Rice relishes Rose’s milestone

Forgive UNLV basketball coach Dave Rice if he keeps tabs on Brigham Young this weekend. His old boss, Dave Rose, is one win away from his 200th victory, and Rice had a lot to do with him getting there. In fact, the two Daves stood side by side in Provo, Utah, for six seasons and amassed 159 of those victories.

BYU (14-5, 4-1 West Coast Conference) hosts San Diego (11-8, 4-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday on BYUtv (Cox 352).

"Coach Rose is a terrific coach and an even better person," Rice said. "He is a great motivator and builds so much confidence in his staff and players. I learned so much from him and will always be grateful."

Rose hired Rice as an assistant coach in 2005 in a decision that would turn into good fortune for both men.

"He and I spent so much time together trying to put together our system and how we really wanted to do things," Rose said. "We decided how we wanted to run our practices, how to establish consistency with our travel and how we were going to operate our day-to-day program. He was really instrumental in helping with those things."

During their time together, BYU led the Mountain West in scoring every year, and the Cougars had five straight 25-win seasons and five straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program's first trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 30 years. They also helped developed Jimmer Fredette into the 2011 National Player of the Year.

Rice was so influential in Rose's success that UNLV hired him as head coach after the 2010-11 season hoping he could do the same thing for the Rebels.

"When you get with Dave, you know you are getting a real loyal guy who is one of the hardest-working guys in the business," Rose said. "I think that is what (UNLV) saw. The success we had here gives credibility to a guy, but I think they already knew the kind of person they were getting. I just think our success helped his credibility."

Rose and Rice shared several memorable victories, including: a 78-76 win over then-No. 6 Louisville at Orleans Arena on Nov. 23, 2007; a 99-92 victory in double overtime over Florida on March 18, 2010, for BYU's first NCAA Tournament win in 17 years; an 89-77 victory over UNLV on Jan. 5, 2011, for Rose's only win against the Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center; an 80-67 win at then-No. 4 San Diego State on Feb. 26, 2011, on CBS; an 87-76 victory over New Mexico in the 2011 Mountain West tournament semifinals at the Thomas & Mack Center, in which Fredette scored 52 points to break Danny Ainge's BYU scoring record; an 89-67 victory over Gonzaga in the 2011 NCAA Tournament to advance into the Sweet Sixteen; and 11 victories against rival Utah.

"Besides being a terrific Xs-and-Os coach and helping us with the offense for so many years, Dave brought so much experience from so many other staffs that he had worked on at this level," Rose said, noting Rice spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach at UNLV. "It really helped us create confidence in what we were doing."

Rose and Rice developed a deeper bond when Rose was diagnosed with a form of pancreatic cancer after the 2009 season and underwent emergency surgery in Las Vegas.

Rice, who had been promoted to associate head coach, oversaw the program while Rose recovered. Today, they are more like brothers than colleagues, and while they keep in regular contact, neither plans to schedule a game against the other.

■ ROSE'S TOP GUNS - Rose has had plenty of firepower to help him reach 200 victories. Trent Plaisted led the team with 394 points during his first season. Keena Young followed with 590. Lee Cummard scored 552 and 556 during Rose's third and fourth seasons. Jimmer Fredette finished the 2009-10 season with 751 and followed up with 1,068 his senior year. Noah Hartsock led the Cougars in scoring last season with 572 points. Sophomore Tyler Haws, the WCC's top scorer this season, has 406 points in 2012-13.

■ PLAYERS HONORED - BYU will retire the jerseys of former stars Roland Minson (No. 11) and Melvin Hutchins (14) during halftime of the Portland-BYU game on Feb. 16. Both were members of the Cougars' 1951 National Invitation Tournament title team and were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Hutchins was BYU's leading rebounder (900), and Minson led in points (1,407) until the late Kresimir Cosic broke both records in 1973. Cosic's jersey was retired in 2006.

■ FOOTBALL MOVES - Coach Bronco Mendenhall hired former Cougars players Mark Atuaia and Garett Tujague as assistant coaches. Another former Cougar, Aaron Roderick, accepted a job at BYU earlier in the week but changed his mind Thursday. Instead, he will remain the passing coordinator at Utah, where he has been for eight seasons. Former offensive coordinator Brandon Doman's status remains undetermined.

Dave McCann is a news anchor for KSL television in Salt Lake City and is play-by-play voice for BYU sports on BYUtv. He also is the host of True Blue, which airs at 5:30 p.m. Mondays on BYUtv. He can be reached at dmccann@ksl.com or on Twitter: @DaveMcCannKSL.