UNLV hires former UCLA coach Kathy Oliver

4/22/2008 5:56 PM

LAS VEGAS (AP) -UNLV has hired former UCLA coach and Lady Rebels player Kathy Olivier as the new women's coach.

Athletic director Mike Hamrick made the announcement Tuesday, praising Olivier's 15 years at head coach at UCLA.

Olivier, 48, becomes the eighth head coach in the Lady Rebels' 33-year history, replacing Regina Miller, who was removed after 10 years. She finished with a 175-125 record at UNLV.

Olivier, who resigned last month after the Bruins finished the season 16-15, said she was thrilled to return to coaching at her alma mater.

``UCLA's been very good to me, and the job at UNLV was the only one that would have gotten me back into coaching,'' she said.

At UCLA, Olivier was 232-208, winning a Pac-10 regular season championship and a trip to the NCAA regional finalst in 1999. She guided the Bruins to four other NCAA tournament appearances, and also led UCLA to the Pac-10 tournament title in 2006.

The former Kathy Ricks, Olivier played for Cal State Fullerton in 1977-78 before transferring to UNLV, leading the Lady Rebels to a 22-8 record and earning an honorable mention from the American Women's Sports Federation. She finished with 975 career points in just two seasons, ranking 20th all-time on the school's career scoring list. Her 20.2 points per game average as a senior in 1980-81 is 10th-best all-time.

She graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1982, and had stints coaching at UC Irvine, USC and as an assistant at UCLA before becoming head coach.