Aug. 1, 2007
LAS VEGAS - UNLV's first head football coach and former athletics director, Bill Ireland, died July 31 in Reno at the age of 80.
Born in the small Nevada mill town of McGill on April 29, 1927, Ireland would serve a stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II before entering the University of Nevada, Reno, where he competed in football and baseball. After graduating from UNR in 1952 he stayed on campus as the Wolf Pack's first graduate assistant in athletics and served as an assistant coach in three sports for two years.
In 1954 Ireland moved to Fernley High School and in four years he became one of the most successful coaches in Silver State history. During the 1956-57 school year Ireland's teams won state titles in football, basketball and baseball.
After four year at Fernley, he moved to South Tahoe High and quickly built that school into a title contender. In 1960 he returned to UNR as the freshman football coach and varsity baseball coach. During his seven-year stint, he also became an accomplished broadcaster, doing play-by-play and hosting his own radio and TV shows.
Named head coach of the Rebels on May 12, 1967, Ireland was lured down to Las Vegas to help build the program from scratch at what was then known as Nevada Southern University. His squad began play in 1968 and quickly found success, defeating St. Mary's College 27-20 in its first game, which was played at old Cashman Field. The Rebels went on to post an impressive 8-1 record in their inaugural season, only losing their season finale to Cal Lutheran, 17-13.
The following year, Ireland returned to his roots by taking his team to play Nevada, Reno for the first time ever on Nov. 22, 1969. Ireland thought the burgeoning rivalry could use a symbolic trophy to stimulate interest. Both sides agreed and the famed Fremont Cannon was funded and built by the Nevada Mines Division of the Kennecott Copper Corporation as a prize for the winning school. It is a replica of a howitzer cannon that explorer John C. Fremont's party hauled west and then abandoned in a snowdrift in the Sierra Nevada in 1844. While the Wolf Pack won that inaugural meeting between the teams, the cannon was not completed until 1970 when UNLV won 42-30 in Las Vegas.
Ireland continued the steps to make the Rebels into a major program, including scheduling national opponents such as Miami (Fla.) and Hawaii, and pushing for the construction of what is now known as Sam Boyd Stadium. Behind his leadership, UNLV football eventually moved up to Division One in 1978.
His career UNLV numbers were 26-23-1, including 2-2 vs. his alma mater, for a winning percentage of .530. After four winning seasons in his five total years at the helm, Ireland retired from coaching and took over as athletics director in 1973. He was a forerunner in the establishment of women's athletics at UNLV after taking over a department that fielded only seven men's sports. He also continued his on-air career, hosting the "Rebel Report" program on a local radio station and serving on the broadcast team for both the football and basketball teams. In 1980, the man who hired Jerry Tarkanian as head coach of the Runnin' Rebels stepped down as AD to enter private business.
"Coach I" continued as a key member of the local sports scene, serving as executive director of the UNLV Athletics Hall of Fame and an executive consultant for the Las Vegas Bowl, which began in 1992. Ireland was honored as part of the inaugural class in UNLV's hall of fame in 1987 and entered the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
The first of UNLV's nine all-time football coaches to pass away, Ireland is survived by his beloved wife, Jeanne, and their seven children: Chris, Kerry, Kimberly, Kelly, Michael, Patrick and Terrence, along with 16 grandchildren.
