UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner: "I Had To Get A Whole New Team"

Josh Pastner left the television studio in 2025 to return to coaching college basketball for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels. After returning to the Rebels this offseason, Pastner spoke with Bruce Pascoe of Tucson.com about his return to the game and how things have changed for both him and the sports since he last coached.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner On Returning To Coaching This Year And How Things Are Different Than When He Last Coached

“When I took over Memphis and Georgia Tech, you already kind of had your team. It wasn’t (about) the portal at those times.," Pastner said. "You really didn’t go fundraise. You had to go out and see the different high school coaches, AAU coaches.

I had to get a whole new team (at UNLV). I didn’t go around seeing high school guys and high school coaches. I had to go around my first couple weeks on the job and raise money. In the past, you kind of had a fundraising area within the athletic department. Now, the head coach probably is more of a fundraiser than actually a coach, but that’s the reality of where the world is right now in college athletics.

I think it’s really hard to like this new model if you don’t like dealing with people. There’s a lot of things I’m not good at, but one of them I’m good at is dealing with people. I like human beings.”

Pastner On How Working In Television Gave Him A Different Perspective

“The nice thing about being in TV is you have a great opportunity to really study the game, study different programs, go to practices and shoot arounds, talk to coaches. When you’re competing against them, they aren’t going to let you behind the scenes.

I could see what things I did well in my first 14 years as a head coach, and some other things where I thought ‘We’ve got to get better at this area or that area.’ It really gave me a chance, from a 30,000-foot perspective, without the pressure of winning and losing, to really get better as a coach. You didn’t have to make a decision on, ‘How are you going to guard this ball screen? What are you going to do on this back screen? What are you going to do in this out of bounds play?’

I loved TV. Absolutely loved it. I had some other (coaching) opportunities, but I didn’t feel they were better than television, and the opportunities that I had in television are hard to get. But when the UNLV job opened, to me, it was an awesome opportunity. It was incredible, because it’s a massive job. The tradition of UNLV is awesome. It’s a sleeping giant. I really believe that maybe the trees just need to be shaken a little bit to kind of wake it back up.”

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