PROVO — From all indications, Dave Rose's bout with pancreatic cancer this past summer and his ongoing monitoring of the disease will not keep him from coaching the BYU Cougars men's basketball team full time this coming season.

On Friday, the 51-year-old Rose had his first periodic MRI scan to look for traces of cancer since having a cancerous tumor, part of his spleen and pancreas removed in June. The results, following the one-hour non-invasive process, came back clean with no further traces of cancer.

"I feel great, and the doctors are extremely confident that they are right on top of the situation and that they have removed all of the disease and it has not returned, and it is showing no signs of returning right now," Rose said Monday at a brief press conference to announce his updated clean bill of health.

Rose's next scheduled scan is in March, which means no further doctor visits until then.

"To be honest, I hope there's a conflict," Rose said, alluding to the hope that the Cougars will be busy with postseason play at that time.

Between now and then, Rose will simply monitor how he feels and if he starts feeling tired or ill, he'll take appropriate precautions.

"We're going to go on how I feel, and I feel great. I have good energy and good strength," he said.

The first week in June, after feeling ill and faint while on a family vacation, Rose had emergency surgery at a Las Vegas hospital to remove his spleen and part of his pancreas after doctors discovered a slow-growing tumor.

Officially, Rose returned to work full time on Aug. 1. Around that time he went on recruiting trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He's continuing with recruiting efforts while also preparing for the beginning of official practices on Oct. 16. He admitted Monday that he was quite nervous on Friday prior to the scan but again emphasized that he and his family feel blessed.

"This will be an event in our lives that will make us better people, hopefully make me a better coach and make our team better," Rose said.

Since being named BYU's head coach in April 2005, Rose has a winning percentage of .740 and has been named the Mountain West Conference coach of the year twice. Under him, the Cougars have won two outright regular-season conference titles and shared the title last season. Rose has taken BYU to the postseason the past four years, one NIT appearance and three straight trips to the NCAA tournament.

e-mail: jimr@desnews.com