This week, Ira spoke with UNLV Coach Dave Rice .
UNLV Men’s Basketball Head Coach Dave Rice, who is starting his second season with the Running’ Rebels on November 14th, has a history with the university: he was part of the 1990 National Championship team as a player, was a Rhodes Scholar candidate while earning his bachelor’s degree in political science (UNLV ’91), earned his masters of business administration (UNLV ’93) and served as a Runnin’ Rebel assistant coach for 11 seasons (1991-92 & 1994-2004).
During his time as an assistant at UNLV, the Runnin’ Rebels made two NCAA Tournament appearances, played in the NIT five times, and tallied two regular-season conference championships and two conference tournament championships.
The first former player to become head coach of the program, Rice played for two seasons (1989-91) at UNLV as a reserve guard on two of legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian’s Final Four teams. His 11 seasons as a UNLV assistant coach is second-most in school history to only Tim Grgurich (12).
During his time as a player for the Runnin’ Rebels, the squad posted a 69-6 record, which included winning a school-record 45 consecutive games. In addition to the national title and the two Final Four appearances, those teams captured the Big West regular-season title twice along with two conference tournament crowns. Prior to transferring to UNLV, Rice played at Mt. San Antonio College from 1987-89, where he earned All-South Coast Conference honors as a sophomore and was chosen from among more than 13,000 student-athletes as the 1989 California Junior College Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
