Nevada Wolf Pack

Nevada Wolf Pack
University	University of Nevada, Reno
Conference	Mountain West Conference
NCAA	Division I
Athletic director	Doug Knuth
Location	Reno, Nevada
Varsity teams	16
Football stadium	Mackay Stadium
Basketball arena	Lawlor Events Center
Baseball stadium	William Peccole Park
Soccer stadium	Mackay Stadium
Mascot	Alphie, Wolfie Jr., and Luna
Nickname	Wolf Pack
Fight song	Hail to our Sturdy Team
Colors	Navy blue       Silver
Website	www.nevadawolfpack.com

The Nevada Wolf Pack are the collegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno, consisting of 16 varsity teams. Though often known as UNR within the state, the university is simply called Nevada for athletics purposes; its sports teams are nicknamed the Wolf Pack (always two words).^[1] They participate in the NCAA's Division I (FBS for football) and in the Mountain West Conference.^[2]

Nevada's athletic teams were originally known as the Sagebrushers, named after Nevada's state flower. In the 1921–1922 school year, a local writer described the school's athletic teams as a "pack of wolves." That name stuck and by 1923, the student body designated "Wolves" as the school's mascot.^[1]

Conference affiliation history

From 1925–39 and again from 1954–68, Nevada was a member of what closed down as the Northern California Athletic Conference. In 1969, Nevada joined the West Coast Conference, but remained independent in football.

Eventually, this arrangement proved unsatisfactory for Nevada, who by 1975 was the only public school left in the WCC. At the same time, Gonzaga, a charter but non-football member of the Big Sky Conference, was facing pressure from the conference to either leave or add football (which they had dropped in 1941), as they were the only non-football member of the conference (and only private school as well).

A deal was then worked out in which Gonzaga and Nevada would swap conference affiliations in 1979. Gonzaga joined the WCC where it remains to this day, while Nevada moved to the Big Sky. Both new affiliations were the best institutional fits at the time.

By the early 1990s, Nevada had become one of the better football teams in what is now the Football Championship Subdivision of NCAA Division I, advancing to the title game in 1990. Nevada decided to upgrade to FBS in 1992, which required them to leave the Big Sky, which did not accept non-football members at the time (this will change in 2014). Nevada found a home in the Big West Conference, where in-state rival UNLV had been playing since 1982 (they would leave in 1996).

By the late 1990s, the football side of Big West had been unstable due to membership changes, so in 2000, Nevada joined the Western Athletic Conference, where they would remain for 12 years. The WAC itself became unstable in the early 2010s, with the first move being by Boise State, who moved to the Mountain West Conference starting in 2011. This influenced Nevada to move there as well, starting in 2012. As a result of that move, Nevada once again was conference rivals with UNLV (who formed the MWC with 7 other former WAC schools in 1999).

Sports

Nevada fields 16 varsity sports teams; 6 men's and 10 women's:

Baseball

The baseball team plays at William Peccole Park and has made four appearances in the NCAA regionals, in 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2000. They have compiled a record of 5–8 in NCAA games, losing to Stanford in the finals of the Palo Alto Regional in 1999. Nevada finished the 1994 season ranked 19th in the country.^[3]

Men's basketball

The Nevada Men's Basketball program first began in 1913. The program has won 19 conference championships and made six appearances in the NCAA tournament.^[4] The team's current coach is former NBA coach Eric Musslman

The men's basketball program has experience some success in recent years. In 2004, the Wolf Pack men's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history, where they fell to Georgia Tech. The team earned a repeat trip in 2005 and beat Texas in the first round before falling to eventual national runner-up Illinois. The team returned for 2006 as a #5 seed but was upset in the first round by former Big Sky Conference rival Montana.^[5] They began the 2006–07 season ranked #24.^[6] The Pack's major star during this recent period of success was Nick Fazekas. In 2007, Nevada was ranked #9 in men's basketball, which is the highest ranking that Nevada has ever held.^[5] Guards Ramon Sessions and Marcellus Kemp both flirted with leaving as juniors for the NBA draft, however Kemp decided to remain at Nevada while Sessions was drafted 56th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft.^[7][8]

Women's cross country

See footnote^[9]

