:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49326957/usa-today-8204280.0.jpg)
The updates are fast and furious with the UNLV coaching search now that the Rebels are scrambling to replace Chris Beard who did not even have enough time to unpack his suitcase before accepting the Texas Tech job.
The first name to emerge is former Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl, and he is not some left field candidate
as he wanted the Rebels job in 2004. His name is gaining steam and there is a report that if he is the head coach he already has assistants in mind.
George Karl to #UNLV is gaining steam. He wants it, they have talked. Could bring Grg, Augmon & John Welch. #UNLVmbb pic.twitter.com/8c2JArYKLB
— Ron Futrell (@RonFutrell) April 15, 2016
Well at least someone wants Stacey Augmon. John Welch was a graduate assistant with UNLV back in 1985-86 and was on Karl's staff with the Kings. Grg likely refers to Tim Grgurich who is a former assistant and head UNLV head coach.
Karl would be the splashy hire with the big name but UNLV is also looking at local candidates and is is already reported that Ryan Miller is the front runner. Another name has popped up and that is current Tennessee-Martin head coach, and former UNLV assistant, Heath Schroyer.
Schroyer is very familiar with the Mountain West as he was an assistant with Fresno State, was the head coach at Wyoming and also was an assistant at UNLV where he was with Dave Rice from 2011-14 before heading to Tennessee-Martin.
In Schroyer's two years as the head coach for the Skyhawks he led the team to a pair of 20-win seasons and has appeared in the CIT each year, making the semifinals in his first year.
Maybe going local is the better way for UNLV to go to ensure that they are more likely to keep a candidate long term and the threat of taking over a much larger program might not be as enticing compared to someone with no ties to UNLV.
There is also the mysterious absence of former assistant Augmon who really wants the job but so far has not received a ton of interest to take over the program.
Whatever UNLV does they need to act fast so that the new coach and staff can go out on the road to recruit and fill out the roster that has lost so many players.