OSU vs. UNLV pits teacher vs. student - Sports

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Sep. 10, 2009
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OSU vs. UNLV pits teacher vs. student

As head coach of San Diego Chargers, Riley plucked Rebels' Sanford to be an assistant

By MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

UNLV Football

Oregon State coach Mike Riley is in his second stint with the Beavers. Since returning before the 2003 season, OSU has gone 49-24 and won five bowl games. The Beavers and Rebels play Saturday.
Special to the Las Vegas Review-Journal

When he became the San Diego Chargers' coach in 1999, Mike Riley didn't hesitate to ask Mike Sanford to join his staff.

They had shared an office at Southern California -- Riley as offensive coordinator, Sanford as wide receivers coach -- and formed a strong bond as they traded and developed coaching philosophies.

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So Riley called Sanford, then Notre Dame's quarterbacks coach, on college football's national signing day. Irish coach Bob Davie asked his offensive coordinator, a guy named Urban Meyer, to talk Sanford out of creating his own signing day with the NFL.

Not a chance.

"I think he's the greatest guy in the world," Riley said. "I really enjoyed working with him. We worked tremendously well together."

This week, they are working against each other. Riley's Oregon State team plays Sanford's UNLV squad at 8 p.m. Saturday before an expected crowd of close to 30,000 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Riley is in his second stint with the Beavers after three years with the Chargers in which he went 14-34. Though he struggled to win in San Diego, Riley has transformed Oregon State from a gridiron joke into a program that can count on a bowl almost every season.

He coached the Beavers in 1997 and 1998, going 5-6 the second season for the school's best record in 27 years. Riley then left for the NFL, turning over two strong recruiting classes to Dennis Erickson, who oversaw Oregon State becoming a Pacific-10 Conference power.

When Riley returned before the 2003 season, he continued the success. OSU has gone 49-24 since, winning five bowls, including the Las Vegas Bowl that first season. Riley was the Pac-10 Coach of the Year last season, leading the Beavers to a 9-4 record that included handing USC its only loss.

Riley said he sees a similar building process at UNLV. Sanford, in his fifth season, is 12-36, but the Rebels improved by three victories last year in going 5-7.

"I've watched the program closely because of Mike being there and absolutely see that improvement and know personally how long it takes to make those jumps," Riley said. "He's in a tough league, and he's building a program. I've seen it grow every year. I just hope we can get out of there with a win because I know it's going to be very hard."

Riley and Sanford first worked together in 1993 at USC. Two years later as they rotated quarterbacks Brad Otton -- UNLV's QBs coach in 2004 -- Kyle Wachholtz during the season, they realized the Trojans were nearly unstoppable when they went into the shotgun 2-minute offense.

Sanford thought if they were so good in that offense, "why don't we just run it in the game?"

Riley and Sanford sold the idea to USC coach John Robinson, and the man who would end his career coaching UNLV from 1999 to 2004, gave the OK before the Rose Bowl.

Northwestern entered that game as the college football's feel-good story, having pulled off a remarkable turnaround to end a 47-year stretch without even a bowl appearance.

USC surprised the Wildcats with the new offense. Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson caught 12 passes for a Rose Bowl-record 216 yards as the No. 17 Trojans beat No. 3 Northwestern, 41-32.

Afterward, Wildcats defensive coordinator Ron Vanderlinden asked his friend, Sanford, if USC's coaches saw a weakness on videotape.

"No, Ron," Sanford replied, "we just thought we were good at it."

Sanford and Riley coached together one more season at USC. Then in early 1999 when Riley was filling out his staff with the Chargers, he knew one call he had to make.

"I try to hire the person first," Riley said. "When you combine his experience as a coach with the guy he is, it was absolutely a no-brainer."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Read the latest UNLV football updates at lvrj.com/blogs/unlv_sports.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. VegasMaggot wrote on September 13, 2009 06:34 PM: ANDERSON SAYS: As far as we're concerned, this was unique to our readers. It wasn't lazy. I don't consider the 10- to 12-hour work days, which I am happy to do, lazy.<< WOW another example of an out of touch newspaper guy. You WATCH AND WRITE about football, it's barely a job!!! I'll bet you the 12% unemployed will take your LONG workdays. You need to stop answering comments, it's getting embarrassing. DILLIGAF wrote on September 11, 2009 09:56 PM: Guess who the only loser is in this group? College coaching records thru 2008 season. Mike Riley...Oregon St.....56-42 Urban Meyers..Bowling Green.... Utah......Florida....83-17 John Robinson...USC...UNLV...130-68-4 Mike Sanford.........UNLV...11-36 Riley is heaping praise on the loser Sanford...Sounds like some Republican Stategery! Eliminate_UNLV_sports wrote on September 10, 2009 12:22 PM: Lou wrote (1041): Physics department didn't generate one dime of income. I haven't looked at UNLV's physics department budget. In general, the applied science brings in grant money (liberal arts departments are complete BURDEN). The Top-20 NCAA football programs must also be pretty profitable. But all this misses the point. The Nevada Constitution established the NSHE, and provided the mechanism with which the public colleges were to be funded: TAXATION (donations gladly accepted). UNLV has no more right to operate a semi-professional (for-profit) football team than it does a hotel-casino. Remember - Temper Expectations wrote on September 10, 2009 12:16 PM: Oregon St is a very very good football team from the PAC 10. UNLV DOES have a chance to beat Oregon St but even if UNLV does not win it shouldn't be a major disappointment. UNLV is clearly not expected to win. With that said I will be routing for a W for the Rebels on Saturday and expecting a bowl bid by the end of the year. No bowl bid = the hot seat just got hotter for Sanford Vegas John wrote on September 10, 2009 11:27 AM: Am I going to have to read the "UNLV is going to be blown out" comments each week? Why don't the haters just get together, post your "UNLV will get blown out by every team this season" comment now so that people with something constructive to post don't have to sift through all the negatives. Go Rebs. Mark Anderson wrote on September 10, 2009 11:26 AM: Follow-up to George, Ed Graney is working on a Jacquizz Rodgers column, so I steered clear of that subject. Mark Anderson wrote on September 10, 2009 11:25 AM: Tio Victoria, You're right. My mistake. I take pride in not making errors, but I missed that one. Mark Anderson wrote on September 10, 2009 11:23 AM: To George, This is the first time I wrote on the Sanford-Riley relationship. You also saw Sanford's column in the Rebel Nation part of today's paper where he referred to it, and it has been written about elsewhere. I don't care what other media write about. As far as we're concerned, this was unique to our readers. It wasn't lazy. I don't consider the 10- to 12-hour work days, which I am happy to do, lazy. I did the reporting Monday and Tuesday and wrote it Wednesday. There was no copying off anyone else. Louis wrote on September 10, 2009 10:41 AM: Hey "Eliminate_UNLV_sports" - last time I looked, the Physic department didn't generate one dime of income. As bad as the football program is, it still pays for most of the other sports to be even in existence. Joey wrote on September 10, 2009 10:38 AM: Every year, the same old thing. The bandwagon is full to the brim with riders for UNLV football. By week 3 or 4, most have fallen off and twisted an ankle. By the end of the season, they have shot and killed the driver of the bandwagon. LOL UNLV is going to get creamed by Oregon State - then the bandwagon will have 3 flat tires. But, there will still be some that say -yea, but this was a non-conference game.... LOL Read All Comments