This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
In so many ways, Dave Rice seemed perfect for UNLV's basketball program when he became the Rebels' coach five years ago.
The ex-BYU associate head coach (and Utah State assistant) is a former UNLV player, immersed in the Rebels' tradition and familiar with the Las Vegas market. Based on what I witnessed as he operated BYU's offense under coach Dave Rose, I figured Rice would be one of those guys who maximized his opportunity.
Instead, he was fired Sunday in the middle of his fifth season, again proving the overriding truth of hiring coaches: You just never know.
And that applies to Tim Duryea, Kalani Sitake, Demario Warren or anybody who recently has become a head coach in Utah or elsewhere. There seemingly are no predictors for whether or not a former assistant will thrive after getting his big break in the profession. Rose and Weber State's Randy Rahe, for example, have proven to be outstanding head coaches, from basically the same backgrounds as Rice.
Losing his job in this case does not make Rice a head coaching failure, necessarily, but he obviously didn't succeed at the level I anticipated when he joined the Rebels after BYU's Jimmer Fredette era. Via Twitter, former BYU player Jonathan Tavernari labeled Rice "an offensive genius," and there was some evidence for that description during Rice's time in Provo.
Yet he couldn't sustain his initial success at UNLV, after taking the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament in each of his first two seasons. An 0-3 start in Mountain West play, including Saturday's loss at Wyoming, was enough to persuade UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy to make a rare January coaching change. Rice went 37-32 in conference games.
In a classy move, Rice attended a farewell news conference Sunday. Not everyone would do so, under such circumstances. He handled himself well, as always. My favorite part of covering the Cougars in the NCAA Tournament during his tenure was regularly interviewing Rice, as teams had to make assistant coaches available in the locker room on practice days and after games.
Rice is a good person, and he undoubtedly will become a valuable assistant coach somewhere after his first head coaching opportunity didn't work out well for UNLV. His failure is surprising to me, but it's also a reminder of how difficult it is to hire the right coach every time.
Twitter: @tribkurt