To build a winner at UNLV, Tony Sanchez can’t spit the bit

Firebaugh is a one-stoplight town in Fresno County, located on the west side of the San Joaquin River and home to the California Central Valley water tank painted with the city’s name. The surrounding area is almost entirely agricultural land dotted with fields of crops such as alfalfa.

Josh Allen is from there.

He is the quarterback for a Wyoming football team that continues its impressive season against UNLV on Saturday afternoon at Sam Boyd Stadium, where the Cowboys hope to move a step closer to playing for a Mountain West championship and the Rebels hope to keep alive slim hopes for bowl eligibility.

Allen is a sophomore who played a season of community college ball before landing in Laramie, a lightly recruited prospect who has directed the Cowboys this season to a 7-2 record and 5-0 mark atop the league’s Mountain Division.

“He drives a pickup truck and wears a baseball cap and grew up on a farm and loves to compete,” Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said. “He didn’t have all these (recruiting ) stars, but then you peer in there and ask, ‘What does this guy have going?’

”He was off the beaten path, and there were probably 20 other guys, but the first thing we do at Wyoming is ask, ‘What is our profile?’ We think we have a special player. He doesn’t even shave yet. There is something to be said for that.”

It is another example that winning can be created different ways at different places, that perhaps more important than anything else for a new coach when establishing the foundation he believes can one day produce championships, understanding one’s culture stands above all else.

Bohl is in his third year in Laramie, having arrived after winning three consecutive national championships at North Dakota State to cap his 11 seasons with the Bison. He isn’t building Wyoming’s program like Tony Sanchez is the one at UNLV when it comes to recruiting bases — I’m not sure how many cowboys are ever included on a roster for the Rebels — but there exists in all such journeys similar principles that give you a better chance than not of reaching certain goals.

They begin with this: Stick to your convictions, no matter how massive a storm of discontent and opposition might hover over your program at times.

“We always talk about staying the course, and it’s true,” said Sanchez, who is 6-15 in his second season at UNLV. “We live in a crazy day and age, where you have one good game and people are excited, and then the next week it doesn’t look so good and the wheels are falling off. If you believe in your plan and players and coaches, then stick to it.

“(Wyoming) is a great reflection of that. They had four wins in (Bohl’s first season) and then two last year, and here they are now at 7-2. They just kept pounding away at the little things and following their plan, the same thing we are doing here.

“It’s tough to get there. It’s tough to change a culture. But we know what’s happening here, and we know the success that’s coming down the pipeline. Once you veer of the path because of noise or outside detractors, you lose yourself.”

Bohl speaks the same sort of philosophy, about having a clear vision and that those coaches who compromise it because of outside pressures are only creating a recipe for disaster. He talks about having ducks in line and applying one’s resources to a timeline, and that you better have more than a handshake agreement from those above because there will be difficult times.

“I have a lot of friends that when it came to crunch time, they had to spit the bit and couldn’t do it,” Bohl said.

I can’t really see Sanchez spitting any bits, but he did coach at California High in San Ramon, where unincorporated county lands border the east and west, so maybe he happened past some of those lavish horse properties every now and then.

But the part about not compromising one’s vision fits him like it does Bohl.

Their programs could eventually be among those annually competing for the conference title from opposing divisions, assuming the Rebels continue to recruit at the level they have over the past year and the Cowboys continue to find talented quarterbacks who define their profile, which right now is a kid who drives a pickup truck and wears a baseball cap and grew up on a farm and loves to compete.

“I don’t care if you grew up on a farm or in the inner city, those are both tough situations and you become a tough guy,” Sanchez said. “One doesn’t make you tougher than the other. We go into Houston and Southern California and here in Las Vegas and find plenty of tough kids willing to work.

“We all have different resources, and often you look at your geographical area and what is best for you. Who makes sense for us?”

In other words, winning can be created in different ways at different places. But one point remains universal in its message: When the storm hits at various points in the process, don’t get all nervous and spit the bit.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.