Harvey Leslie Hyde (born July 13, 1939) is an American

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

and former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

(UNLV) from 1982 to 1985.

Early career

Hyde was born in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. I ...

. He started his college head coaching career at

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. History Pasadena, California, Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. From 1928 to 1953, it operated as a four- ...

.KSHP Programming Schedule as of September, 2007.
KSHP, Accessed November 3, 2008. He graduated from the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

Coaching career

The Rebels improved under Hyde's tenure. In 1983, they went 7–4, a four win improvement from the last season. The following year, they had unprecedented success in the 1984 season; with star

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Randall Cunningham Randall Wade Cunningham Sr. (born March 27, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles and is also known for ...

, UNLV went 11–2, won their conference title and defeated Toledo in the

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known p ...

. It was UNLV's only 11-win season.Ron Kantowski
Ron Kantowski chats with former Rebels football coach Harvey Hyde about talking sports here and in California
''Las Vegas Sun'', November 11, 2006, Accessed November 3, 2008. Hyde was at one point a candidate for the vacant head coaching position at

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

.SPORTS PEOPLE; Search Continues Arizona State is apparently having a hard time replacing
''The New York Times'', March 2, 1985, Accessed November 3, 2008. However, it was later discovered the Rebels had used ineligible players and the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

) had the Rebels forfeit all the wins from the 1983 and 1984 seasons, though the wins were not stricken from

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

and UNLV records.Mark Anderson
Is there any solution for UNLV football?
''Las Vegas Review-Journal'', August 4, 2008, Accessed November 3, 2008. Although none of the ineligible players were used in the

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, the California Bowl was among the games forfeited. The issue erupted at the same time the university president,

Robert Maxson Robert Clinton Maxson (born May 8, 1936) is an American academic administrator who has served as president of several institutions of higher education. He was most recently (2008–10) president of Sierra Nevada College, a private, liberal arts co ...

, was in the middle of an hostile relationship with the school's famous head basketball coach,

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

, over similar off-the-court issues with players. The athletic director at the time, Brad Rothermel, noted in later years that Maxson wanted to fire Hyde because of the coach's friendship with Jerry Tarkanian's brother, Myron, stating "When President Maxson discovered (that friendship), he did what he could to level the legs of the football program. We didn't recover from that." During the 1985 season, one of Hyde's players was Marion "Suge" Knight.Rachael Levy
Former coaches portray Knight in positive light
''Las Vegas Sun'', September 10, 1996 , Accessed November 3, 2008. Among his coaching staff was future

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

head coach

Pat Hill Lawrence Patrick Hill (born December 17, 1951) is an American football coach, former player, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach at Fresno State from 1997 until his dismissal following the 2011 season. In 15 seasons as head coa ...

.Jerry Tarkanian
A eulogy, a hot Rose Bowl and more pigskin travels
''Las Vegas Sun'', September 30, 2008 , Accessed November 3, 2008. Things became more difficult for the embattled coach, as nine of his players got involved in various scrapes with the law ranging from theft to assault. Finally, on April 23, 1986, Hyde was fired by Maxon with three years left on his $62,500-a-year contract, which the university said it would honor. One of his assistant coaches,

Wayne Nunnely Wayne Benjamin Nunnely (March 29, 1952 – February 16, 2021) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) from 1986 to 1989. He was later an assistant coach in the National Foo ...

, was named interim head coach through the 1986 season, before being chosen as his permanent successor.SPORTS PEOPLE; Las Vegas Coach Out
''The New York Times'', April 24, 1986, Accessed November 3, 2008. His firing marked a period of decline for the Rebels that lasted for over three decades. Hyde coached football one last time in 1990, as

George Allen George Allen may refer to: Politics and law * George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team * George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...

's associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and running backs coach at

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. During that year, Hyde recruited future

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

star

Terrell Davis Terrell Lamar Davis (born October 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2001. He is the Broncos all-time leading rusher and ...

. Their tenure would only last one season as Allen died just after the end of the regular season, in part due to weak health after his players drenched him with ice water to celebrate a season-ending victory over UNLV.George Allen, Coach, Dead at 72; Led Redskins to Super Bowl VII
Associated Press, January 1, 1991, Accessed November 3, 2008. In interviewing to be the permanent head coach of Long Beach State, a program which was under financial duress, Hyde offered radical ideas of having the team play only road games, recruit only

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

players and use only one set of uniforms; he was not selected and the program only lasted one more season before finally shutting down.

After coaching

After football, Hyde went on to do sports radio for KSHP-AM 1400 in Las Vegas, and working as part of the USC football pregame show for

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

710 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Head coaching record

* Entire 1983 and 1984 seasons, including the 1984 California Bowl, forfeited due to ineligible players. On-field record for 1983 is 7–4 (4–2 PCAA), official record for 1984 is 11–2 (7–0 PCAA).
#On-field record is 26–19–1 (16–9–1 PCAA) if forfeited games are included.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyde, Harvey 1939 births Living people Long Beach State 49ers football coaches Pasadena City Lancers football coaches Sportspeople from Pasadena, California University of Redlands alumni UNLV Rebels football coaches