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Mike Sanford (Born April 20, 1955) is the head football coach at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where he played quarterback for the Trojans from 1973-1976.
[edit] Assistant Coaching Career
Sanford began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at USC in 1977. Since then, he has served as an assistant coach for numerous teams in the collegiate and professional ranks, including San Diego City College, the United States Military Academy, Virginia Military Institute, Long Beach State, Purdue, USC, Notre Dame, the San Diego Chargers and Stanford. In 2003 Urban Meyer hired Sanford as his offensive coordinator at Utah. That year, the Utes won the Mountain West Conference Championship and won the Liberty Bowl. The next year, the Utes repeated as conference champs and finished the season 12-0, including a win over Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl. Sanford's offense averaged 45.3 points a game, and quarterback Alex Smith was MWC Player of the Year as well as a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. The following spring, Smith was the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, selected by the San Francisco 49ers.
On December 6, 2004, UNLV hired Sanford as the school's ninth head coach, taking over for the legendary John Robinson. Because of his success as an assistant coach, it was hoped that Sanford would reverse the fortunes of the long-suffering Rebels' program. However, his first two years at the helm have produced just four total wins.
Sanford is perhaps best known for his behavior after a 16-10 loss to Iowa State on September 9, 2006 in Ames, Iowa. The last play of the game was an incomplete UNLV pass into the endzone, and Sanford believed the play should have been reviewed. The review official later told the media that he had reviewed the play and determined that the call on the field should not be reversed. After the game, Sanford ordered his team not to leave the field, and entered an adjacent building. On his way back out to the field, he said, "the game's not over. The game is not over. That ball was caught in the endzone. I didn't get any time for it to be reviewed. We have a review in college football." A reporter asked if the ball "was caught by [Sanford's] receiver," and Sanford replied: "Yes, for a touchdown." At this point, as Sanford was running onto the field, he tripped and fell onto the turf. He picked himself up and proceeded onto the field. He then yelled to his players "We're stayin', we're stayin', we're stayin' stay there. We're stayin' out here." He then repeatedly demanded to speak to Iowa State's Athletic Director. His players (who had lost the game) eventually began chanting "Rebels, Rebels" to the home crowd. [1]
[edit] Head Coaching Record
| TEAM |
YEAR |
WINS |
LOSSES |
Bowl Game |
| UNLV |
2005 |
2 |
9 |
|
| UNLV |
2006 |
2 |
10 |
|
| UNLV |
2007 |
2 |
10 |
|
| CAREER TOTAL |
3 years |
6 |
29 |
|
[edit] External links
