Dave Rice

Last College: UNLV '91 Position: Head Coach Experience: 1st Year

Click here for Coach Rice's full 2011-12 bio as it appears in the media guide

Dave Rice is in his first season as the head men's basketball coach at UNLV.

Rice, 43, has returned to the school where he was part of the 1990 National Championship team as a player, was a Rhodes Scholar candidate while earning his bachelor's degree in political science (UNLV '91), earned his master's of business administration (UNLV '93) and served as a Runnin' Rebel assistant coach for 11 seasons (1991-92 & 1994-2004).

"Dave has a vision of how to keep growing this program to enjoy sustained success on a national level," UNLV Athletics Director Jim Livengood said shortly after naming him the 11th full-time head coach in UNLV men's basketball history. "He has built a great staff, and has a plan in place to have great success recruiting locally, in California and throughout the West. Our fans are going to love the up-tempo offensive system he brings to our Runnin' Rebels."

Prior to accepting his first head coaching job on April 10, Rice accumulated 18 years of experience as an assistant coach at the Division-I level. Most recently, Rice served as associate head coach at BYU helping the Cougars to five straight 25-win seasons and five consecutive NCAA Tournament berths, including a Sweet 16 appearance last season. BYU finished the 2010-11 season as the nation's 10th-ranked team, won the Mountain West regular-season championship and finished with an overall record of 32-5. The Cougars, led by National Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette, climbed as high as No. 3 in the polls, which is the highest a Mountain West team has ever been ranked.

Rice was in charge of coordinating BYU's high-powered offense as well as the program's recruiting efforts. He developed a stellar reputation in the industry and was regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation. In 2010 in a FoxSports.com poll, he was selected by other conference coaches as the top assistant coach in the Mountain West. Rice also became known as one of the top offensive minds in all of college basketball as the Cougars led the Mountain West in scoring offense in all six of his seasons at BYU.

With Rice's help, BYU had some of the most successful teams in school and Mountain West history. From 2005-11 the Cougars compiled an overall record of 159-45, including 78-18 in Mountain West action. During that span BYU won four Mountain West championships and in each of the last five seasons finished ranked in the top 25.

While serving as the team's "offensive coordinator" on Dave Rose's staff, BYU not only led the Mountain West in scoring offense, it also ranked in the top 20 nationally in several categories over the last six seasons.

Rice joined the BYU staff in 2005 as an assistant coach, then was promoted to associate head coach in 2008. He also spent a year (2004-05) as assistant coach at Utah State under Coach Stew Morrill after his long tenure as assistant at UNLV.

During his season at Utah State, the Aggies recorded a 24-8 overall mark, won both the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and conference tournament titles, and made a NCAA Tournament appearance.

The first former player to become head coach of the program, Rice played for two seasons (1989-91) at UNLV as a reserve guard on two of legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian's Final Four teams. His 11 seasons as a UNLV assistant coach is second-most in school history to only Tim Grgurich (12).

During his time as an assistant at UNLV, the Runnin' Rebels made two NCAA Tournament appearances, played in the NIT five times, and tallied two regular-season conference championships and two conference tournament championships.

Rice has played alongside or helped guide 14 players who went on to play in the National Basketball Association, nine of whom were drafted in the first round, including seven lottery picks.

Rice also spent a season (1993-94) as an assistant coach at Chaffey (Calif.) College. That team recorded a 32-6 mark, won its conference championship and reached the California Community College Final Four. He spent the previous season as the assistant coach at his alma mater, Claremont (Calif.) High School. At CHS, he was under his father, Lowell, a longtime high school coach. That team went 21-7, winning the Baseline League Championship and reaching the CIF quarterfinals.

During his time as a player for the Runnin' Rebels, the squad posted a 69-6 record, which included winning a school-record 45 consecutive games. In addition to the national title and the two Final Four appearances, those teams captured the Big West regular-season title twice along with two conference tournament crowns. Prior to transferring to UNLV, Rice played at Mt. San Antonio College from 1987-89, where he earned All-South Coast Conference honors as a sophomore and was chosen from among more than 13,000 student-athletes as the 1989 California Junior College Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Rice replaced Lon Kruger, who left UNLV on April 1 to become the head coach at Oklahoma. The former Runnin' Rebel inherits a program that has averaged 25 wins a season for the past five years and has appeared in four NCAA Tournaments over that span. Seven key members from last year's 24-9 team, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament, return for the 2011-12 season.

"We have so much respect for what Coach Kruger accomplished in his time at UNLV," Rice said. "Not only did he enjoy great success on the court, but he re-engaged so many former players and fans with the program as well as helped develop so many new fans. He did amazing things in the community and we intend to learn from that and use the position of Runnin' Rebel head coach to do good things during our time here.

"He left this program in great shape for us to keep growing it," Rice said. "He played a critical role in UNLV basketball history and we are glad he is part of the Runnin' Rebel family. Just like he always welcomed back any and all Runnin' Rebels to be a part of the program while he was here, he will always be part of the program while we are here."

Rice and his staff also have great respect for the players on the current UNLV roster.

"We've had terrific battles against these guys for the past few years," Rice said. "There is a learning curve anytime a new system is put in place, but we want our guys to have high expectations immediately. This is all about the guys on our team, not about me. We have a lot of experience and talent coming back and we think we can do some great things with this group."

Rice is now the head coach of his Runnin' Rebels, where he once played for and coached with Tarkanian, the same man who approached Rice about entering the coaching world after Rice's playing career was over. Rice actuallyserved as a graduate assistant on Tarkanian's staff during the legendary coach's final season at UNLV in 1991-92.

"This is an amazing time for our family - to be honored by being named head coach of the Runnin' Rebel program. We love this city and we love this university, and my commitment to Runnin' Rebel fans is to work even harder now that we are in this position. We want them to be proud of what we accomplish with this program. This is not the end of a journey, this is just the beginning."

Obviously, winning is the main objective. But Rice said two things he wants his program to be known for will be style of play and consistency.

"Winning is No. 1, I get that - but style of play is going to be 1a," Rice said. "We're going to try to get out and run - we're the Runnin' Rebels. We want to be up-tempo. We also want to be known for being consistent. Every day in practice and every single game, we want to be consistent. Consistency leads to great results."

Rice is the sixth UNLV graduate in any sport to become a head coach at the school, following Tina Kunzer-Murphy in women's tennis (head coach from 1978-81), Wayne Nunnely in football (1986-89), Dan Abdalla in women's soccer (2000-04), Kathy Olivier in women's basketball (2008-present) and Rich Ryerson in men's soccer (2010-present).

"Being away from UNLV for seven years prepared me to come back as the program's head coach. I'm a better person because of the experience and a better coach. I will never be able to thank Coach Rose enough for the opportunity he gave to me."

"Dave is the right person at the right time for UNLV basketball on so many different levels," Livengood said. "Everyone we talked to in the industry raved about his work ethic and his ability to make things happen the right way. He epitomizes what the student-athlete experience at UNLV is about. He has tremendous ties at the prep level for top-level recruits. He comes from the great Runnin' Rebel tradition and is passionate about this city, this university and this program."

Rice was also a two-time winner of UNLV's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. Dave and his wife, Mindy, who also is a UNLV graduate, have two sons, Travis, 14, and Dylan, 9.