Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we’re giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports.
* IN ITS FIRST 12 SEASONS in the Mountain West, the Nevada Wolf Pack has won 10 conference championships. That’s not a big number. In fact, it’s the second lowest in the MW ahead of only Wyoming (five). Thank goodness for the Cowboys. Six of Nevada’s MW titles have been won by two coaches — basketball’s Eric Musselman (four) and baseball’s TJ Bruce (two). Musselman and Bruce combined to coach just 10 full seasons at Nevada, including four from Musselman and six from Bruce. Yet, they managed to squeeze out six of Nevada’s 10 titles plus two runner-up finishes into those 10 seasons.
* EVERY NOW AND THEN, I’ll get a text message from one of those two coaches with a picture of them together. One of those came last weekend with both on a beach in California. I couldn’t help but smile. Musselman became a mentor for Bruce during their four years together in Reno from 2015-19. Musselman was hired at Nevada just three months before Bruce with Musselman 17 years older. It wasn’t a father-son kind of deal. More like a big brother-little brother relationship. But both made a big impact at Nevada and are two of the best coaches in the Wolf Pack’s MW era.
* WHEN BRUCE WAS HIRED as Long Beach State’s head coach in June, Musselman was at his introductory press conference. Musselman had been hired by USC less than two months earlier, those two reunited yet again as the Wolf Pack’s SoCal Bros. The USC and Long Beach State campuses are 25 miles apart— about an hour’s drive in L.A. traffic; there are some perks to living in Reno. Both coaches had huge success at Nevada, Bruce finishing top two in the MW in four of his six full seasons and Musselman changing the trajectory of Wolf Pack men’s basketball as one of the most important coaches in school history. They’ll look to replicate that success in SoCal.
* IT MAKES SENSE BOTH ended up in Southern California. That’s home for Bruce, who was born in Long Beach, finished his playing career with the Dirtbags and began his coaching career there. And Musselman, who spent one season as the L.A. Defenders’ head coach in 2011-12, has always had an affinity for that area, which is one big reason the Trojans were able to pry him away from Arkansas, which on paper is a stronger job than USC. While not on the same campus, the relationship between the two remains strong, a fun byproduct of their fortuitous fate-driven Renorendezvous.
* NEVADA FANS WISH THEYnever lost Musselman, who left for Arkansas in 2019, or Bruce, who took an assistant job at TCU in 2022. But that’s how it works at the Mountain West level. Only five coaches have won MW championships for Nevada, including Musselman, Bruce, Jay Johnson (baseball), Neil Harper (swimming) andSylvain Malroux (tennis). OnlyMalroux remains on campus.Johnson and Harper left the Wolf Pack months after winning their titles. Musselman and Bruce hung on a little longer but eventually left for greener pastures. Even Malroux once left Nevada for San Jose State, but he eventually returned and remains the only active Wolf Pack coach to win a MW title for the school.
* THAT’S THE TOUGH PART of supporting a non-power-conference school. Any success seems shortlived and immediately followed by a coaching change and rebuild. That underlines the importance of staying in the moment if you’re a Nevada fan, or as Bruce always put it, “Be where your feet are,” meaning to enjoy the present and not fret about the future. One positive recent development for Nevada is athletic director Stephanie Rempe’s devotion to the Wolf Pack. AD jobs at Arizona (her alma mater); Washington (where she was senior associate AD from2008-16); and Houston (a far better job than Nevada) have opened with her name connected to those positions. So far, she’s not pursued them.
* REMPE HAS NOW HIRED about half the Wolf Pack’s head coaches as she awaits to celebrate her first conference championships as an athletic director after being hired in June 2022. That should come this season; it better come this season. A two-year conference title drought is uncommon given how many titles are awarded each year (in 2023-24, 28 MW championships were won). Nevada needs to show substantial progress in 2024-25 if it wants to become the championship-caliber athletic department UNR president Brian Sandoval desires. Despite some failings, Nevada’s previous AD, Doug Knuth, had a keen eye for hiring coaches, Musselman and Bruce among them. All 10 MW titles won by Nevada were from coaches Knuth hired.
* THE PARIS OLYMPICS were awesome, largely because I could watch them live during work hours, the perks of being a sports writer. I’m in awe of Reno/Sparks high school alumni winning a combined five Olympic medals. That amazing run was punctuated by Reed High product Gabby Williams nearly handing Team USA its first Olympic women’s basketball loss since 1992, a streak of 61 straight wins. Both American basketball teams looked vulnerable at the Olympics, and here’s an early prediction for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics— Team USA men’s basketball will not win a medal four years from now. Shocking, I know. But with the Olympic careers of LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant likely over, the U.S. future is murky.
* JOKER OF THE WEEKgoes to the Notre Dame men’s swim team which was suspended for a year after its athletes set up amakeshift sportsbook where they wagered on their meet times and that of their teammates. Seriously, who bets on swimming? That shows how pervasive betting can be and the danger leagues are inviting by getting in bed with virtual sportsbooks. Anyway, if you’d like to join my fantasy college swimming league, email my personal account at IDontHaveABettingProblem@gmail.com. Buy-in is $1,000 per person. I’ve got dibs on Texas senior Luke Hobson, the Reno High two-time Olympic medalist.
Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.
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Publish date : 2024-08-15 22:14:00
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