Red Defection

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The term Red Defection is a reference used by fans of the University of Nevada Wolf Pack to describe the events following the 1993 football season when former long-time Wolf Pack coach and athletic director Chris Ault's "hand-picked" successor, head coach Jeff Horton, left the team to take the head coaching position at in-state rival UNLV.

The North vs. South rivalry in Nevada is long-established and fervent, and it is no less heated when the teams from opposite ends of the state meet each other in athletic competition. The Wolf Pack, in the north, wear blue, and the Rebels, in the south, wear red. Hence the "Red Defection" moniker when Horton left the North to take the UNLV gig.

The departure left a sour taste in the proverbial mouths of fans across Wolf Packdom as Horton carried over many Nevada assistant coaches with him. Chris Ault would return to coaching for the next two seasons, and while Horton got the better of his former team (and coach) in their annual Battle for Nevada at UNLV in '94, the Wolf Pack would get their "revenge" the following year in a blowout (55-32) Nevada victory marked by brawling, ejections (including UNLV's Quincy Sanders for throwing his helmet, allegedly at Chris Ault), witness reports of Horton taunting the Wolf Pack fans, accusations of Ault and the Wolf Pack running up the score, and the largest home crowd in Wolf Pack history.