Ault wants cleaner
Nevada program
The Wolf Pack's returning
coach says modest recent
success came at a cost
This is the fourth in a series of 12 articles on Hawaii's opponents for the 2004 season. Tomorrow, Texas-El Paso.
On the field, Nevada football seemed to be making steady, if slow, progress. The Wolf Pack's record got a little better each year under Chris Tormey, and Nevada finally reached .500 last year, including a win over Washington.
But off the field, athletic director Chris Ault felt the team he once quarterbacked and later coached was spinning out of control, and he fired Tormey near the end of last season. Turns out he might have been right. Nine Nevada players have been arrested on various felony charges in the past 1 1/2 years, including three in recent weeks.
The new coach? Ault, a living legend in Reno, the man who won 72 percent of the Wolf Pack games he coached, on the way to seven conference championships. He took the program from NCAA Division II to Division I-AA and then I-A.
Transitioning the Pack into a winner in the Western Athletic Conference has not been a smooth operation. Ault blames Tormey for recruiting the wrong kind of people. He was so mad at his predecessor he wouldn't identify him by name at the WAC media days last month.
"We have to hold players and coaches accountable on and off the field," Ault said. "My expectations are high. My standards are high. This will be much different than the program before."
Nevada's 2003 senior class was strong, and some of the arrestees who were kicked off the team were pretty good players. But Ault does have some talent with which to work.
The centerpiece is senior running back Chance Kretschmer. He missed nearly all of 2002 with an ACL tear, and underwent comparatively minor knee surgery recently.
Kretschmer doesn't rely on slick moves and speed, so although the knee problems are obviously a concern, they might not stop him from another thousand-yard rushing season. Kretschmer went for 1,162 yards and 12 TDs last year. As a freshman in 2001, he led the nation with 1,732 yards.
"Chance Kretschmer will set the tone for us," Ault said.
He has a veteran offensive line to run behind, including first-team All-WAC tackle Harvey Dahl and guard Chris Hines, a third-year starter. They are offensive co-captains.
Ault is reviving his wide-open "Air Wolf" offense. Sophomore Jeff Rowe will likely start at quarterback after taking over toward the end of last season, but gritty senior Andy Heiser could see action.
Junior split end Nicheren Flowers is the top returning receiver. Kamehameha graduate Caleb Spencer transferred from Palomar College last spring and the sophomore impressed the Pack coaches enough to make him No. 1 at one of the receiver spots going into the fall.
"I'm anxious to see what Caleb can do here," Ault said.
Gabriel Spencer, also from Kamehameha, is on the roster as a freshman safety. A Hawaiian from California, senior Keone Kauo, is the top man at that position.
Kauo is the team's leading returning tackler with 86 stops last fall, after he led the Pack with 85 tackles the previous season. He and tackle Chris Barry are defensive co-captains.
Barry was the hero of the Washington victory, as he blocked two kicks. He and end J.J. Milan head into their third year as starters. They could find the going tough without all-league studs Jorge Cordova and Derek Kennard Jr. around to draw double teams anymore.
The linebacking group also loses good players in Daryl Towns and Logan Carter. Carter was forced to quit because of injuries. Ault said senior Shaun Tagatauili might help make up for some of the loss.
Senior Nick Hawthorne led the Pack with three picks in 2003, and he joins Kauo to form a hard-hitting safety tandem.
But Nevada is short on an important commodity in the WAC -- cover corners. Stephen Murphy and Rodney Landingham, two of the top four candidates to start, are off the team after arrests for drugs and robbery.
Sophomore Paul Pratt and junior Kevin Stanley are next in line to play.
"I'm not sure we've got shutdown corners," Ault said. "They're good athletes, but they're not what we'd like to have at that position. But there's some decent athletic talent."
Ault likes senior kicker Damon Fine, and not just because of his 199 career points.
"He's 2 inches shorter than me," said the 5-foot-8 coach.
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