Dave Rice faced "a raw deal" during his departure from UNLV, Tom Crean said.

Following Indiana’s loss to UNLV in the Maui Invitational, IU head coach Tom Crean gave credit to Dave Rice, who had coached the Rebels to a 72-69 victory over Indiana to send the Hoosiers back to Bloomington as sixth-place finishers.

“I've got great respect for their coach, tremendous respect for him,” Crean said in the press room at Maui. “Don't know him great, but I was following him as an assistant with what he was doing at BYU with Dave Rose before he became the head coach at Vegas. I would say that there are -- I'm not alone. I like to be in the fan club, but I'm not a single member when it comes to the coaching fraternity. People have a tremendous level of respect for Dave and what he's doing.”

A month and a half later, with the Rebels at 9-7 overall and 0-3 in conference play, UNLV fired Rice. Crean again brought up Rice shortly after, mentioning again his high level of respect for the 47-year old Rice.

Just over two weeks after his departure from UNLV, Rice now finds himself in Bloomington, observing the team he gameplanned for just two months earlier. Speaking to media on Friday, Crean said Rice isn’t doing any coaching at the moment, but is at IU’s practices merely observing. Crean, who likes to surround himself with coaches who know what it’s like to run the show, said Rice fits into the group of assistant coaches at IU.

“I like having people around,” Crean said. “I hire head coaches, right? So I like having people around who know what they’re doing and that have done it and that have that feel.”

Rice has experience both coaching and playing, as he was a reserve for UNLV’s 1990 NCAA Championship team. He served at UNLV as an assistant for 11 seasons, joining BYU’s staff before coming back to Las Vegas in 2011 as the head coach of his alma mater.

His first two years were major successes, as both teams won 25 games and made the NCAA Tournament. His recruiting classes were always ranked highly, including players such as Anthony Bennett, Rashad Vaughn and Stephen Zimmerman.

At the end of Rice’s time at UNLV, according to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Matt Youmans, Rice “was fired now because several powerful boosters no longer wanted to support his underachieving program and because (UNLV athletic director Tina) Kunzer-Murphy said she was aware that many angry fans wanted him gone.”

Crean likes to surround himself with other head coaches, including Rice.

Crean said that coaches and those who read up on the situation know that Rice got “a raw deal” at UNLV, and that Rice deserves another coaching job elsewhere.

“I just like him,” Crean said. “I think he’s a great coach, and I think he got a really bad deal, and that’s my opinion. I think he’s an outstanding coach. He’s one of the tougher coaches I’ve prepared for as a head coach, and I’ve had a lot of respect for him since he was an assistant. I don’t know him that well, I just have great respect for him, admiration for him and know he’s going to be a head coach, hopefully soon, and I feel for guys who go through tough situations like he did.”

Rice has already provided a bit of insight, talking to Crean about how different the Hoosiers look compared to the players he saw in Maui. In particular, he has noticed the strides freshman forward Thomas Bryant has made since November.

Having Rice around makes everyone happy, Crean said. Rice gets to remain around the game he cares about, while Crean and the Hoosiers benefit from having another trained mind present in practices.

“When you get another set of eyes on it, you can’t help but get better from that,” Crean said. “We’ll see what it’s like when he’s done.”