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Former UNLV basketball coach Dave Rice has been hired as an assistant at rival Nevada, according to multiple reports. The 47-year-old Rice, a member of the Runnin' Rebels' 1990 national championship team, was dismissed at UNLV in January during the middle of his fifth season. He was 98-54 as UNLV's head coach, leaving Las Vegas with the third-most wins in program history. UNLV's board of regents voted 12-1 last week to approve a five-year, $3.75 million deal for Marvin Menzies as the school's new head coach.  UNLV thought it had a replacement for Rice when it hired former Arkansas-Little Rock coach Chris Beard, but his tenure didn't last long -- he was gone less than a week after having his contract approved, bolting for Texas Tech, where he previously had been an assistant for 10 years. Menzies, 54, spent the past nine seasons at New Mexico State, leading the Aggies to four straight WAC tournament titles and NCAA tournament berths from 2012 to '15. New Mexico State also played in the NCAA tournament in 2010. Rice was a prolific recruiter at UNLV, routinely landing some of the top classes in the nation and should provide a boost to Eric Musselman's staff. Nevada finished 24-14 in Musselman's first season in Reno, ending the season on a high note by beating Morehead State to win the College Basketball Invitational championship. The Wolf Pack made news on April 8 by hiring former California assistant Yann Hufnagel, who resigned after being accused of sexually harassing a 24-year-old reporter while coaching the Bears. Nevada president Marc Johnson released a series of text messages and other documents on April 15 outlining why the university was comfortable hiring Hufnagel despite the accusations. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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