A couple of weeks ago, University of Nevada athletic director Doug Knuth stopped in Winnemucca as part of a rural tour through northern Nevada.
Knuth was hired away from the University of Utah a little more than a year ago to turn the university around. Knuth raised millions of dollars for Utah, helping the Utes move to the Pac-12, one of the most powerful conferences in the nation. Knuth replaced Cary Groth who came from Northern Illinois University.
Groth was in a no-win situation when she took the athletic director at Nevada, replacing Chis Ault, who stayed on as football coach. That was never going to work. Everyone knew Ault was still in charge, even though he did not have the title of athletic director. Honestly, not much got done in that time period and Nevada was against the 8-ball in its move to the Mountain West.
Nevada has one of the smallest budgets in the Mountain West (about $22 million annually), with the hope of getting in the middle of the pack in terms of budgets. It will get better, with the creation of new TV contracts and the money the Wolf Pack gets from the Mountain West that is shared among all the teams.
The main reason Knuth was hired is to bring money to the university. There were a handful of people in attendance for the lunch he spoke at and I was sold on what he had to say. He made me want to go out and buy season tickets or donate to the program. The only problem for me, is getting to the games. My fall and winter is fairly booked up every weekend, making nearly impossible to see any games. I may get to see one football game.
The first thing that must be done is to improve Mackay Stadium. The facility is nearly 50 years old and not much has been done to improve the stadium. There are no hand rails to get up the stands, which is not ADA compliant. The seats at Mackay are pretty much aluminum and not comfortable. They can become extremely hot in the first couple games of the year and cold as the season concludes.
Knuth even admitted that the scoreboard and sound system is below par and needs to be replaced. For anyone that has watched a game at Mackay, you know what the bathroom situation is. I feel bad for you ladies.
A grassroots fundraiser is currently underway by a Nevada ticket holder to help with the improvements. The plan is to open the north side of Mackay Stadium as part of Champions Plaza. Fans have the opportunity to by a brick to the entrance to the stadium for $391. Those efforts, along with corporate help will raise $4 million. The bad news, Mackay needs about $10 million more to be raised to complete all the projects.
Take away the magical run by Colin Kaepernick and the Wolf Pack a few years ago and Nevada has really not done much on national level as a football team. Many thought Nevada was supposed to be what Boise State is now. I remember the good ole days of the Big Sky and I-AA football, which is now FCS. That was fun football to watch. Don't get me wrong, Nevada has been successful and has played in bowl games. However, in the days of 40 bowl games, there is no reason not to be in a bowl game.
I think Brian Polian will turn the football program around, but it will take a couple of years to do it. Polian, who coached at Texas A&M, will take the Wolf Pack to play at the Aggies in 2015. Nevada will get $1.5 million for the trip. The Wolf Pack gave up a home game with UCLA for the efforts but money talks. Nevada just replaced its field turf on its practice facility at a cost of $500,000. That came from the money Texas A&M trip that is a year away. The Wolf Pack will also play at Notre Dame and Purdue in 2016. Purdue will make a visit to Reno, but you will never see Notre Dame and Texas A&M come to Reno.
Knuth had great things to say about men's basketball coach David Carter and women's coach Jane Albright, but he has to. Carter has been with the program over over 10 years and has seen the good and bad. He was part of the team that reached the Sweet 16 in 2006, which raised expectations to an unreasonable level for the Wolf Pack.
Both teams play In Lawlor Events Center, which holds nearly 12,000 people. It's OK for the men, who will draw upwards to 10,000 on a night, depending on the team that they are playing. Thew women however, play in front of a crowd of less than 1,500. It would be nice of the women could play in a gym that holds about 3,500-4,000 fans.
It has not been a great couple of years for Carter, where a number of players have left the program. There were rumblings of his firing and fans were behind it. Knuth said all the right things during his talk about Carter. When money is tight as it is, you are not going to fire a coach that is owed more than a million dollars and bring a new one in as well.
Albright has done OK in the past few years, with a number of players from around the northern Nevada area. There have been a couple of NIT appearances for the Wolf Pack, but that first NCAA berth seems ages away.
With the new recreation center being built on campus, the basketball teams will get a boost with the renovation of Lombardi Rec Center. The goal is to build a practice facility for the teams. Lawlor Events Center is a public building used by Reno for concerts, bull riding and other events. The basketball teams are kicked out during that time.
Look for the baseball, softball and women's soccer teams to improve as well. There is new blood in the baseball program and is headed in the right direction.
Nevada is one of the most beautiful universities in the West. If Knuth can pull of what he has in mind the Wolf Pack has the chance to become an elite program in the Mountain West. If the Mountain west still exists in 10 years.
Tony Erquiaga can be reached at t.erquiaga@winnemuccapublishing.net.[[In-content Ad]]
