Matt L. Stephens

matthewstephens@coloradoan.com

Larry Eustachy couldn’t sleep the night following CSU’s miraculous 65-64 victory against UNLV.

Maybe it was the excitement of a last-minute comeback. Or maybe, somewhere deep down, he knew that win came at a great expense to a personal friend.

In the hours following a game that could be Colorado State University's turning point this season, Eustachy and UNLV coach Dave Rice exchanged text messages until 4 a.m.

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They discussed the game and how CSU managed to pull it off. The state of each other’s program. Their upcoming matchups, with Eustachy rooting for Rice to pick up a victory at Wyoming that weekend. Most importantly, Eustachy said, they discussed the respect they had for each other as coaches.

So when Rice’s Runnin’ Rebels weren’t able to get that win in Laramie, and UNLV and its basketball coach “mutually” parted ways Sunday night, Eustachy admitted it hurt to watch a friend lose his job, especially midseason.

“That’s what happens in this business. I know (UNLV athletic director) Tina (Kunzer-Murphy) well, and I just think the pressure to win just continued to mount,” Eustachy said. “The reality is Jerry Tarkanian built a monster out there, and that’s such a premier job that the pressure to win becomes almost unmanageable.”

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Since Tarkanian’s UNLV team won the NCAA tournament in 1990, no other mid-major program has taken home a national title in college basketball. Butler came close in 2010 and 2011, and UNLV nearly repeated as champs in 1991, falling in the Final Four, but no one has succeeded. The closest UNLV has come to returning to its glory years were the seven seasons under coach Lon Kruger (2004-11) in which the Rebels went 161-71 with two conference championships, four NCAA tournament berths and a Sweet 16 appearance. But in the five years since Kruger left for Oklahoma, UNLV’s prominence has faded.

They always have the most talented roster in the Mountain West, but never the ability to do much with it, last year missing the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2006.

Rice’s end at UNLV was imminent. The overwhelming number of Las Vegas media members who made last week’s road trip to CSU and Wyoming were only there to document his demise. The only person who seemed to think otherwise was Rice himself, telling reporters following Saturday’s 59-57 loss to the Cowboys that he expected to be UNLV’s coach for Tuesday’s home game against New Mexico.

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Eustachy didn’t comment on if he thought Rice’s teams underperformed. Coaching is a fraternity, and you watch what you say about your brothers. But he did praise his recruiting, his passion and most of all his class. Because even though Rice was fired, he was on Twitter on Monday night encouraging fans to attend Tuesday’s game at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“That’s Dave Rice right there,” said Eustachy, who has turned down offers to become UNLV’s coach twice in his career. “That tells you everything you need to know about what kind of person he is. What’s there not to like about someone like that?”

For insight and analysis on athletics around Northern Colorado and the Mountain West, follow sports columnist Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/mattstephens and facebook.com/stephensreporting.