[Ralphie Halves]

Pretty interesting situation going on here in Vegas...

UNLV hires Chris Beard from Arkansas Little Rock. Not our first second or third choice, but a good hire IMO. We hire a no-nonsense guy after suffering through years of Dave Rice, an all-nonsense guy. The job is offered, he accepts, the board of regents approves it, we're good to go. He starts hiring his coaches, (Stacey Augmon ends up not being one of them and leaves the program), and hitting the recruiting trail immediately. Why is that last part important?

UNLV recruited a bunch of whiney coddled babies the last few years. They all end up underperforming, hating the program, and transferring out, or becoming a marginal NBA player or D-Leaguer. Now because we didn't get Steve Lavin or promote Stacey Augmon, none of those kids want to stick around. All but FOUR PLAYERS remain on that team after the rest either transferred or declared for the draft (none of them except for Zimmerman are even getting drafted. Have fun in Israel). So coach Beard starts hitting the JUCO and transfer markets hard. The rebuilding process begins.

But wait. Texas Tech, in Lubbock Texas which is very close to where coach Beard grew up, wants to hire him now. And they can after a 1 million dollar buyout. You can just do stuff like this? He'll probably take it. I would. They actually have warm bodies on the team right now. Fukking hell.

Good thing I'm more of a UNLV football fan. Never thought I'd be proud to admit that.

[jjgold]

UNLV hoops is washed up

Program a mess

[Grits n' Gravy]

Regents at unlv are a joke. Let the guy go and make Pitino a huge offer if he gets nudged out of Lville.

[Ralphie Halves]

Regents at unlv are a joke. Let the guy go and make Pitino a huge offer if he gets nudged out of Lville.

Figured that ship had sailed already.

And what coach with any reputation whatsoever would want to walk into a program with 4 players in it? We'll need another up-and-comer to come aboard.

[texhooper]

As a Memphis fan who's school stole Texas Tech's coach, I feel somewhat responsible here Ralphie.

I'm sorry man

[Ralphie Halves]

As a Memphis fan who's school stole Texas Tech's coach, I feel somewhat responsible here Ralphie.

I'm sorry man

F'n Tigers!!

I feel better now.

[Ra77er]

So Beard is out in Vegas...good to know

Why not call Stacey and give him the keys? Pitino would've been awesome.

[texhooper]

this is the wildest story.

you guys hired the one man in the entire history of the world who's dream job is fukking texas tech, and it came open right at the perfect time for him to jump. unreal luck man. i hate this too, honestly, because college basketball i think is better when unlv is relevant. it's cool having power teams from smaller conferences and unlv should be much, much better than they have been. sounds like this is a disaster of epic proportions right now but they'll eventually right this. the boosters won't have it, though they definitely didn't help themselves with the lowball contract for beard.

[Ra77er]

West Texas....those dust storms though.

UNLV needs to be good again, come on LJ, GA, SA

[Ralphie Halves]

Augmon, no chance. He left and had some unkind words on the way out. He was part of the problem anyway.

So now the prospects look like this.

Steve Lavin - Still on the table. Like this. A good bridge coach to get the program back to respectability, and if he wants to bolt after, that's fine.

Ryan Miller - UNLV asst coach, also IMO part of the problem, but can recruit his ass off, and if he can find an Xs and Os guy in any capacity, we'll be good again. Recruitment is vital now with only 4 guys on the entire team.

and don't look now...

George Karl - Our dumb broad AD just reached out to him today. Stay tuned.

UNLV is such a shit situation right now with 4 players left and potential APR violations coming down the pike. You'd have to be half crazy to want it. I hope somebody is.

[texhooper]

ryan miller sounds like josh pastner, or dave rice part 2.

not a very inspiring list though, karl would be cool i guess but i can't see him taking it.

[Ralphie Halves]

ryan miller sounds like josh pastner, or dave rice part 2.

not a very inspiring list though, karl would be cool i guess but i can't see him taking it.

It's more inspiring than I thought it was going to be. Look, all we need is to get somebody to get us back to par, because Dave Rice freaking nuked the program like none of us could have imagined. We need a name, or a recruiter that knows he can't coach. I'll take either one.

[CWD]

lavin just a name and now and old one at that, its pretty clear he cant coach and i doubt if he can even recruit anymore considering he didnt bring in any big names at st johns

hes a step back imo but a step back at unlv could be considered progress i guess, football and basketball both been embarassments for a long time

[Ra77er]

Maybe I am in the minority but I liked Lavin when he was with ESPN. I thought it was a good hire by St Johns but like CWD said they didn't really ever turn the corner like I expected. I dunno maybe it has passed him by. I would take him first on that list if it were up to me but whoever it is should be an excellent recruiter to get the talent there, make Rebels great again type Bryce Harper shit. George not that guy, Miller probably not that guy either.

[CWD]

^^^ he didnt even run plays at ucla, he's a good guy but imo he's a clown coach. i knida gave up on unlv football/basketball its been too rough for too long for me

all that being said id bring him in, not much more to lose

[BuckyOne]

Augmon, no chance. He left and had some unkind words on the way out. He was part of the problem anyway.

So now the prospects look like this.

Steve Lavin - Still on the table. Like this. A good bridge coach to get the program back to respectability, and if he wants to bolt after, that's fine.

Ryan Miller - UNLV asst coach, also IMO part of the problem, but can recruit his ass off, and if he can find an Xs and Os guy in any capacity, we'll be good again. Recruitment is vital now with only 4 guys on the entire team.

and don't look now...

George Karl - Our dumb broad AD just reached out to him today. Stay tuned.

UNLV is such a shit situation right now with 4 players left and potential APR violations coming down the pike. You'd have to be half crazy to want it. I hope somebody is.

In what regard was Ryan Miller part of the problem? Recruited talent but not necessarily the scholarly type??

[Ralphie Halves]

In what regard was Ryan Miller part of the problem? Recruited talent but not necessarily the scholarly type??

Team had no discipline, and nobody ever got better. In Rice's system, those two things mainly fell on his assistants like Augmon and Miller. The whole culture there was a nightmare, players were running out of there like they were on fire, so in all honesty, we usually never got to see if anybody really developed. I've never seen a program with such low retention of its players. I think Kentucky had higher retention.

Lavin a bad Xs and Os guy too. He had St. John's running a zone that they looked like they never practiced in their lives. His usefulness lies IMO in bringing a bit of prestige back to the program and getting it back to normal, so he can then use that to springboard elsewhere and we can get the coach we want afterwards.

Marvin Menzies name in the rotation now. He's the guy I would have wanted AFTER somebody else came in and unfukked the program. Better overall coach, but not the quick fix we need now IMO.