Letting David Carter go was the right move.
I love Carter, and he deserved the job when Mark Fox left for Georgia. However, he was unable to recruit, and that was a big reason why Nevada failed so miserably the last few years.
Carter got an extension from outgoing AD Cary Groth after winning 20-plus games in his first year at the helm. That was when Nevada was still in the WAC, and when the Pack bolted to the Mountain West, it was a different story.
Nevada had trouble competing. It’s a whole different world in the Mountain West. Other teams improved their programs, but not Nevada.
In my opinion, you have to recruit a better athlete in the MW compared to the WAC.
Personally, I thought Nevada should have gone Mountain West for football and either Big West or WAC for everything else. That’s what Hawaii did, and it’s worked out for the Rainbow.
The Big West would have been better financially, because the travel would have been a lot less, especially if you bus to Davis, Cal Poly and UOP.
I think Nevada got a little too big for its britches, and it’s paying the price.
•••
I talked with Hug AD Marv Mercer prior to Thursday’s baseball game at Hug, and he said he’s interested in having his school move down to Division 1A.
The Hawks had some success in football and boys soccer, but the rest of their programs are better suited for Division 1A.
The basketball programs were a joke this year.
Hopefully it will be something Washoe County officials will embrace as well as current Division 1 schools. North Valleys was voted down 9-0 earlier this year when it wanted to move down. The Panthers have more than 2,000 students while Hug is a shade more than 1,300.
Both Hug and Wooster should move down in all sports. Let kids have a chance to succeed. Wooster is good in boys soccer and baseball, and that’s it.
If Hug moved down, it would also enable Division I football to be one league, which it should be anyway.
•••
The enrollment numbers in the NIAA need to be tweaked.
Take Dayton for instance. The school is between 700-750 the last time I asked, but I assure you I’ve never seen a more unathletic school. When I walk around that campus, I don’t see a whole lot of kids who look athletic in the slightest. I think Dayton administrators should be pushing to go down to Division 3. It would put it with Lovelock and Yerington, two schools they have played before and have pretty good rivalries with.
Dayton’s athletic talent pool is small, and that’s what should be looked at.
I also think it’s time for the NIAA and its members to have splinter leagues where teams can go up or down based on their abilities.
Take Yerington volleyball for instance. The Lions could be a Division 1 volleyball team.
Administrators are forgetting one big thing. It’s about the student-athletes and not them. Give kids a chance to compete and win.
•••
Manogue girls basketball coach Craig Holt stepped down as head coach this past week after coaching the Miners to a regional title.
Holt said he and the Manogue administration didn’t see eye-to-eye on things.
Holt is a very good coach, but he ran up the score a few times this year when it wasn’t needed. His youngest daughter, Malia, is still on the roster.
His oldest, Breezi, will be playing college ball in California next year.
