Nevada Board of Regents considering approving contract for Mick Cronin as UNLV head coach

The next head coach for UNLV basketball is set to make at least $2 million per year and that new coach could be Cincinnati's Mick Cronin who is expected to be in Las Vegas on Tuesday to interview for the head coaching job.

Mark Anderson of thhe Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that meetings with the Nevada Board of Regents have received enough positive feedback to open up the wallet and pay the next head coach seven figures, and that amount could reach $3 million per year as the Rebels are likely moving away from Nike and going to Under Armour when their contract expires.

Reports are that the Under Armour deal would pay around $1 million and per the Review-Journal, the Board of Regents were not factoring in that potential extra money in regards to approving the contract for the next coach.

With the $2 million per year salary in place this opens up a lot more options for UNLV to grab a well-established coach and not have to find a high-level assistant or hire a successful coach from a smaller program.

The votes are likely to be there for UNLV to get approval for a large increase in salary compared to what former head coach Dave Rice was earning.

"In athletics, it's time to go big or go home," regent James Dean Leavitt said.

Others on the Board of Regents want to know where the money is coming from to feel more comfortable in approving such a deal.

The earliest the deal could be approved from newly created five-member ad hoc Committee on Athletics is March 30 and then on March 31 the contract would be brought in front of the full Board of Regents.

If the deal is not in place then the Rebels will have to go to their next plan, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that would be former St. John's and UCLA head coach Steve Lavin or current New Mexico State head coach Marvin Menzies.

Interim head coach Todd Simon took the Southern Utah head coaching job and current staff members Ryan Miller and Stacey Augmon have also interviewed for the opening.