July 7, 1998

LAS VEGAS, NV -- UNLV Runnin' Rebel head basketball coach Bill Bayno announced the promotion of assistant coach Glynn Cyprien to associate head coach.

Cyprien, a native of New Orleans, La., will begin his fourth season at UNLV. He served three years as an assistant coach under Bayno.

He has been a vital part of UNLV's success over the past two seasons. The program has recorded back-to-back 20-win seasons and has an overall record of 42-23 (.646) over that stretch.

The Runnin' Rebels enjoyed a great postseason run in 1997-98. UNLV won four games in five days to capture the WAC Tournament and receive the automatic NCAA Tournament bid, its first since the 1991 Final Four. UNLV, 20-13 overall, advanced to the NCAA East Regionals. In 1996-97, the Runnin' Rebels compiled an overall record of 22-10 and advanced to the NIT Third Round.

"Cyp is a loyal guy and he knows we're capable of something special here," Bayno said. "He's a valuable part of our program."

Cyprien has been instrumental in three straight outstanding recruiting classes. The 1996-97 recruiting class was tabbed the nation's best by The Sporting News and Basketball Times. Cyprien has been responsible in recruiting former Runnin' Rebel Tyrone Nesby and currently sophomore Greedy Daniels and newcomers Shawn Marion (junior) and Chris Richardson (freshman).

Cyprien, who was offered a lucrative deal at Nebraska in May, is happy to remain at UNLV.

"I like it here, we're a program on the rise, and I feel we all can have success here," Cyprien said. 'Billy's been great to me. We've done a lot at UNLV over the past three years."

Prior to joining UNLV, Cyprien was an assistant coach at Western Kentucky (1994-95). The Hilltoppers compiled an overall record of 27-4 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament (second round). They won the championships for the Sun Belt Conference, regular season and tournament.