UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner: "Las Vegas Is Becoming The Epicenter Of ... The Sports World.”

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels hired Josh Pastner this offseason to take over as the head coach of their men's basketball team. Since taking over at UNLV he has sat down with Bruce Pascoe of Tucson.com. He talked about a number of topics, including the city of Las Vegas getting an NBA team, how taking over at UNLV is different from past jobs, and his time in TV.

UNLV Runnin' Rebels Head Coach Josh Pastner On Las Vegas Getting An NBA Team In The Future

“I do believe they’ll get an NBA team,” Pastner said. “I think it’s an awesome thing. Yes, there’s more things to do, but Las Vegas is becoming the epicenter of not just the entertainment world, but also the sports world.”

Pastner On The Difference Between Taking Over At UNLV Compared To His Other Jobs

“When I took over Memphis and Georgia Tech, you already kind of had your team. It wasn’t (about) the portal at those times. 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 Working In TV, How It Helped Him, And Coming Back

“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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