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TAYLORSVILLE — One of Dave Rose's top assistants at BYU is coming back to the Beehive State to lead his own program, according to several reports.
Former BYU assistant Dave Rice, who was Rose's associate head coach and interim coach over the program during one of Rose's medical scares in 2009, is expected to be the next head coach at Salt Lake Community College, a source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed to KSL.com.
The hire was first reported by JucoRecruiting.com, "barring any last-minute changes," and swiftly confirmed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Rice would replace Kyle Taylor, who took Salt Lake to five NJCAA national tournaments in five seasons en route to a 143-20 overall record. The former Utah State special assistant under Tim Duryea led the Bruins to a 29-5 campaign in 2022-23 that included a Region 18 championship and 28-game winning streak before finishing one game short of a national title, falling to Northwest Florida State College.
Taylor was hired by new Coastal Carolina coach Justin Gray to be an assistant with the Chanticleers after overseeing an offense that led the NJCAA in scoring in two of the past three seasons. The Bruins finished the 2023-24 season ranked as high as No. 3 nationally with a 30-4 overall record before an upset loss in the second round of the national tournament.
Rice has been on the bench at California Baptist since August 2023 following 10 seasons as a Division I assistant with stops at Utah State, BYU, Nevada and Washington.
He also spent four seasons as head coach at UNLV, guiding his alma mater to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013 en route to a 98-54 overall record, the third winningest coaching tenure in program history, trailing only Jerry Tarkanian and Lon Kruger.
Rice was a reserve guard who played for Tarkanian from 1989-91, when the Runnin' Rebels reached the Final Four each season, including an NCAA title in 1990 with a 35-5 overall record. UNLV went 69-6 and won 45 consecutive games during his time as a player that followed two years at Mt. San Antonio College.
Rice worked under Rose from 2005-11 at BYU, including the final three seasons as associate head coach. He helped the Cougars to five consecutive 25-win campaigns, five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, and a Sweet 16 berth in 2011 that culminated in a No. 10 national ranking and National Player of the Year honors for Jimmer Fredette.
Rice stepped in for rose as interim head coach in the summer of 2009, when the legendary BYU coach was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and underwent emergency surgery at a Las Vegas-area hospital. Rose recovered and the three-time Mountain West coach of the year went on to finish his tenure with the Cougars through 2019.
In his one season at Utah State, Rice helped the Aggies to a 24-8 record in 2004-05 that included a Big West Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance.
He and his wife, Mindy, are the parents of two sons.
