Gerry Faust is the name that immediately came to mind when the University of Nevada Las Vegas announced the hiring of Tony Sanchez as its new head football coach. Sanchez, like Faust, is coming out of the high school ranks to coach at the Division One college level.
After winning big at the famed Moeller High school program in Ohio, Faust took over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and flamed out in failure after four seasons. Unlike Faust, however, Sanchez is taking over a program that has been a laughingstock for virtually its entire existence. Sanchez will try and survive in what has been college football’s ultimate coaching graveyard.
Why Not?
Bobby Hauck is the latest coach to depart UNLV as a beaten man. Hauck arrived at UNLV in 2010 after a highly successful run at the University of Montana where he won seven straight Big Sky Conference championships. Hauk went 15-49 at UNLV but seemed to have broken through last year with a 7-6 record and a berth in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Hauck boasted that he would field his best UNLV team this season but the Rebels finished 2-11 as Hauck resigned in frustration.
Prior to Hauck, the Rebels were led by Mike Sanford, a hot name at the time of his hiring as Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Utah. Sanford followed John Robinson, who was a national championship coach at USC and had success in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams. So after trying those different models with no success, a highly successful local high school coach may not be as crazy as it seems at first glance.
The Faust Factor
UNLV Athletic Director Tina Kunzer Murphy actually was asked about the Faust comparison to Sanchez and she responded “Oh, don’t talk about that,” in a joking sort of manner before adding, “We looked at that. We found out why they (Notre Dame and Faust) didn’t succeed.”
Besides Faust, only one other man made the jump from the high school ranks to Division One college football. Todd Dodge went from Southlake Carroll High School in suburban Dallas where he went 98-11 to the University of North Texas. There he was an abysmal 6-37 before being fired.
So while the Sanchez hiring is intriguing it is also not based on a model that has ever come close to working elsewhere.
The Man from Bishop Gorman
Tony Sanchez was a huge winner at Las Vegas’ Bishop Gorman High School where he won six consecutive state championships and had an overall record of 85-5. He is energetic and has the fire in the eye of a winner. But he is entering an FBS job with absolutely no experience and at a program that has a culture of not just losing but losing big. Like those who came before him, Sanchez has promised to attack the challenge of building a winner with everything that he has got.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity,” said Sanchez. “I couldn’t be more energetic and more driven to see UNLV moving in a positive direction.”
Deuces Wild
UNLV has just two winning seasons since 1995 and has been to just two bowl games in that span and in an era where all you have to do is win six games to make a bowl. The Rebels have posted two-win seasons in four out of the last five seasons and in a total of eight seasons since 2004.
Fertitta Family takes Ownership?
With Nike’s Phillip Knight funding the Oregon Ducks and oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens bankrolling the Oklahoma State Cowboys, “ownership” has become a new phenomenon and factor in the college football landscape.
The word on the strip is that Lorenzo Fertitta, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has staked his claim to fulfill the role of “owner” of UNLV football. The reach of hiring a high school coach has been traced to Fertitta bankrolling Sanchez as the coach with the promise of upgrades in facilities for the football program.
Could do no Worse…
UNLV is a lowly FBS program and that’s putting it nicely. Sanchez will do no worse than his predecessors and perhaps, with the help of Fertitta and qualified assistants he may end up turning the tide of UNLV football. This is an intriguing longshot bet by Las Vegas.
