Cougars assistant Rice still fan of UNLV — to a point

Dave Rice wants to make it perfectly clear -- he'll always be a fan of the Rebels -- just not when they play Brigham Young.

Rice was a member of UNLV's 1990 national championship team and was an assistant coach at the school for 11 years before being let go by Rebels coach Lon Kruger, who brought in his own staff in 2004.

After spending a season at Utah State, Rice accepted a job as an assistant coach at BYU. He's in his third year with the Cougars, the top seed in this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.

"UNLV is my alma mater, and I'll always be a Runnin' Rebels fan," Rice said. "I'm really happy when I see them do well, and I'm really happy when they finish behind (BYU) in the standings."

Rice coached at UNLV in 1992 and from 1995 to 2004. He helped the Rebels recruit several players from Utah's Dixie State College, which was coached by Dave Rose, the current BYU coach.

That relationship led the pair of former players from high-flying programs -- Rice from UNLV and Rose from Houston's "Phi Slamma Jamma" team -- to join forces at BYU.

"It seemed like a natural for me," Rice said. "Coach Rose and I have been friends for a number of years. Our philosophies, in terms of basketball, are very similar.

"We both had the opportunity to play for Final Four programs, and the way we wanted to play and coach was up-tempo, transition basketball."

Rice also was impressed with BYU's basketball history.

Rice didn't aspire to become a coach. He planned to enter medical school or law school when his playing days were done. But after UNLV lost to Duke in the 1991 national semifinals, Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian told Rice he had an assistant coaching spot available and thought he had plenty of potential as a coach.

"It was flattering to hear that because of the respect I had for him," Rice said. "I decided to put my education on hold. I still needed a little bit of closure. Even though we won the national championship, there was a little bit of an empty feeling, because we lost to Duke in the Final Four.

"So I got around coaching with Tark and (assistant Tim) Grgurich, and it got into my blood. The competition and the relationships with players is something I love."

Rice, whose brother Grant is the boys coach at Bishop Gorman, coached at UNLV under Tarkanian, Grgurich, Bill Bayno and Charlie Spoonhour.

"They were great years I look back on with fondness," he said. "Some of my best friends in the world still live in Las Vegas and are great Rebels fans."