Heading into today’s underdog road test at No. 15 USC, UNLV head football coach Tony Sanchez has nothing to lose. Not today. Not in this uphill battle. In fact, it might be the only game all season where Sanchez — who is entering his fourth season at the helm of UNLV’s constantly underperforming football program — would be given points for “moral victories” by Rebels fans. The rest, on the other hand, he will not. Expectations are high in 2018 for Sanchez, a direct result of the culture change he brought over from Bishop Gorman.
A good college or high school coach generally requires four years to get their program system in place. Recruiting, training, new offensive and defensive schemes, new coaching staff dynamic, and a host of other issues require time to gel. But, Sanchez joined a program that has been to just one bowl game since 2014, with 2001 being the most recent time before that. When you take over a program that has just four total bowl game appearances in school history, more than anything, the culture needs to be flushed.
In his three seasons, Sanchez has put together a few decent stretches while he gets his college sea legs. In Year Four, it’s time he gets running. If you aren’t going to get it done in one cycle, Year Five becomes a must-win season for Sanchez. Still, you can sense it on campus and in how cautiously optimistic UNLV fans are when they talk about this season.
It’s almost like Rebel fans are afraid to even mention the “B” word — BOWL GAME.
Say what you want about Bishop Gorman, especially if you’re a follower of local high school football, but the school’s football program created a culture of winning under Sanchez. Sanchez built such a strong program that his teams regularly won the state title game by 40 or more points. The criticism he received was more because Gorman didn’t have to follow the same rules as its public school opponents.
At UNLV, the playing field is somewhat leveled in the NCAA but it still plays favorites. UNLV, on the other hand, has been more like the Cleveland Browns of the Mountain West and college football. The 16-game losing streak of the late 1990s was worse than the SMU death penalty fiasco. It killed UNLV Football pride for what seemed like for good.
The aforementioned streak needed a freak 100-yard fumble return on a boneheaded Baylor rush attempt instead of kneeling out the clock to end.
When he took the job in 2014, Sanchez brought that Gorman swagger. He knew and has recruited locally and abroad. His national prominence as head coach of national powerhouse Gorman gave him the opportunity to see some of the nation’s best first-hand. He mingled with them at awards ceremonies. He game-planned against them.
UNLV Football has changed uniforms, much like Gorman has done, and he created a new vibe. The Fertitta family has donated a ton to the school and the new football offices and facilities at UNLV are going to be first class. Throw into it the newest and most technologically advanced $1.9 billion football stadium as a home field, and you have the potential to not only change the culture but rewrite its history.
If Sanchez does what many think he’s capable of, UNLV could find itself shifting to the very Pac-12 they faced off against today at USC.
