Coach Bobby Hauck and those within UNLV athletics hope that recent success on the field can turn what at times has been a contentious relationship with students into a positive one.
Sports Columns
The crowd spread across the pavement near the Student Union and onto adjacent stairwells Monday, hundreds gathered to celebrate a rivalry victory in football and the promise of what still might transpire for UNLV in the coming weeks.
It represents more today for the UNLV football program than a replica of a 19th century Howitzer, more than a 550-pound trophy ever could, more than its $10,000 value.
There is always this: At least the Hauck kids never gave Dad the middle finger as a young UNR football fan once offered UNLV as it was departing the field following an in-state rivalry game.
Forty-four years ago, it was 1969. Bullets were flying in Southeast Asia. And Mark Larson said it was getting dark at Mackay Stadium up in Reno.
The Rebels never were going to beat Fresno State. But that’s not to say UNLV shouldn’t contend to win each of its final five games and in the process qualify for the program’s first bowl since 2000.
Nolan Kohorst is not for dramatics, which is all the more ironic when you consider the spot he holds on a football team. But his is a simple, candid study of how many college coaches might view a kicker when deciding whether to offer a scholarship.
Before the season even started — it probably was a day or two after the Athlon college football preview magazine came out — football people who took a cursory glance at UNLV’s schedule said the Rebels could be 4-2 by now.
A few weeks ago, I was hiding out at the Central Michigan-UNLV football game at Sam Boyd Stadium — I figured that would be the last place the authorities would look — when Mark Wallington, the Rebels’ football information guy, said the UNLV marching band had formed a giant mustache down on the playing field.
UNLV expects a crowd in the range of 25,000 Saturday when the Rebels host Hawaii, and anything short of it would disappoint given a few factors: UNLV will try to win a fourth straight regular-season game for the first time since 1984, and Hawaii’s healthy and passionate fan base wants nothing more than to trample such thoughts.