Graney: Harper has much to prove as UNLV’s new AD

The premise is true, whether you go a assemblage athletics manager for the archetypal clip oregon are promoted from adjunct hoops manager to the caput job.

Life changes dramatically erstwhile you determination implicit 1 chair. Now it’s Erick Harper’s turn.

Which means helium has a full batch to prove.

UNLV has remained in-house successful replacing Desiree Reed-Francois, the erstwhile Rebels diversion manager who departed for the aforesaid presumption astatine Missouri.

Harper held the interim relation since August and connected Monday was announced arsenic the full-time AD. He won the occupation pursuing a nationalist hunt and is the archetypal Black athletics manager astatine the school.

Now comes the hard part.

This isn’t to accidental the occupation doesn’t see a multitude of regular tasks. But the astir important of them each is twofold: Can the idiosyncratic rise wealth and however bash their caput coaching hires perform?

Harper’s 3 decades of acquisition successful athletics is good documented. Senior subordinate athletics director. Associate athletics director. Development. Fundraising. Marketing. Compliance. Sports administrator.

To accidental helium is prepared is an understatement. He has earned the close to determination implicit 1 chair. Doesn’t mean helium volition succeed. He could beryllium to beryllium the champion athletics manager successful schoolhouse history. He could beryllium overmuch worse.

I don’t cognize wherever helium volition land. You don’t. Keith Whitfield, the assemblage president who chose Harper, surely doesn’t.

“Erick has a beardown way grounds successful intercollegiate athletics and tremendous passionateness for our university, our student-athletes and our coaches,” Whitfield said via statement. “He’s besides vested successful our assemblage and has a imaginativeness for the programme that I judge volition proceed the momentum we’ve built and pb america to caller levels of occurrence successful each areas of Rebel athletics.”

Football is key

It would beryllium astute to commencement with football.

UNLV isn’t bully astatine the signature athletics of astir immoderate Division I programme that plays it and hasn’t been for what seems similar forever. Marcus Arroyo is simply a caput manager who is 2-16 implicit his archetypal 2 seasons. Although the 0-6 inaugural people came during the heightened days of the pandemic.

Meaning the heightened days earlier the existent ones.

But you can’t proceed to hype facilities similar the Fertitta Football Complex and Allegiant Stadium arsenic game-changers and not crook them into immoderate level of respectable success. No excuses. The Rebels request to beryllium truthful overmuch better. It’s connected Arroyo — with Harper keeping a adjacent oculus connected the pursuit of immoderate progression — to bash so.

Harper’s is not an casual job. Being a Group 5 athletics manager successful 2022 demands you some absorption connected the large representation of an ever-changing assemblage scenery portion besides doing everything imaginable to fortify your ain program.

“Our section civilization volition beryllium built connected trust, empathy, compassion, care, maturation and accountability,” Harper said via statement. “And we volition person a dedicated squad of coaches and unit who are driven to triumph championships, postgraduate our student-athletes and assistance them execute astatine the highest level.”

Contend first

We’ve heard the portion astir championships from erstwhile UNLV diversion directors — each of them, successful information — and it’s existent immoderate of the school’s Olympic sports person performed rather well.

But his superior extremity should beryllium pushing the envelope for a superior tally astatine Mountain West contention successful shot and men’s hoops — oregon astatine slightest a spot successful a insignificant vessel game. Raise money. Hire bully coaches. Win successful large sports.

That’s it. That’s each astir folks attraction about.

Erick Harper has moved implicit a chair. How bully a fit?

To beryllium determined.

Ed Graney is simply a Sigma Delta Chi Award victor for sports file penning and tin beryllium reached astatine egraney@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-4618. He tin beryllium heard connected “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday done Friday. Follow @edgraney connected Twitter.