April 22, 2003

LAS VEGAS - UNLV men's basketball head coach Charlie Spoonhour had to look no further than his own staff to fill a fresh vacancy as Dave Rice has been named assistant coach for the Runnin' Rebels, the school announced Tuesday.

Rice replaces Derek Thomas, who was named head coach at Western Illinois Monday. Rice returns to being an on-the-court assistant coach at his alma mater after having just finished his second season as director of basketball operations.

Rice was as an assistant on Jerry Tarkanian's final UNLV staff in 1991-92 and returned in 1994, including serving six seasons under Bill Bayno. He also briefly served as an assistant under Spoonhour in summer of 2002. Rice holds the second longest assistant coaching tenure in program history, only trailing Tim Grgurich's 12 seasons on staff.

"Having someone with David Rice's talents already on our staff will make this an easy transition," Spoonhour said. "He has done a great job the past two years and served as a important liasion between the new staff and the school and the existing players. Also, Dave really knows Southern Nevada as well as California, which should enhance our recruiting in those areas."