Those who know him best: Josh Pastner’s work ethic unrivaled

Josh Pastner wouldn’t have believed 15 years ago this is where college basketball has transitioned. He wouldn’t have envisioned a transfer portal and so many decisions by players being predicated on NIL dollars.

But that’s the reality of things.

That’s where everything stands.

“You know what?” Pastner said. “You either adapt and wear loose-fit clothing and be willing to change and make real-time decisions on the fly or otherwise you’re going to get left behind. If you have any negativity or complaining or a ‘woe is me’ attitude, it won’t work, especially in today’s climate. So, you deal with it and accept it.

“It’s still basketball. As long as you have five guys on the floor at one time, you just have to figure it out.”

It is what he has set out to do at UNLV, with Pastner about to begin his second season as the Runnin’ Rebels coach when the team opens its schedule against visiting Northern Arizona on Tuesday.

Pastner is overly committed to turning the program into a consistent contender for NCAA berths, the March Madness event UNLV hasn’t been to since 2013. That’s some drought.

But you won’t find a more positive sort than Pastner, a harder worker, a person with more desire to get things right.

None of that surprises those who know him best, those who have seen such a drive over the years.

Never stops

Jim Rosborough was the longtime associate head coach under the Hall of Famer and legendary Lute Olson at Arizona when Pastner was a reserve player for the Wildcats — Pastner was a member of the school’s 1997 national championship team — and then an assistant on Olson’s staff.

It was Rosborough who took Pastner under his wing in the early days of the latter learning all the ins and outs of the college coaching world.

“I had him on my hip up in the film room with me,” Rosborough said. “I’d be in my car and have to roll my window down because he’d be there with some sort of question. He was always there trying to learn.

“(UNLV) made a good choice with Josh. They see his work ethic. If anybody is going to get it done there, it’s Josh. The second he turns it around, he’s going to have people all over the place wanting to be involved. It’s just a matter of being given a fair chance and getting some good players. And that’s hard with the transfer portal and money all over the place.”

Rosborough talks about when former Alabama football coach Nick Saban decided to retire from the sidelines, when he spoke about the job now being a 24-7 affair, of there being no offseason to speak of.

“It’s something Josh understands,” Rosborough said. “He’s a relentless recruiter, something that will definitely give him a chance. He never stops.”

If he wasn’t a coach, Pastner, 49, says he would be involved in some sort of law enforcement. Perhaps on a SWAT team.

He even wanted to join the reserves at the police academy in Tucson before an assistant’s role opened on John Calipari’s staff at Memphis. And that was that.

But it was always being in and around the game. His father, Hal, who is celebrating 38 years of being the founder of the Houston Hoops youth basketball program, knew this from the time his son was 9.

“Not as much as being a coach, but I knew he would be in the game of basketball his whole life,” Hal said. “That’s what he told me then. I remember it was time to go into another sports season — soccer or something else — and he said, ‘No Dad, I only want to do basketball. Nothing else.’

“There was no AAU at the time, so we looked around and got some players together and named the team the Houston Hoops. We started traveling some and were sort of the pioneers in that.

“I think when he was around 13 — when he was a little slow and not as good as everybody else but he still loved it — is when he told me he would eventually be a coach. I saw it. He had a gift.”

Scouting others

That’s when Pastner began evaluating every player in every gym at every tournament. They were titled “Josh Pastner’s Scouting Report.” He would send them to college coaches across the country by mail. And his father would get calls from those coaches praising how detailed and helpful the scouts were.

“Even in high school, he wasn’t a great player, but he outworked everybody and eventually became captain of the team,” Hal said. “He would stay until the maintenance guys closed down the gym.

“And all the college coaches knew who he was. That’s how he got to Arizona. Lute Olson told me, ‘I have 13 scholarships and have given out 12. I see something in your son. I want him on the team.’ The first day of practice, Josh tells all these great players they’re going to win the national championship. They’re like, ‘What are you talking about? Are you on the team?’

“And they won the national championship.”

Pastner says he hopes to be a better coach this year than last, that what you see is always what you get. High energy, Emotions on sleeve. Approach every possession as if it’s the last.

“Living vicariously through the guys because I want them to believe coolness, casualness and cuteness will get your butt kicked, whether it’s in basketball or the game of life,” he said. “Winning has to be more important than breathing.

“I’m still growing as a coach and hopefully as a human being. I’m far from a finished product. I love what I do. I love Las Vegas and coaching the Rebels. It’s an honor and a 24-hour obsession to try and get the program back to the NCAA Tournament. I believe we can do it. I know how important it is to the city and fan base and my bosses and the school and the young men I coach.”

UNLV went 18-17 last year, 11-9 in the Mountain West and advanced to the second round of the NIT. It’s a new-look conference this season, with many of the top teams having skipped to the Pac-12.

The Rebels were picked fourth in the Mountain West, which will need to pick up several nonconference signature wins in November and December to avoid being a one-bid NCAA league come March.

There is pressure on many to get the job done then. To win enough that an NCAA at-large berth is at least possible.

And that includes the guy running UNLV’s program.

The ‘P’ word

“I felt pressure last year,” Pastner said. “Think about it. What program in the United State of America that’s not in a Power 4 conference can say at one time they were the elite program in all of college basketball? UNLV was that.

“I know what the fans’ expectations and standards are. I felt pressure from the moment I took the job, probably a lot being internal. I feel pressure this year, probably a lot being internal.

“But we’re going to fight and scrap and claw to the best of our ability and try to get things back where fans want it. I know where they want to go. I don’t hide from that. I get it. We just have to do our part on the floor.”

Know this: It will all be defined by the effort and work ethic of a head coach.

Contact Ed Graney at [email protected]. Follow @edgraney on X.