Todd Simon returns to Las Vegas with 3-0 Southern Utah

UNLV fans are well aware of the disaster that Marvin Menzies took over in 2016, but he wasn’t the only one to inherit a mess.

Todd Simon, who finished that 2015-16 season as the interim Rebels coach after Dave Rice was fired three games into Mountain West play, walked into a place that in many ways was worse.

Southern Utah didn’t have UNLV’s rich history to build on, so Simon began creating his own path. It hasn’t been easy, but under his watch, the Thunderbirds went from 6-27 in his first year to 13-19 last season.

Now they are off to the first 3-0 start in their Division I history entering Friday’s 7 p.m. game against UNLV (3-1) at the Thomas & Mack Center. The game will be streamed at UNLVRebels.com.

“The culture was the first thing we needed to establish,” Simon said. “We’re going to teach, and we’re going to work hard. We’re going to do the right things, and we’re going to do the right things off the floor and on the floor.

“Step two was finding really talented players that fit that mold. The allure is to always take that player that maybe doesn’t quite fit, and I think we’ve done a good job of making sure we don’t compromise, and it’s worked out well for us so far.”

Southern Utah rewarded Simon’s success in September by extending his contract through the 2021-22 season.

“I think we have to do more with less here,” he said. “You make that up with the margins that are in the relationships and the mental part of it and the culture part of it because we don’t have the resources. We’re probably on the low end of Division I in terms of resources, but our sales pitch is the relationship piece.”

To that end, Simon said he makes sure the team is together as often as possible, be it going to a movie or doing some sort of community service project.

Now Simon faces the Rebels, and his history with Las Vegas runs deep. He was at Findlay Prep for seven years, overseeing a 35-1 record in the 2012-13 season.

From there, he went to UNLV to serve on Rice’s staff.

“The UNLV experience, you’re in a fish bowl,” Simon said. “It’s an intense environment with high expectations as it should. I think you learn so much about operating under adversity. You learn a lot about maintaining the mental part of the program, not just the players, but the overall mental and spiritual health of the program is so paramount there because of all the outside voices that differing agendas and things that players experience. So that was a big learning lesson.”

He isn’t the only former Rebel returning to the Mack.

Dwayne Morgan transferred after graduating from UNLV in December 2017. He averaged 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds in eight games in the 2016-17 season that ended prematurely because of hip and shoulder injuries. A misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct in May 2017 led to his dismissal from the program.

At Southern Utah, Morgan averages 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds and will get his master’s degree next fall.

“Obviously, we have a great relationship,” Simon said. “He believes in what we’re doing. He’s a great leader from a work ethic standpoint, from a believe-in-the-program standpoint. He’s been a program-changer.

“I know the kind of man he is, and he’s been nothing short of spectacular here. I get comments from people at the doctor’s office and people in the grad school about his character and how good a kid he is. I’m really, really happy that our paths got to cross again.”

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