Every month, we select an American institution which we feel is deserving of our FirstPoint USA "University of the Month"
This month we have decided on The University Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) as one of our Sports Consultants, John Crawley earned his degree and played soccer there.
Check out this interview as John shares his experiences from his time there :
Also, check out his soccer highlights from his time at UNLV (First goal is pretty special!)
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is a public, co-ed University located in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. The 337 acre campus is located approximately 1.5 miles (2.5 km) east of the famous Las Vegas Strip!
UNLV offers over 220 programs of study in varying fields leading to bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, which are taught by approximately 850 faculty members.
UNLV's colleges include:
•School of Community Health Sciences
•College of Education
•Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering
•College of Fine Arts
•Graduate College
•Honors College
•William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration
•Hank Greenspun School of Journalism & Media Studies
•William S. Boyd School of Law
•School of Nursing
•School of Social Work
UNLV Athletics
UNLV supports varsity teams in 17 different sports. The men's basketball team is referred to as the Runnin' Rebels and the men's baseball team is referred to as the Hustlin' Rebels. The Rebels are a founding member of the Mountain West Conference, in the NCAA's Division I. The only exception is the UNLV men's soccer team, which competes in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
The school's official colors of scarlet and gray can be traced to the late-1950s when UNLV adopted as mascot a wolf wearing a Confederate uniform. Scarlet and Gray were traditional colors of the Confederacy with its gray uniforms and red-based flag. UNLV's mascot is Hey Reb, the toned down version of the original mascot named Beauregard, which was a wolf character dressed in Confederate hat and uniform. UNLV's Hey Reb mascot made his debut in 1983. He received his first makeover in 1997 and second in 2009. Named one of 12 All-American Mascots, he competed for the title of 2004 Capital One Mascot of the Year and made a strong showing by coming in second in online voting. No stranger to national television, Hey Reb has also appeared in two memorable ESPN SportsCenter commercials.
UNLV has many traditions in its athletic programs. Each year the men's football team plays the Nevada Wolf Pack in a football game called the Battle for Nevada. The trophy for that game is the Fremont Cannon. Built by the Kennecott Copper Corp., Nevada Mines Division, the cannon is valued at more than $10,000 and is considered one of the best, and loudest, symbols of rivalry in college football.
UNLV is most known for its men's basketball program. Made famous by Coach Jerry Tarkanian in the 1970s–1990s, the Runnin' Rebels are the third most winning team in Division I basketball history by percentage, only behind Kentucky and North Carolina.(.713, 1037-418 through 2008) UNLV is well known for their 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship by defeating Duke University 103-73, which was and still is the largest margin of victory in a championship game. In that same game, UNLV became the first team to ever break 100 points in a championship game.
UNLV is also well known for its golf program. Led by coach Dwaine Knight, the UNLV Golf program has turned out PGA Tour pros such as Adam Scott, Chris Riley, Chad Campbell, Ryan Moore, Skip Kendall, Charlie Hoffman, Bill Lunde, and Andres Gonzales. They won the NCAA National golf team championship in 1998. In February 2011, the Rebel men's swimming and diving team won their seventh straight Mountain West Conference titles.Three Rebel swimmers competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics; Joe Bartoch and Richard Hortness represented Canada and Jonas Anderson represented Sweden.
