When UNLV athletic director Denise Reed-Francois announced the firing of former basketball coach Marvin Menzies, the program’s roster featured 15 players set to return — including medical redshirt senior Shakur Juiston, who missed most of the 2018-19 season with a knee injury. Since the firing, UNLV’s once proud basketball program has been hit with a “rapture” of its own. All but eight currently remain in the program now that seven have entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, leaving UNLV and its yet-to-be-determined new head coach a shell of its former self.
The latest dominoes to fall were sophomore guard Amauri Hardy and junior Nick Blair, both of whom announced their entrance into the portal Tuesday morning. The pair join fellow portal entries Juiston, Joel Ntambwe, Cheikh Mbacke Diong, Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Cheickna Dembele, all who announced their intent to transfer out the past 10 days since Menies was fired.
“I first would like to thank Coach Menzies, staff, and the media apart of UNLV,” Hardy said in a statement posted on Twitter. “As I wait the hiring of the new coach, after long thought, prayer, and talking with my family, I will explore other options as a Plan B by entering my name into the NCAA Transfer Portal. Thanks to all the fans and people who are supportive of me as we let God lead us all in the right direction.”
UNLV’s admin has not made a public statement since announcing the firing of Menzies, maintaining a radio silence policy. Members of UNLV’s athletic department have rebuffed any further inquiry and have not returned multiple calls from Sin City SM.
While the school continues its search for a new head coach, fans have become a little concerned with the pace of the search, especially as the April 17 NCAA official signing day approaches. Rumored names include current Memphis assistant and two-time NBA champion Mike Miller, Virginia Commonwealth coach Mike Rhoades, South Carolina coach Frank Martin and even, as strange as it sounds, current UNR coach Eric Musselman, who reportedly coveted the UNLV job prior to Menzies being hired three years ago this April.
While any of the transfer portal players can choose to return to UNLV, the waiting game stands as such, even as reports emerge some have even reached out to Reed-Francois to encourage Miller as their choice.
I’ve learned multiple UNLV players have been on the phone with athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois and pushed for @MikeMiller_13 to be the next head coach.
The 39 year old is beloved in the basketball community.— Jon Tritsch (@hometownJT) March 26, 2019
The Runnin’ Rebels program has also felt the impact on the recruiting front. Both of its two recruits for the 2019-20 season, Ethan Anderson and Josh Pierre-Louis, also withdrew their commitment to the program. In fact, Anderson has already verbally committed to USC for the fall after just a few days.
Let’s gooooo!!!!! pic.twitter.com/BSE0J2DOAH
— Ethan anderson (@Nolomit_e) March 22, 2019
The loss of Juiston (10.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg), Hardy (13.1 ppg, 3.5 apg, 3.0 rpg), Ntambwe (11.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Diong (6.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg) guts what looked to be a solid starting five this next season. The Wolf Pack up north is already circling the wagons around Juiston, who was highly coveted by UNR prior to his UNLV commitment.
With UNLV keeping all of its search targets a secret in its in-house search — run by Fogler Consulting, which is not required to follow state open meeting laws — nobody knows when this search will finally net the next UNLV skipper. As every day passes, the rest of “The Leftovers” very well may jump ship into the portal as well. Of the remaining players, only soon-to-be sophomores Bryce Hamilton and Trey Woodbury, along with soon-to-be junior Tervell Beck, logged any considerable minutes for UNLV in 2018-19.
The clock is ticking, and patience is wearing thin for a program already stuck in a life-or-death battle with the emergence of major league sports in Las Vegas. If this hire isn’t a slam dunk, the program risks falling deeper into irrelevance as the Raiders move to Las Vegas and the Vegas Golden Knights seek to return to the Stanley Cup for the second time in their two years of existence.
For Reed-Francois, this decision will be her legacy. Anything less than a rockstar hiring and she herself could find herself on the hot seat with the rabid UNLV faithful. Many expect a decision by the Final Four, but there has no indication the search has even focused on a specific candidate at all.
In the meanwhile, the college basketball universe continues to move forward, even as UNLV and its fans are stuck in limbo waiting on a big name coach to take the program back to its glory days.
