Rice has Rose’s back at BYU

Dave Rice was mowing the lawn out back when the phone rang, because when you are a college basketball coach with hundreds of young players set to arrive for a summer camp the following week, you do the yard work whenever a minute allows.

"Obviously, it was a very concerning call," Rice said. "We didn't know the severity of it, but we knew there was internal bleeding, so that automatically raised a red flag.

"When the facts started coming in over the next few days ... extremely scared."

Brigham Young will play UNR at noon Tuesday in a Las Vegas Classic game at the Orleans Arena, and the Cougars will be coached by a man who is alive today as one of five in a million, a man who beat the typically unbeatable horror that is pancreatic cancer.

Dave Rose has a new perspective on life this holiday season, and he will from this time forward. His journey as a cancer patient began in June when, upon arriving in Las Vegas on a flight from Orange County, he was rushed to a local hospital for emergency surgery.

Rice, Rose's top assistant, kept vigil in Provo as the frightening updates came in by phone, his boss' blood loss seemingly growing by the pint with each ring, the prognosis swaying between unknown and grim.

Statistics can dominate a coach's mindset, and no one wanted to consider the stats associated with Rose's form of cancer.

But in times of crisis, a team needs guidance. Players need comforting. Someone must lead.

Rice joined the BYU staff in 2005 and was promoted to associate head coach three years later, the former player from UNLV's 1990 national championship team and longtime assistant coach having found a successful role as Rose's top aide.

Rice is 41 and should be a head coach by now. He should be running his own program, mapping his own voyage, making the important decisions that define a team. Who knows why some of the best assistants get calls and others don't. That would take correctly translating the thought process of an athletic director, which would compare to mastering Mandarin on the first try.

The strategy and recruiting parts of Rice's resume were solidified long ago. There isn't much one doesn't know, see and learn in 16 years on Division I staffs.

But certain intangibles separate good from bad coaches. How one manages people. How one handles adversity.

How one holds together a team when its head coach receives what those statistics suggest is a death sentence.

"From Day 1, Coach Rose and his wife (Cheryl) wanted full disclosure with everyone, from our players to our staff to our entire extended family," Rice said. "We've got a close-knit group of guys who care deeply for Coach Rose. I knew it would affect them greatly.

"You hear pancreatic cancer, I mean, it's not good. You tell them it's going to be OK in the end like you would anyone ... But you know, we never had that conversation (about death) with the players. The kids have so much respect for Coach Rose and for the strength he has. Our guys had faith."

Rice isn't one to flaunt his strengths. He wants to be a head coach, wants that opportunity. He also realizes how incredibly difficult the position is to land and figures if he keeps working hard and teams he is part of continue to win and reach the NCAA Tournament, it will happen.

He can add something to that resume now, and you can make the argument it is an attribute far more significant than knowing what to draw up in a tie game with less than 10 seconds remaining or what words might persuade a recruit to sign.

For when it seemed cancer might take from BYU not only its head basketball coach, but a man who had spent years teaming with his wife to help console families with children battling the disease, who had led the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation, someone had to lead.

Someone had to hold a team together.

Dave Rice did.

"When I realized I was going to be in the hospital for quite awhile, I took comfort knowing my entire staff would do a terrific job," said Rose, whose cancer scan in September was clean. "I had to focus all my attention on getting better, but knew everything within the program would be handled.

"Coach Rice is such a detailed guy. He understands people. One of his real strengths is creating positive chemistry in team and staff settings. He knows how to motivate others. I have the utmost respect for him. I am lucky to have him."

Dave Rice will be a head college basketball coach one day. Fortunate is the program that gets him.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on "The Sports Scribes" on KDWN-AM (720) and www.kdwn.com.