more significant than 2-10 to 1-11 or 0-12.

Things can be worse, you can make a run of 0 wins and develop into a team incapable of even being on the same field with other college football programs.
Jeff Horton went bowling his first year at 7-5 but went 2-9, 1-11, 3-8 and 0-11 his last four years. The last season was as bad of an offense or team as you can possibly field. At least this team is a year removed from a bowl game at this point and showed the ability to produce offensive numbers
Here are the offensive stats of the final season of each of the head coaches since Nunnely

Wayne Nunnely (4-7)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/1989.html

Jim Strong (3-8)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/1993.html

Jeff Horton (0-11)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/1998.html

John Robinson (2-9)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/2004.html

Mike Sanford (5-7)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/2009.html

Bobby Hauck (2-11)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nevada-las-vegas/2014.html

I feel it's irrelevant but, for Southern Miss 0-11 season, they put freshly hired Mississippi 6A Petal HS Head Coach Steve Buckley in as offensive coordinator for that season. Petal was coming off a state championships berth and four trips to the playoffs. His situation was different though as he had been a previous assistant at Southern Miss and LSU.
My key point is that if this situation isn't successful, I hope the school and fans stay committed to fielding a football program.
If has success, I'm worrying for nothing.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Will-
You use a high school coach moving to OC for a university as an example of failure. If you want to play that game, then I see your Buckley and raise you a Gus Malzahn. The sample sizes are to small to say whether or not it works.

You are saying that it could be worse by fielding a team routinely that can't compete at the division 1 level. You do realize we lost to a couple of FCS schools over the last few years and have won an average of about 3 games a season for the last decade. That to me is not being able to compete at the division one level.

Look at what is obviously being done with the University. 27 million was just approved for the Medical school. New basketball complex, new baseball complex, the proposed football facility, the purchase of land for a potential new stadium. All of those moves point to improving the UNLV brand for an eventual move to the Pac-12. I am sure you want to see the University succeed, but based on your posts it seems you would rather see Sanchez fail simply to prove your point. These are not the moves of a university that is looking to fold up the tents and move itself to a smaller conference. There is an OBVIOUS attempt by the university to improve the image of the school in all sports across the board including football. Yet seemingly all you can do is find the wrong in that.

I will parrot what another person posted as well. Even if Sanchez is unsuccessful and the program continues on this path, we will have better facilities. What did Sanford or Hauck leave us with?

Another issue is that people routinely counter your comments and you ignore them when you know you are wrong. Example, you stated the Folsom HS coach 'did more with less'. Somebody posted that Folsom had what 5-7 D-1 commits from last year and have a kid committed to play at Alabama next year. How is that so much less talent than what Sanchez worked with. Also if I am not mistaken wasn't Folsom's QB one of the top rated pro style QBs on the west coast? Another example you bring up the failure of previous high school coaches making the jump. Sanchez has handled the hiring of his staff completely different by bringing experienced coaches. Not only that many of his coordinators namely LaRussa and Garrison were considered very good recruiters.

You don't like Coach Sanchez. That's fine. You think his hiring is a mistake. That's fine maybe you are right. That said, do not deny the obvious things that are happening within the program, there is money being poured football for the first time in a long time. There is actually a buzz about the program and people are excited to see if this can actually work.

 

[Bullmastiff 1]

Exactly...

Our previous coach got beat by SUU and Northern Arizona. Nowhere to go but up.

 

[willlevi]

Will-
You use a high school coach moving to OC for a university as an example of failure. If you want to play that game, then I see your Buckley and raise you a Gus Malzahn. The sample sizes are to small to say whether or not it works.

You are saying that it could be worse by fielding a team routinely that can't compete at the division 1 level. You do realize we lost to a couple of FCS schools over the last few years and have won an average of about 3 games a season for the last decade. That to me is not being able to compete at the division one level.

Look at what is obviously being done with the University. 27 million was just approved for the Medical school. New basketball complex, new baseball complex, the proposed football facility, the purchase of land for a potential new stadium. All of those moves point to improving the UNLV brand for an eventual move to the Pac-12. I am sure you want to see the University succeed, but based on your posts it seems you would rather see Sanchez fail simply to prove your point. These are not the moves of a university that is looking to fold up the tents and move itself to a smaller conference. There is an OBVIOUS attempt by the university to improve the image of the school in all sports across the board including football. Yet seemingly all you can do is find the wrong in that.

I will parrot what another person posted as well. Even if Sanchez is unsuccessful and the program continues on this path, we will have better facilities. What did Sanford or Hauck leave us with?

Another issue is that people routinely counter your comments and you ignore them when you know you are wrong. Example, you stated the Folsom HS coach 'did more with less'. Somebody posted that Folsom had what 5-7 D-1 commits from last year and have a kid committed to play at Alabama next year. How is that so much less talent than what Sanchez worked with. Also if I am not mistaken wasn't Folsom's QB one of the top rated pro style QBs on the west coast? Another example you bring up the failure of previous high school coaches making the jump. Sanchez has handled the hiring of his staff completely different by bringing experienced coaches. Not only that many of his coordinators namely LaRussa and Garrison were considered very good recruiters.

You don't like Coach Sanchez. That's fine. You think his hiring is a mistake. That's fine maybe you are right. That said, do not deny the obvious things that are happening within the program, there is money being poured football for the first time in a long time. There is actually a buzz about the program and people are excited to see if this can actually work.

Prior to last season Folsom hadn't moved many players over the last 5 years. That why I said more with less.

I like Sanchez and he has been a great ambassador nationally for Bishop Gorman during his run but I think it was a dangerous hire for UNLV. I am concerned with the level of optimism of some people surrounding the program and the loyal fans who seem unprepared to deal with another round of failure.
I just don't want to see the situation drop the bottom out of the fan base that is left.
There also isn't a guarantee of the facilities being built and the 6 month time line indicates they are depending on the season to excite the fan base to get the facilities built.
I see trends in the constant season ticket reminders, less than 2000 football (general) fan Twitter followers, lack of video views and the outreach to the community by piggy backing the basketball program as an indication the season ticket sales, as well as fan support, isn't meeting the level of optimism of some on the board.
I see a dark time over the next 4 years if the team wins less than 2 games once again. There were only 4000 season tickets sold last season and four years is a long time to survive an even weaker fan base.
If the administration were to be candid, I'm confident my observations wouldn't be off base. I'm just trying to be a voice of reason to loyal fans like myself and hopefully the program will survive the process until the next hire if the Sanchez era goes the way I predict it going.
If he can't produce a good season this year, what will happen next off-season to produce better results in the future. He hasn't built enough equity as a college football coach to get solid prospects to buy into his potential to build a good team at the FBS level making a bad season a tough sell to even the prospects considering a good FCS program vs UNLV.
That is a reality that you can ignore but it is a real factor in future recruiting efforts that I feel can derail the team from even producing a decent product.