Pieces of ’91 UNLV coaching staff shine across football
When Chuck Pagano resigned as UNLV defensive coordinator in 1991 after a falling-out with then-coach Jim Strong, he probably never imagined it would lead to becoming head coach of the Indianapolis Colts. And that he would be the third assistant from Strong's staff to land an NFL head coaching gig.
Not even Galileo could have imagined that.
I vaguely remember chatting with Pagano after he quit in the middle of the season - seems like it was in the parking lot of the McDermott Center, on a Sunday night, after he had cleaned out his desk. I vaguely remember him saying he would be all right, that he would land on his feet.
He landed at East Carolina to coach defensive backs, which is sort of like landing on one foot.
But in 1995 he linked up with Butch Davis at Miami and rode Davis' coattails to the NFL with the Cleveland Browns.
Which was sort of like the other foot landing.
Some years later, Pagano worked his way up to NFL defensive coordinator, with the Baltimore Ravens, who, as you may recall, were pretty good about putting hits on people when he was there.
Sometimes when Ray Lewis would calm down after barking at teammates, he would say nice things about Chuck Pagano on the NFL Network, or on HBO's "Hard Knocks." So now Pagano is head coach of the Colts, which would have been a great job a couple of years ago, or even when Johnny Unitas was throwing passes to Raymond Berry.
Still, he's a head coach in the NFL, one of only 32. And as previously mentioned, he wasn't the only assistant from that particular UNLV staff who went on to coach on Sunday and on Monday, and, later in the season, occasionally on Thursday.
Tom Cable was head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2008 through 2010; now he's assistant head coach for the Seattle Seahawks. Scott Linehan was head coach of the St. Louis Rams from 2006 through 2008; now he's offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
(Perhaps this was divine intervention: Linehan's brother is the actor Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in "The Passion of the Christ.")
Steve Hagen and Greg McMahon are both in their seventh NFL seasons, Hagen with the Browns, where he coaches tight ends; McMahon with the Saints, where he coaches special teams. Where, I'm sure, he knows of bounties what Senior Master Sgt. Hans Georg Schultz knew of Stalag 13.
Jeff Horton's first game as interim head coach at Minnesota was against Joe Paterno and Penn State; now he's assistant head coach at San Diego State. Horton also was head coach at UNR and UNLV, with apprenticeships at Wisconsin and the Lions and Rams in the NFL.
After a long run at Wisconsin, Brian White is running backs coach at Florida and has coached in 14 bowl games, including the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta; Stan Eggen is defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator at Louisiana Tech (after a stop at Texas A&M).
And yet the 1991 Rebels won just four games.
Jim Strong was a micromanager, paranoid, a bit of a tyrant and, as I've said, proof that when it came to drawing straws for one of Lou Holtz's top assistants to guide the football program, UNLV drew the one in the Juicy Juice box. (Strong was Notre Dame's offensive coordinator under Holtz; Barry Alvarez coached the defense.)
But it also bears repeating that this guy Strong knew how to put together a coaching staff.
Terry Cottle, the longtime Rebels associate athletic director now in his 29th season at UNLV, was Strong's recruiting coordinator and administrative assistant in 1991.
"Those three were really good guys," Cottle said of Pagano, Cable and Linehan, and of the success the other former UNLV assistants went on to achieve. "Does it surprise me? Not really. We've always had good coaches come through here."
But as UNLV's record that year - and over many other years - not so subtly indicates, there's more to coaching football than knowing one's X's and O's.
Which brings me to Rock Roggeman.
Thomas "Rock" Roggeman also was a member of that 1991 UNLV coaching staff. He also coached at Alabama State, Alabama A&M, Louisville, Eastern Michigan, Murray State and East Carolina.
He was coaching defensive tackles under Skip Holtz, Lou's son, at East Carolina in 2010 when he died of cancer at age 47.
Rock had short red hair, a square jaw, and never met a stranger. He was a devout Catholic who loved Notre Dame so much he went there as a walk-on, under Gerry Faust. Cottle said when Rock - so nicknamed for Knute Rockne - began to cry during the Notre Dame Victory March, Faust got emotional, too, and gave him a scholarship.
But no. Unlike Chuck Pagano, and Tom Cable, and Scott Linehan - and Steve Hagen and Jeff Horton and Greg McMahon - Thomas "Rock" Roggeman never made it to the NFL. He didn't get to be on "Hard Knocks," to coach in 14 bowl games, to stay in one place for 29 years.
He still was one of UNLV's finest, if only for a little while.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.
