LAS VEGAS >> The last time Tony Sanchez greeted the University of Hawaii football team here it was with open arms and a welcoming handshake.

"If there is anything that I can do …" Sanchez offered.

That was 2011 and Sanchez, then head coach at national power Bishop Gorman High School, had let the Rainbow Warriors use the well-endowed private school’s stadium and weight room for a week to prepare for a game against Nevada-Las Vegas.

Today at Boyd Stadium, it figures to be a much less accommodating Sanchez who greets UH, this time as UNLV’s head coach.

"It is a kinda crazy world sometimes," Sanchez said.

This would definitely be one of those times. For not only is Sanchez a rookie head coach in college one year removed from Bishop Gorman; on the other sideline will be Chris Naeole, the only interim head coach UH has taken the field with in its Division I football history.

Except for three years as an assistant coach at UH, Naeole’s coaching experience consists of three years as an assistant at ‘Iolani School, but his tough love approach this week has clearly gotten the ‘Bows’ attention.

Theirs is a tale of two coaches that makes this more than just playing out the string for a pair of two-win teams already assured of losing seasons and eliminated from postseason possibilities.

While Naeole got a battlefield promotion less than a week ago with the firing of Norm Chow and has not acknowledged any plans to pursue the position full-time, Sanchez is realizing the enduring dream of finally being a college head coach.

"I thought at some point it would happen, but I didn’t know when," Sanchez said.

It has been rare for a high school coach to step directly into a college head coaching position without serving an apprenticeship as an assistant and coordinator. And rarer still that the coach has made a success of it.

Three coaches in the modern era have gone directly from high school to major college head coach, each without much success. Bob Cummings of Iowa (1974-78), Notre Dame’s Gerry Faust (1981-85) and North Texas’ Todd Dodge (2007-10) had a combined 54-100-1 record, according to the Associated Press.

None took on quite the challenge of UNLV, where there have been eight two-win seasons in the past 11 years.

But, then, Sanchez wasn’t just any high school coach. He amassed an 85-5 record, a national championship and a reputation as a builder of not only programs but of facilities as a fundraiser in six years at Gorman, where many of the Vegas entertainment and business elite send their children.

That and the tug of influential boosters got him in the door at UNLV, where facilities and community backing have been lacking.

Reminded how UH officials marveled at Gorman’s facilities in 2011, Sanchez said, "Yeah, we admire them over here at UNLV too, now."

Sanchez’s enthusiasm — his words about the promise of the program come as if spit from a machine gun — has resonated with the Rebels, who for all their struggles in a 2-6 season (1-3 Mountain West Conference) have hung in well. Three of their losses, including an overtime game, came by a touchdown or less. Last week UNLV hung with Boise State 34-27 until the final 9 minutes, 48 seconds of a 55-27 loss.

Coaching convention has gone out the window at UH and UNLV this season and that’s what makes today’s game interesting.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.