Hauck hasn’t earned fourth year at UNLV, but he deserves it

Bobby Hauck says it is a four- to six-year process, that college football success at UNLV can't be created in the time it takes a microwave to heat your leftovers, that when you spend three seasons making every decision based on long-term goals, recruiting the types of bodies that need to be developed and strengthened over time, patience is a necessity.

Problem: There isn't much left for him in these parts.

A coach with a 6-32 record over three years shouldn't own an ounce of leverage when the time comes to evaluate whether he or others deserve to keep their jobs, and it's doubtful Hauck has any when sitting and discussing his future and that of the program with athletic director Jim Livengood.

This much, know: Hauck will return in 2013, and it is both obvious and fair the sort of season he must produce to see a fifth.

"We'll continue to talk, but in my mind, I'd say we probably need to be bowl eligible next year," Hauck said. "I think that's fair. I would think Jim is also thinking along those lines."

Livengood should be thinking along a lot of lines, specifically demanding Hauck evaluate every member of his staff, beginning with the guy in charge.

There is no reason for Hauck to continue running special teams along with his duties as head coach. It hasn't worked. In many ways, it's a disaster. The Rebels haven't been good at most things, but they've been especially poor at the one area Hauck insists he is good at coaching. I've never witnessed a coach overthink the room as often as Hauck does with special teams.

If he continues to run that facet of the program, either Livengood hasn't watched closely enough or Hauck is simply too stubborn to admit a change is needed.

The Livengood/Hauck tandem also needs to look at not only who is coaching defense but how they're coaching it. The Rebels wore down over 13 games with no bye week, evident in an embarrassing season-ending loss to an awful Hawaii side, but they didn't do a good job stopping people all year in allowing averages of 32.6 points and 445.2 yards.

They couldn't cover a newborn with a blanket. It was incredibly bad some weeks, in technique and ability, watching them defend the pass.

It's true there is much promise on offense and that 14 freshmen or sophomores started across both sides of the ball. It's also true that while Hauck hasn't earned a fourth season based on his record, he deserves it based on what he inherited.

Three years isn't enough time, and yet 6-32 is unacceptable on so many levels given what others have done elsewhere with comparable programs.

You can win quickly. San Jose State is 10-2 under third-year coach Mike MacIntyre with facilities that rival a bathroom at Bishop Gorman High. Kent State is 11-1 in coach Darrell Hazell's second season and might play in a Bowl Championship Series game.

Kent State!

And then there are head coaches such as Tom O'Brien, who went 7-5 in his sixth season at North Carolina State, has the team in line for its fourth bowl game in five years under him and was fired this week.

Translation: Hauck is fortunate to be employed today.

"I've got guys in (Livengood and UNLV president Neal Smatresk) who make those decisions and believe we're doing the right thing and making progress," Hauck said. "I'm grateful to Neal and Jim for believing we're on the right path.

"You can't help as a coach to a little (second-guessing), but I've coached in the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl and those types of places and know what it takes to get there. If I didn't think we would have a great year next season, we wouldn't be sitting here. It's too hard on everybody - the coaches, their families, our players. You invest a lot by design, and it's hard. But there has to be some payoff, and if I didn't think payoff was coming, we wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be. I wouldn't do that to myself."

He needs to immediately recruit better junior college players, preferably some who can cover your grandmother. He needs to make difficult but needed decisions on his staff. He needs to have someone else coach special teams.

And, it appears, he needs to go at least 6-6 next year and become bowl eligible.

The parameters are set.

This is what happens with 6-32.

You lose all leverage.

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.