Football

Nevada's current head coach is Brian Polian, who succeeded the retiring Chris Ault after the 2012 season. Ault, who in 2012 was one of two active coaches who were enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame as coaches (the other was John Gagliardi, who also retired after the 2012 season), spent a total of 28 seasons as head coach in three separate stints. Ault is credited with the creation of the Pistol Offense which he implemented at Nevada in 2005. Ault was also one of four Football Bowl Subdivision coaches active in 2012 with 200 career wins.^[10]

The football team plays home games at Mackay Stadium. The modern Mackay Stadium replaced its predecessor and was completed in 1966 with a seating capacity of 7,500. The facility has been expanded several times in its history and now seats 30,000.^[11]

The 2010 season saw Nevada at its best finishing the season ranked No. 11 in the AP and No. 13 in the BCS. The Pack celebrated their 500th win in school history with a 52–6 win over New Mexico State on November 20, 2010, at Mackay Stadium.^[12] On November 26, 2010, the Nevada Wolf Pack upset Boise State in a historic win at Mackay Stadium. In one round of overtime and 2 missed field goals by the Broncos, one at the end of regulation and one in overtime, Nevada Wolf Pack freshman kicker Anthony Martinez kicked a field goal to put Nevada on top for a final of 34–31. The Wolf Pack's win ended Boise State's 24-game winning streak, then the longest winning streak in the nation. It was also the Wolf Pack's first victory against Boise State after losing 10 straight to the Broncos.^[13]

Men's golf

See footnote^[14]

Women's golf

See footnote^[15]

Rifle

Other notable successes have come in rifle shooting. The Nevada rifle team placed second in the 2004 NCAA Rifle team championship, losing to national champion Alaska Fairbanks. As of 2009, the rifle team has been to eight consecutive NCAA championships.

In June, 2013, the Wolf Pack became a charter member of the Patriot Rifle Conference.

Women's soccer

The Nevada women's soccer team won its first WAC tournament title in 2006 and qualified for its first NCAA tournament since the program's inception in 2000. Nevada faced Fresno State in the championship match and, after 110 minutes of scoreless play, the two teams went into a shootout where Nevada prevailed 4–2 in penalty kicks.^[16]

The single home-game attendance record for the women's soccer team is 1,050 fans, as the Wolf Pack beat the Sacramento State Hornets 3–2 at the Moana Sports Complex in Reno on September 15, 2013.^[17][18] The home-game attendance record at Mackay Stadium for the team is 1,007 fans on September 23, 2012, when the Wolf Pack lost 0–3 to the California Golden Bears.^[19][20]

Softball

Since the program was reinstated in 2003, the softball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament three times (2006, 2008, 2009) and has compiled a record of 3–6 in tournament play. In 2006, Nevada won its first WAC tournament title as Jordan McPherson pitched all 41 innings for Nevada in the WAC tournament, without giving up a single earned run, while striking out 34 on the way to being named tournament MVP.^[21]

The 2008 team finished the season ranked in both national Top 25 polls.The Wolf Pack was ranked No. 21 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and was No. 20 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. Nevada went 44–18 and won the Western Athletic Conference regular season title.^[22] That season, Noelle Micka became the first Nevada softball player to earn second team All American and Vanessa Briones was named WAC Player of the Year. She was the first Wolf Pack player to earn the honor.^[23] The Wolf Pack received an at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals and advanced to the championship game of the Los Angeles Regional, where they lost 6–4 to UCLA.^[24]

Women's swimming and diving

The swimming and diving team won the AIAW-Division II national title in 1979 and has won 8 conference championships since 1996. They won the Big West championship five years in a row from 1996 to 2000, and won the WAC title in 2007, 2008, and 2009.^[25]

Mike Anderson coached the women's team from 1989 – 2000.^[26]

Men's tennis

See footnote^[27]

Women's tennis

See footnote^[28]

Women's track and field

See footnote^[29]

Women's volleyball

The volleyball team has qualified for the NCAA tournament five times in its history, all coming from at-large selections. (1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005).

Mascots

The Wolf Pack's mascots are anthropomorphized wolves named Alphie and Wolfie Jr. Alphie took over the duties of cheering from his uncle, Wolfie, in 1999. In 2007, Alphie was joined by his younger brother, Wolfie Jr.^[1] As of late August/early September 2013, they announced that there would be a girl mascot named Luna. To this day, they're one of the few universities that have more than one.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to University of Nevada, Reno athletics.

• Official website

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