UNLV approves $3.75M, 5-year deal for Menzies

8:29 PM ET

LAS VEGAS — Marvin Menzies knows he was not UNLV’s first choice as men’s basketball coach, and he doesn’t mind.

He’s the Runnin’ Rebels’ leader now and has some catching up to do.

UNLV’s board of regents voted 12-1 to approve a five-year, $3.75 million deal for Menzies on Friday, ending a strange couple of weeks in Las Vegas.

“I’m not new to rejection, so it wasn’t anything that was going to be life-threatening,” Menzies said. “I think we’re good to go; we’ve just got to get to work.”

UNLV thought it had a replacement for Dave Rice when it hired former Arkansas-Little Rock coach Chris Beard.

His tenure didn’t last long; Beard was gone less than a week after having his contract approved, bolting for Texas Tech, where he had been an assistant for 10 years.

That left UNLV in an …

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