UNLV’s Tony Sanchez, Bishop Gorman and sportsmanship at the high school level

Coach Tony Sanchez was touted to be the savior of UNLV football. After all, he had led the local parochial high school (Bishop Gorman) to a national ranking several years in a row. The UNLV athletic director succumbed to the idea that he could do the same at the next level.

But Mr. Sanchez is finding out that coming from an environment where wealthy alumni helped create the best high school football team that money could buy doesn’t automatically mean success at the next level. His coaching skills apparently don’t measure up, yet. Perhaps the success at Bishop Gorman was more a result of a collection of talent that outclassed local public schools lacking the advantage of nationwide recruiting.

Mr. Sanchez’s lack of success so far at UNLV highlights a problem deserving of serious attention. There need to be rules and requirements at the state and local levels preventing wealthy private schools from bringing in talent whose sole purpose is to dominate all others. Bishop Gorman is also a national basketball powerhouse. Think back a couple of years when their star center was from Brazil and went on to the NBA. I’m sure there was nothing underhanded about a Brazilian high school star choosing to move to Las Vegas to graduate from a high school in the middle of the desert. Not!

State athletic bodies need to put a stop to stuff like that.

Let’s hope Mr. Sanchez’s tenure at UNLV helps initiate a drive to solve a bigger problem: how to re-emphasize the concept of good sportsmanship and a level playing field in high school athletics.