EDITORIAL: UNLV learns what men’s basketball program is, and what it isn’t

After 2½ months and a myriad of names, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas men’s basketball program finally has a new coach. Dave Rice was fired Jan. 10, in the middle of his fifth season, and last week, the school announced the hiring of Chris Beard.

To which you might say, “Chris who?” After all, just a few weeks ago, boosters were said to be pursuing the University of Louisville’s Rick Pitino — again — and the school expressed interest in the University of Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon, who’s seemingly a hot commodity every year. There were other, better-known coaches that UNLV wouldn’t admit to contacting, but that sources confirmed were being pursued.

In the end, as the Review-Journal’s Mark Anderson reported last Sunday, Mr. Beard was plucked from the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, where he oversaw a 17-game turnaround this past season that culminated with a double-overtime victory over Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. If not for that NCAA victory, Mr. Beard — in his first year as an NCAA Division I coach — would have never been on UNLV’s radar.

That’s not to say Mr. Beard is the wrong choice for UNLV. To be sure, time will tell on that matter. What this hiring should do, though, is remind the UNLV athletic department what the men’s basketball program is and what it isn’t. What it is: a mid-major program in a rather average conference — the Mountain West Conference got just one NCAA bid this year. While UNLV has a glorious past, that was a long time ago. What it isn’t, at least right now and in recent years: a major player on the national college basketball scene, ripe to attract big-name coaches any time there’s an opening. When Mick Cronin uses you as a bargaining chip to stay at the University of Cincinnati, that tells you all you need to know.

The sooner UNLV accepts those facts, which it may have done with this hiring, the sooner the program can start rebuilding. Jerry Tarkanian, God rest his soul, isn’t walking through that door. But Mr. Beard has proven he can take a flailing program and make it NCAA Tournament-worthy. He deserves the chance to do that at UNLV.