Chambers’ project takes time at UNLV

Tim Chambers knows what real pressure would have felt like. He would have replaced a coach who used UNLV baseball as a steppingstone to something bigger and better, had walked away from a Top 25 program and immaculate facilities, had departed a team that was rocking and rolling with great success, had defined NCAA regionals as more annual occurrence than annual dream.

It was nothing like that.

It wasn't on the same planet as that.

"I came here to build all of that," Chambers said. "I want to walk onto our field soon and see someone's butt in every red seat, to know we can hold 3,500 people and have 3,600 at a game, to be the baseball program this community wants us to be. I promise you, three years from now, you won't recognize this place. We will get the elite athletes and really turn this thing into a Top 20 team every year.

"It is what I believe, because the moment I get to the field and think, 'We're going to lose today,' I'm going to quit."

The Rebels could lose tonight. Seedings for the Mountain West Conference tournament suggest as much. UNLV, at No. 4, plays No. 1 New Mexico at 7 at Wilson Stadium, and losing the first game of a double-elimination tournament is usually tantamount to showing up to a gang fight with a hairpin as your weapon of choice.

Chances of winning the event after opening 0-1 are slim and none, and slim only exists for those with a surplus of pitching.

And you usually need to find a Southeastern Conference team to discover much of that.

Chambers, though, likes his team's chances against the Lobos and anyone else it might encounter the next few days. He believes UNLV is playing its best baseball now, which I suppose means better than the team that lost nine of 12 at one point this season.

It has been 22 months since Chambers decided to prove what everyone locally thought for years, that he was the best fit to lead UNLV baseball from a state of perpetual nothingness into one of consistent success. His resume and reputation was sterling to the point Chambers was viewed by many to be the savior of a foundering program.

Turns out, saving things takes time.

"There have been some hurdles," Chambers said. "It's not happening overnight. But six weeks ago, this team could have lost 40 games, and yet we're (26-29). Everyone within the university has been awesome and very appreciative of the strides we have taken. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think it could get done. We all have a passion for what we do, and this is mine."

Baseball is one of those sports at UNLV that if the Rebels suddenly began contending for league titles and producing NCAA appearances and flirting with the idea of making a College World Series, enough butts would find those red seats.

But it's not men's basketball. People aren't showing up regardless of outcome. I'm guessing things have to be better than an affordable concession stand to entice them, which means a lifetime better than 26-29.

Chambers is 59-54 as UNLV's coach, but it's not as though he arrived on campus and forgot how to recruit and raise money and build a winner. He was the best fit 22 months ago and remains so today.

He wants things done in a specific manner, and it has taken those around him - those who run the field and game operations and other daily necessities - to learn the Chambers Way. It's a proven formula, as witnessed at Bishop Gorman High and College of Southern Nevada.

He is the sort of guy who when a cellphone connection isn't perfect apologizes and then finds a spot where you hear every syllable about why this season's team didn't perform well for long stretches and how he's going to fix it. He wants you to know how certain he is that brighter days and filled seats are ahead.

"I still think we're a few years away from winning at the level I know we can," Chambers said. "But we now have other teams coming in here and looking at all the changes we've made to the facility and saying, 'Holy smokes! I've been coming here 15 years and never seen anything like it.' It's a process. Every day, we're doing something else to get us to the point we all want."

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.