Football brain trust makes program-defining call

If allegations against UNLV football assistant Ty Gregorak prove true -- that the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator was so drunk on a recent trip to Colorado, he stole the wallet and a loaded .45-caliber gun from the car of a strip club bouncer, didn't remember doing so and then returned them the following morning -- the legal system soon will determine a course of action.

Perhaps then we also will discover how Gregorak knew which car to enter for the items of a bouncer he claimed not to know and why in the world he chose, as the police report states, to remove a bag of dog food from the back and place it on the front seat.

I'm guessing the part about possibly being drunk out of his gourd had something to do with the latter.

But more than that, what this mess did was present UNLV's new head coach and those who hired him one of those defining moments in which tenures are defined.

It gave Bobby Hauck and athletic director Jim Livengood the opportunity to define what kind of football program UNLV intends to run under their watch.

For starters, the result is exactly how it should be given the situation.

Gregorak either will resign his position or his contract won't be renewed at the end of June. This never was going to end well for him here, and shouldn't have.

Livengood, to his credit, understood that from the beginning.

New regimes are scrutinized closely. They should be. Hauck had issues at Montana when media reported negative news about his program and reacted defensively. Legitimate news. Factual stories.

The kind that will be checked and researched and investigated and reported to their fullest here, no matter his views on how much the public should know about the players he recruits and coaches he hires. We keep watch because so few really do.

"These things can't happen," Livengood said. "Nothing or no one -- myself included -- is more important or bigger than the athletics program itself and how we are perceived by the outside world. We will have a football program that is disciplined. In a moment like this, if things are not handled correctly, it could bring us all down to an almost unrecoverable place.

"When push comes to shove, we have to make tough decisions. If we don't, and the perception is we let things slide, we will lose on every front, including game day. Some days the news is good. Some days it's bad. But we live in an intolerant society, and I just don't believe second chances exist like they might have 10 years ago."

Gregorak was with Hauck the past seven seasons at Montana. Dismissing an assistant isn't easy, but explaining away why you didn't could have proven far tougher.

The truth: Even if it is learned today that whatever Gregorak's side of things holds some or much validity, even if charges aren't filed in Colorado, the damage publicly has been done.

There is no way UNLV could have kept him. The Rebels have enough issues signing good players given their dismal record of late, but you throw in competing recruiters following Gregorak into homes and armed with stories about drunken driving and strip clubs and stolen wallets and loaded guns and, well, you can see the faces of parents now.

There is more to the story. That's obvious from the police report. But not enough that would make you believe Gregorak wasn't deeply involved.

We also know he was convicted of misdemeanor DUI in Minnesota on March 19 from an incident in July 2009, that his license at one point was revoked, that he has had four previous speeding tickets, that despite all of that, he chose to allegedly drink excessively on the trip to Colorado and steal items from another's car.

This never had a chance for a happy ending.

"This is a good young coach and good person who has made a horrible error in judgment, a horrible mistake," Livengood said. "Unfortunately, in our laws of society, mistakes are punishable. I would hope at some point in time he will coach again somewhere. It's just not going to be here."

This isn't one of the good days Livengood speaks about, and amid all of it is the question of whether UNLV did a good enough job researching the backgrounds of those assistants Hauck hired. Livengood believes it did, but I'm guessing those checks might be even more detailed now.

Either way, Bobby Hauck hasn't coached a game yet for the Rebels and already we have been presented a defining moment that shows others how those in charge intend on running the program.

For starters, they made they correct call.

In this particular case, the only call.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.