After dust settles, UNLV must assess missteps

I’m not sure on whose name the Ferris wheel will ultimately stop as UNLV’s next basketball coach — Marvin Menzies of New Mexico State appears to be the one — but the circus ride needs to be followed by a thorough, honest evaluation of the search process and those who directed the program to this point.

Chris Beard officially put down the cup of coffee he had as the Rebels’ coach and headed home Friday, predictably embracing the riches of a job at Texas Tech and the desire to be closer to his three daughters. Fact is, had the Red Raiders’ position opened while Beard was considering UNLV, he never would have entertained an offer to land in Las Vegas.

But once another coach is hired and yet another news conference is held and at least a month expires before that person can pass GO and rethink his decision to take on this rebuilding project, how this has been defined by such an incredible level of national and local negativity must be examined.

To the opposite of such feelings, if hired, Menzies would become the first permanent African-American men’s basketball head coach in UNLV history.

How in the world can’t that be celebrated?

That’s a significant step forward, one for which the Rebels should be applauded.

But the dissection of the entire search must begin with a rookie president (Len Jessup) who unquestionably demonstrated he had never led such a journey and an athletic director (Tina Kunzer-Murphy) in the last year of her contract.

Reality doesn’t matter today.

It never does.

Perception is the key element, and whether most of the anger and bitterness and downright distasteful comments across social media toward Jessup and Kunzer-Murphy are justified (the vulgar comments certainly aren’t in any form), the entire search has been perceived nationally as a forgettable occurrence.

Jessup and Kunzer-Murphy shouldn’t in any way be swayed by the opinion of fans or media or Twitter trolls about whom to hire — I’m guessing 95 percent of those speaking out against Menzies on Friday night have never watched his team or its running style or understand he has been to more NCAA Tournaments than UNLV the past seven years — but both administrators need to take a long look in the mirror after this is done and ask how each could have handled the past four months better.

This was the statement from Kunzer-Murphy on Friday morning:

“Coach Beard has informed me he intends to pursue the men’s basketball head coaching job at Texas Tech. This unprecedented move is extremely disappointing to the president and I, for our program and to our fans. Our search process allowed us to develop a deep pool of qualified candidates, from which we will select a great coach who really wants to be here and who will honor his commitments in leading the Runnin’ Rebels.”

First things first: Those at UNLV are the last ones who should be talking about making unprecedented moves, given they made one of the all-time foolish ones in firing Dave Rice on Jan. 10, three games into the Mountain West season, a coach who had broken no NCAA rules or in any way embarrassed the university.

They can spin it how they want, but either someone of influence wanted Todd Simon to get a look as the head coach or they were all worried Rice would turn things around and would have to be kept beyond this season. Probably both. That’s just the truth.

They fired a guy who went 51-19 in his first two seasons and was assured he could finish his fifth before a determination on his fate was made, one that if it had ended without an NCAA Tournament berth should have definitely led to his dismissal.

Beard’s decision to jump so soon after taking the UNLV job is also not considered unprecedented by anyone who understands how often these things have happened in sports — Bobby Cremins, Dana Altman, Billy Donovan, Patrick Murphy, Gregg Marshall, Rick Majerus, Jerry Sloan, on and on and on.

Yes, even Beard.

He accepted the head coaching job at Lamar State College-Port Arthur in 2012 before changing course and instead landed at Division II McMurry in Abilene, Texas, to, yes, benefit his family.

It’s not unprecedented at all.

On the evening Rice was fired, UNLV had a 958 four-year Academic Progress Rate, which included a perfect score of 1000 in 2014-15. The Rebels had no NCAA issues, a roster full of players and four commitments from recruits. They also had posted a perfect APR score during the first semester this year.

Then, the Rice firing.

Now, the four-month coaching search perceived nationally to be a total circus and mass exodus of players.

Next, potential serious APR issues down the line.

These are all self-inflicted wounds by UNLV, a case study on how not to conduct a coaching search.

Lessons to be learned, for sure.

The Rebels appear on the verge of hiring their first permanent black head coach for men’s basketball.

That’s a very positive sign.

Everything else the past four months … not so much.

Ed Graney can be reached 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. On Twitter: @edgraney.