Comments to Comments of Comments

On December 3, 2007 at 6:23 AM, a former elt 2jv said...
Some comments from a friend of mine......

"As for the Ault situation, you're more than entitled to your opinion. I happen to have worked for the guy, indirectly through the athletic department and I like him as a man and an administrator and yes, even as a coach. He has more passion for this school and its sports than any ten boosters or alumni combined, but...time has passed him by. "

I agree; he's definately true blue. As a person, I can't vouch, I've only heard stories. I do believe he's a hard person, very driven. There have been times where I've also been driven to try to play basketball well, but at 5' 8" and with the coordination of a cow on wet grass and a 20-degree incline it really does me little good except for the excercise I get chasing my airballs. I was also good at a number of things when I was younger (like taking out the trash regularly) where I am nowadays somewhat amiss.

"Being that you are 20 - and this is no attack on your age, just a point of reference - you lack the perspective that I and some of the others do. I was in high school when coach Ault became the first, and so far only, coach to win a conference championship in his first year after moving from D-IAA to D-IA. That was twelve years ago and student mentalities have changed, as have coaching philosophies."

Ah, the good ol' days. Winning was more or less a fact of life back then, by and large. I remember an Ault quote at one point which was something to the effect of always running a rush attack-based system through most of the '80's, until there was a real impetus toward moving into D-1A. He adapted to that then. One would think that he could adapt to today's changes, as well, but something seems to be a bit off kilter here. I won't speculate at what exactly just yet, but it definately seems to be there. As for student mentalities, well, having the "success" we've had over the past decade effects that to a great deal. If we had a long, solid tradition, and that tradition had included winning on a larger stage for 50 some odd years until recently then student mentalities may be a bit different. Hell, by 1995 North McCarran Blvd. may have been renamed the Chris Ault Expressway the way they've done in Lincoln, Nebraska. But that's not entirely the case, at least not to the point that most people truly care. Most of our true successes came in D-1AA, and I do believe that we were on the path to where Boise St. is right now, but there's not too much concern with 1-AA unless you're from that town or you happen to beat Michigan. The good years didn't last long and most people remember the bad.

"I understand that for the three or so years you have been at UNR you've seen what passes for winning (9-4, bowl appearances, one-third of a conference championship), but we're merely beating the teams we're supposed to beat. I remember when we used to push Boise and Fresno up and down the field. Then coach Ault retired to become full-time AD and hired a series of worthless coaches in his place; Jeff Horton, Jeff Tisdel and Chris Tormey. Those programs rose and ours fell. Badly. I remember when Utah State (!) won the Big West Conference in 1997 and schooled us at home in the snow. When we lost to UNLV for the fourth straight time, Ault fired Tormey and hired himself. Some people cheered, others rolled their eyes. I cheered."

Can't argue with any of this. I've always wondered if there was a little voice inside Ault which was telling him to hire an inferior coach, one who would not outshine him. But that's just me, and I could be wrong. I also cheered, but I was a bit anxious, as well. Ault had done a lot for this school and I really hated to see him fail, if indeed he would fail. And he hasn't, exactly, but he hasn't excelled, either. We started this page after the NMSU game because, well, if you saw the game you know why. I've been defending him to the hilt up through the Nebraska game this year, but now I've just kinda had it.

"Just two years into his stint, in 2005, he had us winning again: a 9-3 record and a win over UCF in the Hawaii Bowl, but we got stomped that year by Boise, Wazzu and Colorado State. We beat Fresno just after they had gotten whacked by USC and were riddled with injuries. It almost deserves an asterisk. Last year, same story; we beat the teams we're supposed to beat but lost again to the same teams Ault fired Tormey for losing to. This year, same story. Close just doesn't cut it anymore when the AD hires himself to right the ship and in four years continues to limp his way to bowl games, this year at 6-6."

One point he made, at the press conference when he was announced as the new coach, was that he was going to take back Mackay! And he did, by and large. His first year back the Pack won 5 games, all at home, with the only home loss coming to Boise. The next year the Pack was able to win on the road, with the only home loss coming in the first game to Wazzu (and it was UGLY; so far his first games vs. non 1-AA teams have been ugly). This year we lost to Fresno St. and Hawai'i at home, and there's a lot of stuff to say about both of those losses. And I agree...close shouldn't cut it anymore.

