Energetic Livengood puts stamp on program

Jim Livengood has a best part so far. It's that he believes change can occur, that a difference can be made, that Las Vegas is a community with a great interest in UNLV athletics.

He also has a worst part.

"Trying on a daily basis," he said, "to convince people we can make it."

Maybe he needs to avoid those who have watched the school's football team the last several years.

Nearly eight months have passed since UNLV president Neal Smatresk stood before a packed room and proudly introduced his choice to replace Mike Hamrick as athletic director.

"Without further ado," Smatresk said that day, "I would like to ask to hear from our next athletic director at UNLV ... John Livengood."

Jim. John. Jack. Jason. Joey. They're all the same. It was funny then. It's still funny. I didn't think Smatresk could top the moment for humor until I saw his face painted red at the basketball team's first-round NCAA Tournament game in Oklahoma City. Yep. That topped it.

Livengood, though, since that first news conference has done his best to make certain everyone knows his name and commitment to making his department worth your interest.

It's far too early for any sort of grading process on how well Livengood has performed his duties. Bobby Hauck hasn't coached a football game at UNLV. Tim Chambers hasn't coached a baseball game. Any internal disciplinary fate for basketball player Tre'Von Willis hasn't been announced and yet is certainly warranted no matter how the criminal charges against him play out.

At first glance, however, I was definitely wrong about the effort Livengood might display after leading Arizona athletics for 16 years. He was on his way out in Tucson and at first gave the appearance of when Charlie Cavagnaro arrived from Memphis and Hamrick from East Carolina, which is to say someone more in need of a job than searching for one.

He doesn't appear anything like either. I know he isn't like Hamrick. Livengood has a pulse.

He also appears steadfast on being held accountable, a perspective not found at most any level of sports today. He wants to be watched. He wants to be judged.

Livengood this past week invited the city's media to a sit-down on campus, to an on-the-record chat about anything and everything, a way for him to learn how better his side of the university might help us and in turn you when stories and news are reported on UNLV athletics.

"We have some very specific goals for areas within our department that we're going to tell the whole world about soon," Livengood said. "At the end of the year, come June 30 of 2011, it is all open to be evaluated. We might not make any of them. I don't think that will be the case. I hope that's not the case. But we need to be held accountable.

"We will be very public with our goals. I'm telling you right now, if we don't reach them, you need to ask why and what happened."

I'm not sure the world is waiting.

But anyone with the slightest interest in UNLV athletics should be.

Restructuring the department. Recruiting. Fundraising. Discipline issues. Football scheduling strategy. Pursuing excellence in education, compliance, competition, revenue generation, capital projects, community and alumni outreach, equity and entertainment.

All were topics Livengood touched on. All help define an athletic department's worth.

So does this: Livengood painted a picture of five guiding principles for UNLV coaches and student-athletes -- respect, being more positive, focus, setting expectations and improving daily.

It sounds so simple.

Have you seen some of the records for UNLV teams? It isn't.

"I've made a lot of different observations," Livengood said. "What is the mission of UNLV athletics? Very simply, we are trying to support the university, the educational aspect. We are guiding our student-athletes in the pursuit of excellence, academically, athletically, socially. Period. That's it.

"Most mission statements are long and laborious, but that's what we are trying to do. That's our starting point."

He seems genuine for a guy whose job is a difficult one. Things will be different soon. New faces are arriving and old ones are departing. Livengood's pursuit of excellence for UNLV has just begun.

You can't assign him a grade yet, but there is a pulse beating. There is a desire to enact great change. To this point, I was wrong about the man's interest in building something special here.

Which, after being right about his predecessor for so long, doesn't feel half bad.

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