Rice gets results with persistence

A prospect caught Dave Rice's eye, and he was determined to secure a commitment. Even as the prospect declined his offers, he was undeterred and spent the summer in pursuit.

If the prospect was at a concert in the park, he was there. At a friend's house, he was there. At a pizza place, he was there.

"He kept showing up where I was. We just ended up hanging out at a lot of the same places that summer. He kept asking me and kept asking me. I really wasn't interested in dating at the time," Mindy Rice said.

"I finally agreed to go out with him. He was very persistent and he put the full-court press on. It was good recruiting on his part. He definitely knows what he wants and goes after it."

Rice's courtship of his future wife in the summer of 1989, months before he left their hometown of Claremont, Calif., for UNLV, prepared him well for his career.

In the dating game and the game of basketball, Rice, introduced Monday as the Rebels' coach, is all about executing a plan and putting in the effort needed to succeed.

"I believe the key to recruiting is relationships, and the second thing is hard work, and a by-product of hard work is persistence," said Rice, who was referring to basketball. "I am pretty driven and persistent, and it may not be in a flashy sort of way."

Of his wife, he said: "She was definitely the one, there's no doubt about that. It's just good recruiting."

He moved quickly once he had Mindy's interest. They met through mutual friends in Claremont, situated at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. He was finished at Mt. San Antonio College, and Mindy, three years younger, had just graduated high school.

Their first date was to Newport Beach. By the end of dinner, neither was thinking of dating anyone else.

"We talked for hours and hours," Mindy said. "It felt like we had known each other for years. It sounds like some made-up story, but it does happen."

On their second date, Dave asked what color dresses her bridesmaids should wear. He preferred red and she liked blue.

"It took two dates and we were already talking about getting married," she said. "I think we were just kind of joking about it at first. Joking but not joking, you know what I mean? Our parents thought we were crazy."

She was a high school cheerleader but had little interest in sports. He had signed with UNLV, which was about to embark on one of the most memorable two-year runs in college basketball history.

"He was quite proud that he was going to UNLV and playing with the 'Iceman' (Stacey Augmon) and all these guys," Mindy said. "I knew nothing about basketball, and he thought it was the best thing in the world."

Rice was a reserve on the Rebels' 1990 NCAA championship team and 1991 Final Four team. He was willing to sacrifice playing time for being part of a great team.

"I'm really passionate about what I do, and really, really competitive," he said. "The scoreboard is really important, and I think that's why I went to UNLV. I was a role player at best, but it was important to me to be playing at the highest level. For me, the most important thing was winning."

He earned his bachelor's degree in political science in 1991 and his M.B.A. in 1993. He was a two-time UNLV Scholar-Athlete of the Year and a Rhodes Scholar candidate. After the 1991 season, he planned to go to law school.

That was when Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian stepped in and offered Rice a spot on his staff. Dave and Mindy were married in October 1991, spent a weekend honeymoon in Palm Springs, Calif., and flew back to Las Vegas so he could be at Monday's practice.

"It had never entered my mind being a coach. Anyone who was planning on going into coaching would not plan their wedding on Oct. 19. It's a little embarrassing that I missed a couple days of practice, but it was a fairly significant reason," he said, jokingly.

The 1991-92 season was Tarkanian's last at UNLV. Rice left to coach at Chaffey (Calif.) College in 1993 while Mindy stayed to earn her bachelor's degree in business management from UNLV.

Rice returned to spend 11 seasons as a Rebels assistant, but he was not retained in 2004 when former coach Lon Kruger brought in his own staff. That moved the Rice family to Utah State for a year and to Brigham Young for six years.

"I was just disappointed. I was never angry. I absolutely understood," Rice said. "It was really good for me to go away for seven years and get some experience and prepare me for what's next."

Dave and Mindy have two sons, Travis, 13, and Dylan, 8. Ask the kids which parent is the tougher coach, and the answer might be their mom.

"He's a great dad. There's nothing he wouldn't do for his kids, even to the point I would say he's a little bit of a pushover," Mindy said. "Because he's either coming or going, I get to be the disciplinarian and he gets to be the pushover."

He admitted as much, saying, "I've always had this feeling I didn't want to go away on a recruiting trip with my kids mad at me.

"Family is a real priority for me, and that's how I was raised. My mom and dad were always there for me. I try to be with my family as much as possible. She has always been supportive of my career. She's a terrific mother."

Mindy Rice, her husband said, is "unbelievably competitive." He is, too, but he's flexible and willing to reason.

He wanted her bridesmaids to wear red dresses. She preferred blue.

"I won," she said.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.