"The only way we seem to survive is through individual efforts of great athletes like Chance Kretschmer, Jeff Rowe, Chris Barry, Caleb Spencer, Derrick Kennard, Joe Garcia, JJ Milan, Ezra Butler, Matt Hines and now, Colin Kaepernick and Luke Lippincott. The same could be said for the baseball team and Coach Powers. Loads of individual talent (Ryan Church, Darrel Rasner, Lyle Overbay, Chad Qualls, etc. all in the big leagues) but only two winning seasons in the past seven? This, after nine straight winning seasons and a handful of CWS appearances."

When the perceived need for this site is over it may well become "firegarypowers.org." I haven't heard a lot of good about him, either, at least not in the past 10 years, and he seems to be kinda riding a tenure-like adhesion to his job. That's to say, he knows he's not going to lose it so why put in the work that he did when he was 15 years younger? Near as I can tell we're still kinda like a Notre Dame in the collegiate baseball world, something of a baseball name down on their luck for an extended period. One or two years of solid effort before handing off the reigns (hopefully to Coach Ulhman) could easily ressurect that program, I believe.

" Furthermore is that this year, after defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter left for Air Force, Ault replaced him with longtime friend and coach Ken Wilson. I worked with Ken too. He's a super guy, but he took the nation's twelfth best rush defense and turned it into the nation's worst - WORST - with no significant injuries. Only through coaching is that possible. To boot, listen to some of the post-game interviews and listen to how much coach Ault puts the failure on the kids, with phrases like "we didn't execute." That's appropriate sometimes, but his statements are chronic. It is earth-shattering to hear an 'I' statement following a loss."

Ault is a fairly straight shooter, and frequently they're fair shots. His general demeanor often makes his shots sound demeaning. Some of this is legit. But if he were to own up to his own mistakes, like the weaknesses of the staff being on his shoulders rather than threatening to shake things up then he'd have a bit more respect from me.

"The final kick in the (pants) is that the fans have seen our basketball program, which for years was absolutely horrible, turned around in just four short seasons by Trent Johnson and then handed off with equal success to Mark Fox. This year is turning out to be an off-year but this is a luxury for us. Between 1985 and 2003, we had been to exactly one postseason tournament (lost at home to Nebraska in 1997 in the first round of the NIT). Now it's a regular occurrence...but because of outside hiring. "

This depends; sometimes the proverbial inbreeding produces a beautiful dalmation puppy, but sometimes it produces a 5-legged dalmation who tires to eat the neighbors. However, living in a vacuum keeps you in a vacuum and once in a while, just once in a while, you need to change the bag. This may be a good time to change the bag. Incidentally, in 1997 we lost to Nebraska at home in the second round of the NIT then sponsored by Chase after beating Fresno St. on the road. That's Pat Foster's claim to fame.

"My undergraduate friends are fired up to can coach Ault and they're five to ten years younger than I am. Imagine how I feel, having experienced all that crap and witnessing the massive nepotism and good ol' boy hiring that takes place here. Believe me, as good of a president as Joe Crowley was, nobody should be in charge of an institution of higher learning for 23 years because it promotes entrenchment everywhere."

I hear ya', man, I hear ya'. Can't say much here because you've stated it for me.

"We're starting to see a turnaround with a new president, new AD, new deans all over the place, a new student union, new library, etc., etc. Why not new football and baseball coaches from somewhere other than here? Or at least...younger ones. "

One thing I do have to say about all this "new," especially coming in all at once, is that there is some tweaking being done on some of the traditions we have had. Having the marching band play the opponent's fight song is not a bad thing, but doing it because they saw Nebraska do it? That's a bit much. Doing it against UNLV for the first time? Not only does it, in my humble opinion, take just a bit out of the rivalry (and I don't mean the beer-tossing, swear-jerking, crowbar-to-the-knees-in-the-parking-lot aspect of the rivalry which really should go away), but it kinda comes across as patronizing, I think. Then moving the Alma Mater to the end of the game because "that's the way other schools do it," that's just assenine. So what if that's the way other schools do it? We're not other schools, and perhaps we should be proud of our individuality. Just becasue you're new doesn't mean that you have to leave your stamp on everything, or make it fit your mould...kinda like Ault snubbing Andy Heiser in '04 because he "didn't fit into the system."

Sorry that was so long - I needed a break from my papers. But now can you understand our frustration? It's not about wins and losses as much as it is who we're losing to, how long we've been doing it and why the guy in charge isn't doing what he promised when he hired himself four years ago...

Thank you for this post, it was great!