Graney: AD hire most important in UNLV athletics history

Keith Whitfield became UNLV’s 11th president successful August of past year. He volition present marque the astir important prosecute successful the past of the school’s athletics program.

One of the astir important crossed the full university, really.

A caller athletics manager is needed. Desiree Reed-Francois has departed for Missouri of the Southeastern Conference. It’s connected Whitfield and immoderate benignant of hunt committee helium assuredly volition signifier to place her replacement. It’s nary tiny task.

This is not a enactment to beryllium taken lightly. The existent tectonic displacement wrong collegiate athletics is vast. We’re talking immoderate superior question of plates on the earth’s crust. … I mean of however assemblage sports volition run going forward.

This besides isn’t the clip for different robotic effect that the eventual prosecute indispensable person ties — past oregon contiguous — to the university. Stop. It’s specified a bushed and shortsighted narrative.

That doesn’t mean the close idiosyncratic isn’t 1 with specified connections. But successful a database of those things astir indispensable to identifying the champion candidates, being known by and fashionable with locals is simply a alert connected the windshield level of importance.

Whitfield has to beryllium much progressive successful his reasoning than that, yes?

He can’t messiness this up. He can’t miss. UNLV athletics won’t retrieve if helium does. He can’t deed a seeing-eye azygous here. It amended beryllium a location run.

Either successful oregon out

Why?

This is the astir captious of moments successful big-boy assemblage athletics. You either support up oregon get passed implicit for good.

What it means: UNLV’s adjacent athletics manager — arsenic Reed-Francois did — indispensable person adjacent ties to those successful powerfulness leagues oregon a profound knowing of however champion to presumption the schoolhouse for inclusion. Preferably both.

Texas and Oklahoma conscionable jumped from the Big 12 to the SEC.

Things are getting crazy. You amended beryllium prepared.

None of it means UNLV would yet beryllium invited to the eventual of assemblage diversion parties. But it perfectly won’t if this prosecute falls short.

It mightiness travel down to this: What are the existent options for Power Five enlargement close now? And if astir hold they are constricted — which appears to beryllium the lawsuit — is UNLV’s champion anticipation to beryllium among those saved for a ace league satellite should 1 really beryllium formed?

“As (UNLV) goes done the process, it needs to find idiosyncratic with intercollegiate experience,” said Jim Livengood, the school’s erstwhile athletics manager and recipient of the James J. Corbett Memorial Award, the highest grant successful collegiate athletics administration. “Name, image, likeness. The transportation portal. Movement wrong conferences. There are things coming down the pike successful the adjacent 2 years that are going to instrumentality immoderate dense lifting — dissimilar thing we person ever seen.”

Hard gig, man

Livengood knows amended than anyone however these things work. He besides spoke to respective Power Five diversion directors implicit the past week — ever since the Texas/Oklahoma bombshell dropped — who reiterated the pressures of present decently responding to specified a move.

Those who statesman the time with an docket of 10 items and can’t execute the archetypal without 5 much being added.

It’s nary antithetic astatine UNLV, lone with a batch little wealth and resources from which to work. It’s 24-7 and past some. It’s a hard gig, man. Made adjacent tougher by the accent of trying to go a subordinate successful a changing scenery that could soon beryllium adjacent much exclusive.

“It’s not insurmountable,” Livengood said. “There are agleam men and women who are doing yeoman’s work. And determination are specified radical retired determination who would privation to beryllium successful Las Vegas and astatine UNLV.”

Your move, Keith Whitfield. Choose wisely.

Ed Graney is simply a Sigma Delta Chi Award victor for sports file penning and tin beryllium reached astatine egraney@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-4618. He tin beryllium heard connected “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday done Friday. Follow @edgraney connected Twitter.