Nothing can sink Fassel’s resolve

Ah, martyrs. Have to hand it to them. The whole suffering persecution and death for refusing to renounce or accept a belief or cause earns a lot of respect.

Jim Fassel deserves a ton of respect.

I just hope the United Football League doesn't kill him.

Had he been in Oklahoma when that F5 tornado ripped across the plains for three days in 1999 and obliterated 8,000 homes, Fassel would have been the first to pick up a hammer and begin propping things up, one nail at a time.

If there was a silver lining in "Titanic," Fassel found it.

"I'm a pioneer more than a historian," he said. "That's just my nature. I'd rather be the captain of the ship than a deck hand. They say you're happiest when you control your own destiny. That's me. I'd rather take the heat than let it fall on someone else."

So he grinds away inside a financial inferno.

A league that has been presumed dead more often than "America's Home Videos" remains breathing and the Las Vegas Locomotives alive as a franchise.

Fassel loves to golf. I have no idea when he finds the time. He still is the Locos' head coach and president and general manager, and now will oversee the football operations side of a UFL that is eyeing its fourth season and hoping for better things.

You know, like paying players on time.

Fassel covets challenges, so he has chosen something slightly tougher than solving the energy crisis. The UFL's three-year history is defined by losses of more than $120 million, of a commissioner -- Michael Huyghue -- who ultimately cried uncle, of a seemingly never-ending search for a stable TV partner and recognition within local markets.

"I walk into restaurants and stores here, and people still come up to me and say, 'I remember when you coached the (New York) Giants,' " Fassel said. "Then they say, 'What are you doing now?' I tell them I coach the Locos. They say, 'Oh, I've heard of that. I just don't know when you play.'

"We have to do a better job marketing and continuing to get the word out. I know there are a lot of things for people to do here, a lot of ways to spend their entertainment dollars in Las Vegas. But I still believe there is a market for non-NFL cities to provide a quality brand of professional football at a very low cost to fans."

Football isn't the issue. Never has been. Each summer, the NFL cuts loose 1,000 or so bodies, many of them good players, and the UFL has been terrific at identifying and signing the best of them.

The issue is whether anyone at home can watch.

The UFL needs a TV partner that believes in the product enough to make the sort of commitment that might sustain things a bit, that will show large parts of the country the league exists and offers a high level of football.

Fassel is confident such a partner soon will be identified in an official manner, assured things are about to get a lot better on the TV side of things and all others. He's confident things can't get worse, perhaps in the same way Molly Brown was from that lifeboat while watching the big ship go under.

But that's the point with Fassel, the idea behind leadership being about influence and not authority. He always has taken charge, be it growing up as a pitcher in baseball or quarterback in football or point guard in basketball, so good at the latter that Jerry Tarkanian once tried convincing him to come out for the team at Long Beach State.

"I said, 'Jerry, I don't match up with your guys,' " Fassel said. "But leading has always been what I've done. I'm fully ready to take the blame if this thing doesn't work. You work as hard as you can and take accountability when necessary. That's OK with me."

League officials met Monday in Las Vegas and expect to make announcements regarding next season by May 1. They expect to offer teams in five cities, to lose less money this year, which would be welcome news to the pockets of UFL founder Bill Hambrecht.

They expect to be on TV.

But know this: If that chunk of ice keeps bumping along the starboard side of the UFL's bank account and it ultimately can't take on any more water before submerging, the league's captain won't be searching to sneak on any lifeboat. He won't be looking for Molly Brown.

Jim Fassel has proven far too resilient for that.

Pioneers usually do.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.