Tony Sanchez’s first-year performance bodes well for UNLV

Much can be read into how a UNLV football coach performs in his first season.

More often than not, that first season is a good gauge to how the rest of his tenure will play out.

So what does that mean for Rebels first-year coach Tony Sanchez and what he hopes to accomplish?

With three victories entering Saturday's 11 a.m. PST season finale at Wyoming, the record on its face doesn't bode well. But considering the Rebels' many years of struggles, no sane person thought this season would end with a trip to a New Year's Six game, and most figured even the New Mexico Bowl was at best a long shot.

In UNLV's case, you grade on a curve and look for clues of what's to come. For Sanchez, that meant establishing an attitude of toughness that would carry on throughout this year and the ones to come.

He accomplished that aim for the most part before the Rebels broke down late in the season as injuries and lack of depth caught up to them.

"I think we've played a good physical brand of football the majority of the year," Sanchez said. "I think at times, especially recently, we get a little worn out. We're on fumes a little bit. When you see all those bodies on the sideline not suited up, guys that were playing a few weeks earlier, it takes a toll.

"That's the nature of the game. We talked to the team a couple of weeks ago, and there are a lot of things you need to be successful. You need accountability, you need intelligence and toughness, but the thing you want most of all is toughness. It goes above intelligence. It goes above accountability. Without toughness, you have nothing."

Victories were always going to be hard for Sanchez to come by this season, but with the Rebels at 3-8, they broke past the two-win barrier that UNLV was stuck on in eight of the past 11 seasons.

Sanchez will need more recruiting classes to get the program where he wants it, and even then he might not get there. UNLV remains a difficult job, but Sanchez's team has shown enough promise this season that he has created a buzz for the program that hasn't existed since when John Robinson coached UNLV more than a decade ago.

History isn't always consistent in providing clues on what to expect after a UNLV coach's first season.

Where the first season was a good indicator:

— In coaching the first UNLV team to ever play football, Bill Ireland went 8-1 in 1968. He also put together winning records the following three seasons before going 1-10 in 1972 and moving to the athletic director's chair. Ireland not only oversaw the birth of the program, but put it in good shape for a series of successful coaches who followed.

— Ron Meyer went 8-3 in 1973, and the next season he took the Rebels to the Division II playoffs and finished 12-1. Then after going 7-4 in in 1975, Meyer went to Southern Methodist and took over the famed Pony Express. He remains the only UNLV head coach to leave directly for another head coaching job.

— Tony Knap succeeded Meyer and immediately went 9-3. He never had a losing record, and at 47-20-2 over six seasons, Knap remains the school's all-time winningest coach, amazing on a number of levels.

— Jim Strong's 4-7 record in 1990 was an indicator of what was to come for all the wrong reasons. He managed just one winning season, at 6-5 in 1992, and then was out of coaching.

— When Robinson posted a 3-8 record in 1999, there was a real belief that would be a blip in his effort to turn around the Rebels. He did turn it around the following season with an 8-5 record and 31-14 victory over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Bowl, but the ending turned out to be much like the beginning. UNLV went 2-9 in 2004, and Robinson retired from coaching with a 28-42 record with the Rebels.

— Mike Sanford followed Robinson with another two-win season in 2005. And then one in 2006 and another in 2007. Sanford did get up to five victories each of the next two seasons, but falling short of a bowl trip cost him the job.

— Following Sanford's lead, Bobby Hauck went 2-11 in 2010, and he finished the same number of victories in three of the next four seasons. The one exception was the 7-6 mark in 2013 and Heart of Dallas Bowl appearance.

Where the first season wasn't a good indicator:

— Just two years after going 3-8, Harvey Hyde put together UNLV's best season in 1984. The Rebels went 11-2, beating Toledo 30-13 in the California Bowl. The season was tarnished because the Big West Conference ruled those victories should be vacated for allegedly using ineligible players, but the NCAA never erased the wins. So UNLV still counts the victories, giving Hyde a 26-19-1 record in his four seasons.

— Wayne Nunnely's 6-5 record in 1986 was the only winning mark he had in four seasons. It also marked the beginning of the program's downward slide, though it wasn't all his fault. This was the time when the athletic department and university began to fail to provide the proper support needed for a successful program.

— The Rebels were riding high when Jeff Horton went 7-5 in 1994. His Rebels upset UNR 32-27 to tie for first in the Big West and represent the league in the Las Vegas Bowl. After years of losing, good times looked to be in UNLV's future, but then followed records of 2-9, 1-11, 3-8 and 0-11.

What it all means for Sanchez's UNLV future is difficult to say, but senior tight end Jake Phillips has seen enough to know he wishes he had eligibility after this season.

"What I keep telling the young guys is I'm excited in years to come and see the Rebels going to bowl games and winning all these games," Phillips said. "I think it starts with us. I think it starts with this first senior class and the example that we've set for them."

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65