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PROVO — You never want to start out badly in anything. But that’s what happened almost 10 years ago against Loyola Marymount for Dave Rose.
“The thing I remember most about that game is that we lost,” Rose said with a laugh.
The head basketball coach at BYU remembers a lot about the 83-71 defeat at the Marriott Center.
“We were pretty anxious getting into that game and LMU really put it on us,” he recalls.
The anxiousness extended to the coach. It wasn’t his first game as a bench boss after leading Dixie College and some Utah high schools. But he wanted to make a good impression and so did his players. The Cougars had only won 9 games the previous season.
“(We) were taking a team that was picked to finish last in the conference preseason polls,” Rose said.
But the disappointment didn’t last too long as he recalled the 2nd game of 2005 against Washington St. in Spokane.
“Our guys were terrific. We got a big win and we never looked back from there,” Rose said.
Rose has racked up 231 victories since that first one in the Pacific Northwest. He’s #2 all time in total victories at BYU. But he admitted he wasn’t sure he would be the head coach in Provo this long.
“I just hoped I would be here the next year,” Rose said with a chuckle. “Expectations were high.”
Terry Nashif had no doubts about Rose’s ability. He played for BYU when Rose was an assistant and hoped Rose would get hired when Steve Cleveland stepped down.
“He believes we will win every single game,” Nashif said.
Nashif said Rose is the toughest man that he knows. And he knows that toughness was magnified with Rose conquering cancer twice.
“There was no question he was going to battle through it and fight through it,” Nashif said. “And the way he has is unbelievable.”
Nashif was hired by Rose as director of basketball operations and then as an assistant coach. He said he’s learned a lot from his boss and believes he will be the head man for possibly another 15 to 20 years.
Rose may be around the program that long if his relationships with players remain steady.
“I feel like Coach is the perfect father figure for anyone on this team,” said Frank Bartley. “Between last year and this year, our relationship has grown a lot.”
Rose didn’t recruit the sophomore guard out of Louisiana, but Rose was the guy who sealed the deal. Bartley liked Rose’s honesty and that he always has an open door to his players. And Bartley said he isn’t afraid to talk to the Cougars about increasing their playing time.
“I feel like Coach gets excited when we come into his office and (talk) about stuff like that. He is always willing to teach us and tell us what we need to do,” Bartley said.
Rose is more comfortable coming into his 10th season, saying that’s because he’s changed.
“Maybe as a younger coach I was trying to change everyone to make them more like me. Now I’m more comfortable allowing those guys to do what they do,” Rose said.
He says empowering his staff and players will make the team better. I am a reporter and producer for KSL Newsradio. I am also a co-host on Cougar Sports Saturday. I've worked for KSL since August of 2001.
