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UNLV head coach Dave Rice extended for two more seasons

Mountain West Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals Wyoming v UNLV

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 08: Head coach Dave Rice of the UNLV Rebels gestures as his team takes on the Wyoming Cowboys during a quarterfinal game of the Conoco Mountain West Conference Basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center March 8, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. UNLV won 56-48. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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UNLV head coach Dave Rice was briefly reported as a name in the running for the South Florida job this offseason, but the Runnin’ Rebels locked him up for two additional years on Friday as the school announced the extension in a release.

Rice’s contract now runs through the 2018-19 season and includes an incentive package based on academic and athletic success. Rice had three years left on his old five-year deal which was given to him in September of 2012.

The 2014-15 season at UNLV will be Rice’s fourth year with the program as he’s compiled a 71-32 record.

Rice is also receiving some heat after missing the postseason though, as noted in this story from Lenita Powers of the Reno Journal-Gazette and this is from a member that voted in favor of the contract extension and not the two that voted against it.

Cedric Creer, a Las Vegas regent, voted in favor of the contract extension and the chance for Rice to add $100,000 to his base salary, but he also noted Rice’s team had not done all that well in the last season.

“You didn’t make a tournament and not eveything is great at the basketball program,” Creer said.

“And I don’t think we should give a two-year extension when he has three years left on his current contract,” he said. “Would we do that with a (university or college) president or the chancellor? We didn’t even make the NIT and that, to me, is not acceptable for our UNLV basketball program and the history wer have had.”


Rice will have a McDonald’s All-American in Rashad Vaughn coming in next season as well as a great shot blocker in Goodluck Okonoboh and a good wing in Dwayne Morgan so UNLV should have some good talent coming in.

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