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LAS VEGAS — A billboard advertising ticket sales for University of Nevada Las Vegas athletics featuring the former basketball coach was laughed off by the man who replaced him.
Wednesday morning, a billboard for UNLV athletics was unveiled along Interstate 215 at Buffalo Drive, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The sign read “Come to our house! Rebel basketball and football tickets on sale now!” The problem with the sign, however, was the image of Lon Kruger, who left his position at UNLV as head basketball coach in 2010.
Current basketball coach Dave Rice took the mistake in stride, saying, “if Coach Kruger can help us sell tickets, great.”
“I thought it was humorous. It’s one of those things that happens. But I’m the last person who would take himself too seriously.”
The billboard correctly showed head football coach Bobby Hauck. UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy told the Review-Journal the billboard was being replaced with a corrected version.
“To us, it’s not a laughing matter,” she said. “We think what happened was the billboard company was doing us a favor by posting the ad but our marketing people never saw it."
A commenter under the name of Clear Channel Outdoor — the billboard company that put the sign up — responded to the incident as well.
“We’re sorry Coach Rice! While waiting for a new vinyl to be produced to go up on the bulletin at 215 and Buffalo, we mistakenly pulled outdated generic copy from our operations warehouse to cover the blank space.
Top image: Jeff Scheid, Las Vegas Review-Journal
