March 20, 2020

Dear Rebel Athletic Fund Members, 

As we work together to continue to fulfill our mission during this challenging time, I want to share with you some updates regarding UNLV Athletics. You are an important part of our family and you do so much to support our student-athletes, coaches and staff.

Student-Athlete Support

At the outset of this pandemic, ensuring student-athlete health and safety was – and continues to be – our highest priority. This has been a fluid situation, so ensuring continual communication has been key, especially amongst our coaches, staff, and student-athletes. As a department, we are keeping our student-athletes and coaches fully informed regarding updates from the university, the NCAA and from state and federal agencies, but also looking ahead to make sure our student-athletes have what they need to learn remotely. We are continuing to develop online content and will update you as we move forward in creative ways.

Business Operations Ongoing

Staying connected both with our student-athletes and our staff is critical during this time. We are using leading-edge software to maintain full and consistent communications within the Athletics Department. Virtual meetings are occurring each day to ensure safety, to maintain momentum on key initiatives and to address relevant, strategic opportunities. Yes, this is a challenging period…but our dedication to our mission is unwavering.
Once we get through this triage time period, we will dig deep and strategically analyze our business operations as we use this time without athletic contests to plan and continuously improve how we operate.
 
Community

We know this is a time of challenge for our Las Vegas community. We are part of it and are here to help, however we can. We are directing community outreach to maintain a strong connection between our department and you, our invaluable supporters and friends. While there will be more to come, two initiatives we wanted to make you aware of:
 
Nevada Reading Week 2.0

As a department, we had the opportunity to participate in Nevada Reading Week, where student-athletes, coaches and staff visit local elementary schools and read stories to the children. We enjoyed this experience and know the importance of reading! Recognizing that approximately 320,000 Clark County School District students would be out of school, each day at 9:00 a.m., on @UNLVAthletics Twitter & Facebook, we are posting a virtual story time with our staff and student-athletes reading their favorite children's book. If you would like to be a part of this, please send a video of you or your family member reading to megan.caliguiri@unlv.edu. We'd love to post this as part of Nevada Reading Week 2.0! We will do this throughout the duration that children are out of school.

RAF Assists

We also launched our RAF Assists initiative on Monday. This first-of-its-kind program is devoted to serving our community and giving back to those who have given us so much. Please see the Rebel Athletic Fund website for more information or to request help.

Welcome Coach La Rocque!

I am thrilled to announce that we have a new head women's basketball coach! In the next few days, we will welcome Lindy La Rocque, who comes to us from Stanford University. Coach La Rocque will bring integrity, energy, and a relentless pursuit of championship success. A Las Vegas native and a graduate of Durango High School, Coach La Roque knows the power of our community and will build a program that will make you proud! I invite you to please reach out to Lindy to welcome her to UNLV! 

To close, know that our thoughts are with you as, together, we face unprecedented times. We remain dedicated to the health, welfare and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff. We are committed, every way that we can be, to sustaining positive and impactful engagement across our Las Vegas community. We are also conscious of the shifting landscape, mindful of the constantly changing circumstances, and convinced that what we endure today, will only make us stronger in the years to come.

Thank you for all you do, stay strong and Go Rebels!



Desiree Reed-Francois
Director of Athletics