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Around the WAC Dave Reardon |
Did Nevada coach
get a crooked deal?THE way Chris Tormey was booted out of Reno, you'd think the guy was caught counting cards at a blackjack table.
The Nevada football coach improved his team's record each year and seemed to have the Wolf Pack headed in the right direction with a 6-6 mark in 2003 that included a win at Washington. His unpardonable crimes were losing to UNLV and, as is clear now, having a boss who wanted his old job back.
Now that athletic director and former Pack coaching legend Chris Ault has replaced Tormey with himself for a third stint, some of the erstwhile AD's earlier comments make a lot more sense -- like the one before the Hawaii game when Ault said beating the Warriors was "very important," but would not be pinned down on if it would save Tormey's job. Nevada beat Hawaii 24-14, but Boise State's 56-3 bushwhacking of the Pack last Saturday sealed Tormey's fate.
The official story is Nevada president John Lilley offered Ault the job after Tormey's firing much to Ault's surprise. An insider says nothing happens in Reno that is much to Ault's surprise -- easy to believe, considering the former Nevada quarterback's association with the program dates back to 1965.
"That kind of thing doesn't just play out in three days," another source close to the team said.
The coaching replacement process at Texas-El Paso figures to be a little longer and less shadier, but it could turn out just as interesting. That's because Mike Price is among the candidates. Yes, that Mike Price, the one of gentleman's club infamy, the one who lasted at Alabama for all of zero games.
Former Hawaii head coach and UTEP assistant Bob Wagner said he is not interested in returning to West Texas. He's happy building the new athletic department at the Kamehameha Schools campus on the Big Island.
"I did call Bob (UTEP athletic director Stull) on behalf of Rich Ellerson," Wagner said. "They definitely know who he is."
Ellerson, a former Hawaii player and assistant, is now head coach at Cal Poly. The Division I-AA Mustangs ambushed the Miners 34-13 at the Sun Bowl this season.
Wagner said he thinks Price has the inside track despite the Alabama disaster.
"He' really not a bad guy. He's got a name, and he can get the boosters to open their wallets," Wagner said.
DID anyone really think WAC commissioner Karl Benson had enough juice to get all four of his league's bowl-eligible teams into postseason games?
Boise State against Texas Christian in the Fort Worth Bowl is quite the coup.
Even if the Broncos falter against the Warriors tomorrow, the league champs get a big chance to enhance the WAC's meager reputation with a good showing against the Horned Frogs -- the same TCU that had the BCS power brokers shaking in fear most of the fall and looking for ways to change their magic formula.
Fresno State can finally exhale, its annual date at the Silicon Valley Classic secured.
Hawaii can't say it for the record, but the fans will at the box office: Not too many in the islands are excited about playing Houston. But most would agree it's better than the pre-Hawaii Bowl alternative -- no bowl game, and that surely would've been the Warriors' fate this year.
Finally, Tulsa gets its just due for bolting the conference: Boise in January.
"The only thing that could make it better is if we go 4-0 in those games," Benson said.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail him at dreardon@starbulletin.com