Jim Bolla, winningest coach in Lady Rebels history, dies

Jim Bolla, UNLV’s all-time winningest women’s basketball coach who led the program to the NCAA Tournament seven times, died Friday night after a long illness, a source close to his family confirmed.

Bolla was 70.

He went 300-120 from 1982 to 1996, the number of victories easily the highest in program history. Kathy Olivier won 182 games from 2009 to 2020.

Bolla’s 71.4 winning percent at UNLV is second only to Dan Ayala’s 82.5 percentage from 1975 to 1980. Ayala went 109-23.

UNLV won four Big West regular-season titles under Bolla and five conference tournament championships.

The Lady Rebels were regularly ranked in The Associated Press poll, twice reaching No. 2 in the 1989-90 season. They finished the regular season at No. 5. That season was part of a three-year stretch when UNLV finished ranked.

Bolla coached from 1982 and 1988 with his then-wife Sheila Strike-Bolla. The Lady Rebels appeared in three NCAA Tournaments and one Women’s National Invitation Tournament over those six seasons.

After Bolla took over the program by himself, the Lady Rebels went on to make the NCAA Tournament four more times and appear in the WNIT once. The 1988-89 team advanced to the Sweet 16. Two years later, UNLV made the second round.

UNLV has made the NCAA Tournament only twice since then — in 2002 and 2022.

Bolla was named Big West Coach of the Year three times.

He came to Las Vegas from his native Pittsburgh in 1981 and served as an assistant coach for one season before his promotion to share head coaching duties.

He played basketball for the University of Pittsburgh. He was the starting center on the Panthers team that made the Elite Eight in 1974. Bolla stayed at Pitt and became an assistant coach on the men’s team from 1976 to 1979 before switching to the women’s team as an assistant for a year.

After his coaching days at UNLV, he moved into administration in the Rebels’ athletic department and became the development director until 2001.

Bolla returned to coaching in 2004 at the University of Hawaii, staying there for five seasons and going 64-80. His wife, Dallas, joined the staff in 2008. She has her own coaching history, which includes leading Long Beach State to three Big West tournament championship games between 1998 and 2003.

Their daughter, Sasha, was a standout volleyball player at Coronado High School who went on to play at DePaul University, where she is a junior.

Bolla was diagnosed with cancer after going to an emergency room in August 2017. A carcinoid tumor developed in the small intestine and expanded to the liver. Surgeons were unable to remove the tumor.

He traveled from his Las Vegas home to UCLA for regular treatments.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.