Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Wolf Pack play for coach in possible finale
Polian’s future not determined, UNR officials say
He may be a dead man walking, but if coach Brian Polian leaves UNR, he can do so knowing his guys never quit on him.
At least they didn’t Saturday at Sam Boyd Stadium.
Playing inspired football from the start, the Wolf Pack dominated UNLV, winning 45-10 in front of an announced crowd of 23,569 and taking the Fremont Cannon back to Reno. In his four years at the helm, Polian is 2-2 against the Rebels, winning both games in Las Vegas.
Whether it was enough to keep him employed remains to be seen.
UNR finished 5-7 overall, 3-5 in the Mountain West, and in four years, Polian is just 23-27 overall, 14-18 in conference play. UNR president Marc Johnson and athletic director Doug Knuth were at Saturday’s game. Polian has one year remaining on his contract, with a base salary of $525,000.
“We haven’t made any decisions,” Johnson said. “We’ll wait until the season’s over and sit down and see where we’re at.”
If it were Polian’s players’ call, he’ll be back.
“We love Coach P,” running back James Butler said. “It’s not his fault we didn’t have the season we hoped to have. That’s on us players.”
Polian said he can live with whatever decision the school makes. He was awfully proud of his players for the way they blocked out the distractions and negativity and performed so well in a big moment.
“It’s a great group of young men,” Polian said. “They play for each other and we’re a family and it showed in everything we did (Saturday).”
It’s been a rough year for Polian and the Wolf Pack. Injuries, bad luck and a poor year in the Mountain West have left many UNR fans bitter. However, his players didn’t get the memo that they should give up. In fact, it looked from early on that it was the Rebels, whose coach, Tony Sanchez, couldn’t be safer in his job security, who had not bothered to show up.
The Wolf Pack had a 17-0 second-quarter lead until Rebels quarterback Kurt Palandech broke five tackles en route to a 27-yard scoring run to get UNLV back in the game, 17-7.
But Butler scored the second of his four touchdowns late in the second quarter, and the Wolf Pack maintained its control of things, 277. They limited the Rebels to a field goal right before halftime and shut them out the rest of the way.
“Everybody did their job,” said Butler, who rushed for 196 yards. “We wanted to go out on a high note and bring the cannon back to Northern Nevada.”
Sophomore quarterback Ty Gangi, who took over on Oct. 22 when starter Tyler Stewart went out with a shoulder injury, looked as poised as a senior. He passed for 193 yards, rushed for 99 more, didn’t turn it over and was one of the best players on the field.
“We wanted to start fast and set the tone, and that first drive did that for us,” Gangi said. “But I thought our defense was great, shutting them down and giving us good field position to work with all day. It was truly a team victory.”
For Polian, Saturday was a day to rejoice. Sunday may not be as kind to him and his staff.
“I can hold my head high,” he said. “The biggest takeaway for me is how proud I am of this team for hanging in there. They deserve to celebrate.”