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Today, UNLV will introduce what in our mind is a curious choice as its new coach. Bobby Hauck is not without his strengths, but Dennis Franchione seemed to be a better fit. During his tenure at Montana, Hauck never warmed up to the media, which doesn't bode well for taking a job in Las Vegas; his players ran afoul of the law a number of times (wait, maybe he is perfect for Sin City!); and he even fired the team chaplain, though that might be more defensible (the chaplain wouldn't say game-day Mass for the entire team because not every player was Catholic).
Most relevant, however, is that, as Greg Rachac of the Billings Gazette points out, "At Montana, Hauck was simply asked to not wreck a Ferrari. At UNLV, he's being asked to build an automobile from scratch."
Building programs from scratch was the specialty of Franchione, who did so at fellow WAC schools New Mexico and TCU. Hauck won plenty with the Grizzlies (80-17 over seven seasons, including three national-title-game appearances), but he was working with a successful system already put in place by Joe Glenn (who, BTW, had no success at fellow WAC school Wyoming). Athletic director Jim Livengood is asking Hauck to create buzz around a program that has none.
Writes Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "UNLV football is worse than bad. It's irrelevant. The Rebels might draw a large gathering here and there (meaning whenever Brigham Young or a Bowl Championship Series conference team visits), but you know things are dreadful when you can glance at the Sam Boyd Stadium parking lot most Saturdays and not totally determine if there is a game."
The final reason Hauck is an odd choice? He always has his eye on a bigger job. At Montana, he only signed one-year contracts. At UNLV, he's committed for just three years. But as Graney points out, if Hauck leaves for a BCS-conference school in 2012, that will mean that the football program has been turned around. And that would be worth losing a coach over.
Most relevant, however, is that, as Greg Rachac of the Billings Gazette points out, "At Montana, Hauck was simply asked to not wreck a Ferrari. At UNLV, he's being asked to build an automobile from scratch."
Building programs from scratch was the specialty of Franchione, who did so at fellow WAC schools New Mexico and TCU. Hauck won plenty with the Grizzlies (80-17 over seven seasons, including three national-title-game appearances), but he was working with a successful system already put in place by Joe Glenn (who, BTW, had no success at fellow WAC school Wyoming). Athletic director Jim Livengood is asking Hauck to create buzz around a program that has none.
Writes Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: "UNLV football is worse than bad. It's irrelevant. The Rebels might draw a large gathering here and there (meaning whenever Brigham Young or a Bowl Championship Series conference team visits), but you know things are dreadful when you can glance at the Sam Boyd Stadium parking lot most Saturdays and not totally determine if there is a game."
The final reason Hauck is an odd choice? He always has his eye on a bigger job. At Montana, he only signed one-year contracts. At UNLV, he's committed for just three years. But as Graney points out, if Hauck leaves for a BCS-conference school in 2012, that will mean that the football program has been turned around. And that would be worth losing a coach over.
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