Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
If you can believe this, there was a time at UNLV when meeting the university president was optional for incoming coaches. As Jerry Tarkanian recalled in his new book "Runnin' Rebel," UNLV had called a press conference to announce his hiring before it dawned on him that he had yet to meet the university president.
"I didn't want to disrespect the guy," Tark wrote. "I had no idea how he would take it. So I made a big deal about it, and they made arrangements for me to meet the president. If it wasn't for me, that never would have happened."
Say this much about Carol Harter, who this weekend was nudged into early retirement, or at least a cozy office on another part of campus where she will continue to pass "Go" and collect $200 as an executive on the UNLV Foundation: She was on a first-name basis with all of her coaches long before the press conference. Or their first double-digit defeat.
With the possible exception of Joanne Pitino, whose husband, Rick, was the subject of more wining and dining than Emeril Lagasse when the Rebels were searching for a big-name basketball coach a few years back, Harter was on a first-name basis with the wives, too.
That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard that Harter would be stepping down and began to contemplate her legacy, at least as it applies to the athletic program. I kept coming back to the time she dropped Mrs. Pitino off on the curb at McCarran, where she would spend oh, the next 10 to 12 hours of her life.
Actually, it wasn't Harter who apparently didn't have enough quarters for the meter in the short-term parking lot, it was one of her minions. Still, she was blamed, especially by Rebels fans who were led to believe that Rick Pitino-to-UNLV was a done deal.
But the man himself said that never was the case and, at least for the record, said the shoddy treatment of his wife during her solo visit had nothing to do with him spurning UNLV for Louisville.
"If you're at the airport for 10 or 12 hours -- or whatever it was -- waiting by yourself, it's not the best feeling in the world," Pitino would say. "But it happens. My wife is a woman who has been through a lot in her life and that was just an inconvenience."
Pitino said the distance between Las Vegas and his kids back East was the reason he didn't take the Rebels' job. And Harter, her driver and Rebels fans can take comfort in knowing that UNLV is probably in a better position to make the NCAA tournament than Louisville this season.
Still, had the Rebels been able to land Pitino, it would have been the biggest feather in Harter's bonnet, considering that football coach John Robinson didn't quite work out after such a promising start. And that championship banners have been hard to come by during her 11 years.
While there once was a perception that Harter was "anti-athletics," that she is still held responsible for the comings and goings of UNLV coaches at least shows she was interested.
And for a president who was supposedly anti-athletics, Harter sure made her presence known at athletic events. Whether it was posing for photos at midfield at UNLV football games or kissing former basketball coach Bill Bayno on the cheek during the pregame huddle, Harter was so close to the action that she almost needed a uniform.
While her penchant for micromanagement apparently put her at odds with Chancellor Jim Rogers, current athletic director Mike Hamrick said that wasn't the case with him.
"She was never hands on with me," Hamrick said while sitting courtside at Saturday's UNLV-New Mexico basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center. "She told me 'you're the athletic director and you're gonna run the athletic program.' "
Hamrick said like many, he was surprised by the suddenness of Harter's resignation.
"I wish her the best," he said. "She was very good to athletics and very good to me personally."
University regent Mark Alden, who also was at the game, has been one of Harter's most vocal critics. But he spoke positively about her impact on UNLV athletics, at least in relation to academics.
"She understood the importance of being compliant with the NCAA," Alden said, noting that Harter served on several NCAA sports committees. "And she knew how important it was for budgets to be balanced."
Alden said Harter simply would not allow overdrafts when it came to budgets, and sports was no different. If the bottom line wasn't met, then cuts were made. He said that philosophy may wind up benefiting UNLV, especially if the state Legislature stops funding intercollegiate athletics.
There was a story they used to tell on campus tours that Harter was so put off by the emphasis on athletics, and especially men's basketball, that she mandated the Lied Library be made bigger than the Thomas & Mack Center. And so it was made exactly one square foot bigger.
In reality, the library is bigger by 34,150 square feet.
"To shift the focus of what kind of school UNLV was, we knew it was important for the symbol of learning and intellectual life to at least be the same size as the basketball arena," she said.
Well, she succeeded on that front. But perhaps a better solution would have been to turn the T&M balcony into the biography section, in that the Rebels aren't using it much these days.
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