ShareThisDave Rose says he doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about some of the remarkable things he has accomplished in his four-year tenure as Brigham Young University's head basketball coach.
He spends even less time wondering whether is appreciated enough by the school's legions of fans for taking a team that was coming off a 9-21 season and re-establishing the program as one of the most dominant in the Mountain West Conference.
"People show their appreciation for what we've done by coming to our games and cheering for our team," he says. "That's all you can ask for."
But former BYU coach Steve Cleveland, Rose's assistant coaches and players, and even Utah coach Jim Boylen say Rose doesn't get enough credit for what he's built in Provo.
"I don't know anybody in the coaching ranks who doesn't respect Dave and what he's done at BYU," said Cleveland, whom Rose assisted for eight years before Cleveland left BYU in 2005 for Fresno State. "When I made the decision to leave, I knew Dave Rose was supposed to be the next basketball coach at BYU, and I feel even stronger about that today."
Rose's 2008-09 Cougars (25-7), will make their third-straight NCAA Tournament appearance Thursday when they play Texas A&M of the Big 12 at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. And although they have yet to break through to win their first first-round game since 1993, longtime players such as senior Lee Cummard say it probably wouldn't have happened without Rose's guidance.
"To think about where the program was, and where it is now, yeah, you would have to say coach doesn't get the respect he deserves," Cummard said.
Judged by winning percentage, Rose is the most successful coach in BYU basketball history and MWC basketball history.
He's been especially successful in conference games, which is what he said he would do when he got the job. The Cougars are 31-1 in home conference games and 20-12 in road conference games.
Overall, Rose is 97-33, getting more wins after 130 games than any of his predecessors. The Cougars recently won three straight conference titles for the first time since the 1930s.
"I told him last year when we played down there," Boylen said. "I just walked up and shook his hand and said, 'Coach, you should be very proud of what you've built here.' And they should be proud of what they've built there -- a championship program, a great following."
Cleveland said Rose is "one of the finest human beings I know," and his assistants describe him as driven to succeed, yet grounded in the things that are important to him -- his wife Cheryl, his three children and two grandchildren, and his players.
"He comes across as a pretty stoic guy. But he's a really compassionate guy," BYU assistant coach John Wardenburg said. "I don't think a lot of people see that side of him."
Another BYU assistant, Dave Rice, said the two words he would use to describe Rose and his program are consistency and stability.
"The stability he has brought is the reason for the success of the program," Rice said.
The one thing lacking on Rose's resume is NCAA Tournament wins, and although he doesn't acknowledge his 0-2 record in the big dance specifically, he does acknowledge that he's not satisfied.
"You talk to any coach, anywhere, and they always want more," he said. "You want more for your players, you want more for your staff, your fans. So that is kind of how we operate. We are excited for what we've done but we want to get to new heights."
And so, the success begs the question: Given his phenomenal success at BYU, why doesn't Rose's name surface when head coaching jobs at major programs become open?
Don't think it doesn't, Cleveland said, describing how some coaches work hard to attract publicity and recognition, while Rose's style is to avoid the spotlight.
Pressed for a response to Cleveland's claim that interest has been expressed in Rose, the BYU coach says, "I would say that coach (Cleveland) is wise."
Rice said Rose "is just not a self-promoter, and he never will be."
The other high-profile coach at BYU, football's Bronco Mendenhall, has talked openly about not being a "long-term" coach at the LDS Church-operated school. What about Rose?
"I usually don't look past the next day, let alone what is going to happen in the next week," he said. "After that, we will just see what happens."
E-mail Jay Drew at drew(at)sltrib.com
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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