With UNLV AD wanting to win now, onus falls on T.J. Otzelberger

The win-now program has a new coach.

His name is T.J. Otzelberger, and by the time it takes you to read this sentence, his team has usually attempted another 3-pointer.

Or two or three or five.

Desiree Reed-Francois will introduce the person she has chosen to lead UNLV men’s basketball Thursday, ending a search that began almost two weeks ago when the athletic director fired Marvin Menzies after his third season.

Otzelberger, 41, arrives from South Dakota State of the Summit League, which amazingly is a whole lot worse than the Mountain West.

In the past three seasons, he directed SDSU — not the one UNLV never beats — to a 70-33 record and two NCAA Tournaments, which is two more than the Rebels have been to since 2013.

On the face of things, strictly in terms of resumé, this isn’t a lateral move by Reed-Francois. It’s a below lateral one.

Brings exciting offense

Before arriving at UNLV, Menzies built New Mexico State into the Western Athletic Conference’s best program over nine seasons, reaching five NCAA tournaments. Otzelberger has done well to continue the success he inherited, which included three of his top four scorers this season and one of the most productive players (Mike Daum) in college history.

Which means Otzelberger, who has earned high praise for his recruiting aptitude as an assistant coach at Washington and Iowa State, hasn’t built anything at the college level in his short time as a head coach.

But he will certainly get a chance now, perhaps even more than he imagined depending on how many of the current UNLV players whose names are in the NCAA transfer portal he can convince to stay.

I love his offense, love all the 3s, love how his teams play, love what the metrics suggest we will be watching.

That alone won’t solve UNLV’s biggest issue — a sense of communal apathy that has left the Thomas &Mack Center three-quarters empty on game nights. I’m fairly sure this hire won’t change much in that respect overnight.

Winning is the only solution, and Reed-Francois is on record proclaiming that UNLV is a win-now program.

She said it upon firing Menzies. So here we go.

She wanted her own person in the school’s most important coaching chair, and there’s nothing unusual or wrong with that. But while Otzelberger obviously will be given more time by his new boss than Menzies to produce a consistent winner, the same can’t be said for those still purchasing tickets.

Their patience, already fraying at the edges, won’t last much longer.

All on her own

This was a search in totality by Reed-Francois. She might have had a few trusted confidants, but they didn’t include key boosters in charge of raising the most money for the program. Mostly, it was all her — to succeed or fail, to potentially bolster her resumé for ascending the professional ladder or ultimately damaging such chances.

Hiring coaches in volleyball and softball are barely appetizers to the main courses of football and men’s basketball.

They’re the only two coaching positions people care about.

Otzelberger wasn’t her first choice because, well, as fine a recruiter as he apparently is and as modern and exciting as his offense can be, his was not a name topping midmajor lists of coaching candidates, a pool from which Reed-Francois obviously wanted to choose. He was on those lists, but you’re not beginning this process by firing Menzies with the idea that this is your ending. No chance.

You probably will hear Thursday that Otzelberger was the only coach to receive a formal offer from UNLV. That’s what athletic directors say when such journeys are finished. The real stories — the best ones — regarding such searches, which we will never hear, are all the informal discussions with candidates and agents.

Reed-Francois needs like anything for this to be the right call. UNLV basketball needs it even more.

What was a dark cloud over the program after missing the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season and all those empty seats suddenly has become more menacing with noted defense attorney Michael Avenatti insinuating in a tweet that UNLV used unscrupulous methods to land prized basketball recruit Brandon McCoy two years ago.

Essentially, Avenatti is suggesting someone paid McCoy to sign with the Rebels.

Lots going on with UNLV basketball.

The search is over. It has a new coach.

Did you get the part about loving his offense?

And yet when does win now begin exactly?

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow

@edgraney on Twitter.