UNLV assistant coach Simon promoted in curiouser and curiouser move

At the same time UNLV called a news conference to announce that Dave Rice had been fired — er, came to a "mutual agreement" with his athletic administration that he would step down as Rebels basketball coach — people were parking their cars and SUVs for "Disney on Ice" at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Which somehow seemed appropriate. There was something Mickey Mouse about the timing of Rice mutually agreeing to step down or whatever.

It is rare that college basketball coaches are fired/mutually agree to step down in the middle of the season. It happens in baseball all the time. The team goes on a losing streak, gets swept in a weekend series by the Rockies, the skipper gets a pink slip. The third-base coach takes over. It usually happens around the All-Star break.

It happens in college football, too. A Power 5 team underachieves, goes 8-4 or 7-5, settles for a second-tier bowl game. The coach gets the ziggy before the pie-eating contest downtown. Happens all the time. Especially at UCLA.

It never happens in college basketball.

Yes, Bo Ryan stepped down at Wisconsin before Christmas. It wasn't mutually agreed upon. It was Bo's decision, and maybe it was mutually agreed that if he stepped down before Christmas, his longtime assistant, Greg Gard, would get a nice opportunity to prove himself worthy of the gig during the Big Ten season.

Dave Rice had ample opportunity to prove himself as a college head coach, to take the Rebels to the so-called next level, to "Run as One" or whatever silly slogan the marketing department came up with to spark interest within a fickle fan base when he arrived.

He failed.

He had to go.

Did he have to go now?

The timing of the mutual agreement got curiouser and curiouser, cried Alice, and members of the media, when the cursory news release said Todd Simon would be taking over as interim coach.

In so doing, UNLV bypassed Max Good, a proven college head coach who as recently as four years ago was named West Coast Conference coach of the year at Loyola Marymount. It bypassed Stacey Augmon, who spent four years as an NBA assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets, and was an outstanding NBA player, and was one of UNLV's all-time greats.

Ryan Miller also was bypassed. He was an assistant at Auburn and New Mexico and played professionally for the Fargo-Moorhead Beez. One supposes he'll have to wait for a couple more mutual agreements before he gets his shot.

He still has more credentials than Simon, whose only coaching experience was as a high school assistant and a short gig breaking down film for Lon Kruger before Kruger left UNLV for Oklahoma's greener pasture.

But of Rice's three assistants, Simon was the only one who coached at Findlay Prep, where he was head coach for one season.

The local basketball boarding school is named for Cliff Findlay, a former UNLV player and a longtime UNLV uber booster. He's to UNLV what T. Boone Pickens is to Oklahoma State, or what Phil Knight is to Oregon, except sometimes he flies Southwest.

He keeps such a low profile when it comes to UNLV and his uber boosterism that one time when I was flying to a road game at Utah, he was seated in the row directly behind, and there were like only eight other people on the plane, and he managed to place his seat back and tray table in its upright and locked position without anybody noticing.

Which is how he prefers it.

When athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy was asked about what, if any, input Findlay may have had in Rice's ouster, and the appointing of Simon as interim coach, this is what she said:

"No. I've had a lot of discussions with our donors. Some of them are very good basketball people, and I trust their opinions and bounce things off them. Somebody said something about Cliff Findlay. I haven't talked to Cliff Findlay in a week. He didn't make those decisions. I bounce things off a lot of people."

Then Cliff Findlay was not the one who suggested Todd Simon should be named interim coach?

"Oh, yes — he probably has (suggested it)," Kunzer-Murphy said.

So there you have it. Sort of. Curiouser and curiouser. Par for the course at UNLV.

A few minutes later, Dave Rice, classy to the end, showed up to face the music and questions from the media. He answered every one with grace and dignity. He made little jokes when the TV people attached their microphones to his shirt.

Rice was wearing a scarlet Nike shirt and gray slacks. Not once did his loyalty to his alma mater waver. These were difficult circumstances. There was nary a bitter word. He held his head high.

A few minutes earlier Todd Simon also answered questions, then excused himself to preside over evening practice as the Rebels' interim coach. But it wouldn't be at the Thomas & Mack Center, because that's where Mickey Mouse and Goofy were holding court.

— Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.