THE STORY BEHIND A COACHING SHUFFLE : UNLV Football: a New Deal : Wayne Nunnely Has Stepped In, Stresses ‘Different Attitude’

Compared to the public image of Mr. Hyde, the football coach he was replacing at UNLV, Wayne Nunnely comes off looking like Dr. Jekyll.

When Nunnely was hired to replace Harvey Hyde, the columnists who had been howling for Hyde’s hide hailed the move as the salvation of the program. And Cal State Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said: “He’s a first-class individual. That football program received instant credibility when they hired him.”

Instant credibility was needed. Even Nunnely will admit that when he was named interim coach last April, Las Vegas’ “reputation was in shambles.” And now, since he was given a three-year contract Sept. 22, he admits that the Rebels still have a long way to go in sprucing up their image.

The events of last spring hurt Nunnely, personally as well as professionally. He’s a Las Vegas graduate, a former running back who has either played under or coached under, every other coach in Las Vegas’ short football history.

“It was reflecting on my school, and reflecting on every coach on the staff,” Nunnely said. “We were being labled in the coaching fraternity as bandit coaches.

“Those who know Wayne Nunnely know that I’m not a bandit coach. I have principles and morals.

“We won’t change our recruiting practices, but what we will do is take a more careful look at the players we are considering. We’ll have to talk to a science teacher or a guidance counselor instead of just listening to the high school coaches who have an interest in seeing that their kids get a scholarship.

“What we’re doing now is trying to instill a different attitude in our players. I don’t think they were ever bad kids. But some of these kids, who are from the inner city, who come from broken homes, who are marginal students, need to get a first taste of self-pride.

“They need to learn that they are no longer individuals. They are representing their school, their team, their coach--as well as themselves. it has to start with self-respect.”

Nunnely doesn’t preach this line. He states it, matter-of-factly but seriously.

Nunnely, 34, grew up in what he has described as a Christian home in Monrovia, Calif. He married Velda Fisher, also of Monrovia. And now they have a Christian home in Las Vegas with their three children.

Nunnely wasn’t a superstar running back and he hasn’t made a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks. He takes pride in having received a college degree out of football, even though he wasn’t real big--5 feet 9 inches and 175 pounds--or real fast. And he takes pride in his slow but steady rise to coach at his alma mater.

After playing at Citrus Junior College, Nunnely played at Las Vegas under the Rebels’ first coach, Bill Ireland, in 1972. He played in ’73 under Ron Meyer. When he graduated, he became an assistant coach at Valley High School in Las Vegas.

He returned to UNLV as a graduate assistant under Tony Knap in ‘76, coached the running backs at Cal Poly Pomona in ’77 and ’78 and was defensive line coach for Cal State Fullerton in ’79. He coached the running backs at Pacific from ’80 through ‘82, when Hyde hired him to coach the running backs at Las Vegas.

So, he has lived the history of Las Vegas football and he knows his way around the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.

Those were considerations when an interim coach was needed overnight in the midst of spring practice. Athletic Director Brad Rothermel noted those qualifications when he made Nunnely his only recommendation to President Robert Maxson. Maxson and Rothermel both mentioned Nunnely’s character and reputation.

And Maxson was also impressed that Nunnely didn’t ask about terms or guarantees or a pay raise or anything else besides what he could do to help the Rebel program through its toughest moment.

When he was named interim coach April 23, the designation was expected to last through this season.

But Rothermel said recently that the decision was made to keep Nunnely permanently because of the positive way in which Nunnely had taken charge.

There have been no more incidents to embarrass the school, and Nunnely demonstrated that he could handle game coaching when he got Las Vegas off to a 3-1 start, including a victory over Wisconsin of the Big Ten. UNLV currently has a 4-4 mark.

Nunnely also had the respect of his players and staff.

Rothermel said: “Over the course of the five months that he was interim coach, almost every member of his staff said to me at one time or another that he was doing an outstanding job--even some who might have been interested in having the job themselves.”

Rothermel said the victory over Wisconsin was not the determining factor. “We were about to come to the same conclusion without the Wisconsin win,” he said.

Also, it really hurts recruiting not to be able to tell players who the coach will be.

All sides contend that Nunnely’s being black did not affect the decision one way or the other.

Nunnely became the third black football coach at a Division I-A school, the first in the West.

But he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in April: “I realize I hold the banner for a lot of black assistant coaches who want the same opportunity I’ve been given. I know it’s important for me to do the best job I can and to project a positive image, for their sakes as well as my own.

“But I would be insulted if people started calling me a good black coach. I want to be accepted as Wayne Nunnely and not prejudged on the basis of my color. A man can have class and be a good coach, regardless of his skin color.”