The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

. They are part of NCAA's Division I's

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

History

Name

Nevada's athletic teams were originally known as the Sagebrushers, named after Nevada's

state flower This is a list of U.S. state, federal district, and territory flowers. See also *List of U.S. state trees * Lists of U.S. state insignia References External linksList of state flowers {{USStateLists * U.S. state flowers Flowers ...

. In the 1921–1922 school year, a local writer described the school's athletic teams as a "pack of wolves" which turned into "Desert Wolves." That name stuck until 1923, the student body designated "Wolves" as the school's mascot. The Wolf Pack is always written as two words in the context of Nevada's sports teams. All media outlets refer to the athletic name as Nevada (except for Clark County and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

as UNR due to their bitter interstate rivalry) for history purposes.

Conference affiliation history

From 1925 to 1939 and again from 1954 to 1968, Nevada was a member of a now defunct

Northern California Athletic Conference The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop fo ...

. In 1969, Nevada joined the

West Coast Conference The West Coast Conference (WCC) — known as the California Basketball Association from 1952 to 1956 and then as the West Coast Athletic Conference until 1989 — is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I consisting of ...

, 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 The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

, 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 The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

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 changed in 2014). Nevada found a home in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

, where in-state rival

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

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 The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, where they would remain for 12 years. The WAC itself became unstable in the early 2010s, with the first move being made by Boise State, who moved to the

in 2011. This influenced Nevada to move there as well, in 2012. As a result of that move, Nevada was once again with the conference rivals along with UNLV (who formed the MWC with 7 other former WAC schools in 1999).

Sports sponsored

Baseball

The

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team plays at

William Peccole Park William Peccole Park is a stadium in Reno, Nevada. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the University of Nevada, Reno Wolf Pack baseball team. It opened in 1988. It holds 3,000 people. It played host to the Reno Silver Sox ...

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.

Men's basketball

The Nevada Men's Basketball program first began in 1913. The program has won 19 conference championships and made seven appearances in the NCAA tournament. The team's current coach is

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was a ...

. The men's basketball program has experience some success in recent years. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, 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 Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. The team earned a repeat trip in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and beat

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the first round before falling to eventual national runner-up

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The team returned for

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as a #5 seed but was upset in the first round by former

rival

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. They began the 2006–07 season ranked #24. The Pack's major star during this recent period of success was

Nick Fazekas Nicholas Ryan Fazekas (born June 17, 1985) is an American-born Japanese professional basketball player for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders of the B.League in Japan. Early career Fazekas attended Ralston Valley High School in Arvada, Colorado where h ...

. In 2007, Nevada was ranked #9 in men's basketball, which is the highest ranking that Nevada has ever held. Guards

Ramon Sessions Ramon Sessions (born April 11, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player and a licensed Sports Agent for an independently owned firm, On Time Agency (OTA). He played three years of college basketball for Nevada, earning WAC All-N ...

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.

Football

Ken Wilson is currently the head coach.

Chris Ault Christopher Thomas Ault (born November 8, 1946) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served three stints at the head football coach at the University of Nevada, Reno (1976–1992, 1994–1995 and 200 ...

, who in 2012 was one of two active coaches who were enshrined in the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as coaches (the other was

John Gagliardi John Gagliardi ( ; November 1, 1926 – October 7, 2018) was an American football coach. He was the head football coach at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, from 1953 until 2012. From 1949 to 1952, he was the head footbal ...

, 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 The pistol offense is an American football formation and strategy developed by coaches Michael Taylor of Mill Valley, California and popularized by Chris Ault when he was head coach at the University of Nevada, Reno. It is a hybrid of the traditi ...

which he implemented at Nevada in 2004. Ault was also one of four Football Bowl Subdivision coaches active in 2012 with 200 career wins. The football team plays home games at

Mackay Stadium Mackay Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of the University of Nevada in Reno, Nevada. The home venue for Nevada Wolf Pack football and women's soccer in the Mountain West Conference. it ...

. 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. 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 New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

on November 20,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, at Mackay Stadium. 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 games to the Broncos.

Men's cross country

On December 15, 2018, it was announced that the Men's cross country athletic team will be added.

Men's golf

:''See footnote''

Men's tennis

:''See footnote''

Women's basketball

Nevada has played women's basketball since 1899, though records only go back to 1981. They have made

Women's National Invitation Tournament The Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) is a women's national college basketball tournament with a preseason and postseason version played every year. It is operated in a similar fashion to the men's college National Invitation Tournam ...

appearances in 2007 and 2011. In 2018 they made it to the Semi Finals of the WBI.

Women's cross country

:''See footnote''

Women's golf

:''See footnote''

Women's soccer

The

women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

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. 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 The Sacramento State Hornets (also Sac State) represent California State University, Sacramento in Sacramento, the capital city of the U.S. state of California, in intercollegiate athletics. The school fields 21 teams including men and women's ba ...

3–2 at the Moana Sports Complex in Reno on September 15, 2013. 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 The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

Softball

Since the program was reinstated in 2003, the

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

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. 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. 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. Briones led the way for a program-record six Nevada players on the All-WAC first team. The senior led the WAC with a .429 batting average, including four home runs and 16 RBI in WAC play. She was joined by fellow outfielder Brittany Puzey, who was named to the first team for the second straight season. Puzey batted .339 with seven extra-base hits in WAC games. 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.

Women's swimming and diving

The swimming and diving team won the

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

– Division II national title in 1979 and has won 10 conference championships since 1992. They won the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference in 1992 followed by the

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

championship five years in a row from 1996 to 2000 and the WAC title in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Nevada won the

championship in 2016. Nevada has produced 13 All-Americans and reached its highest national ranking in 2000 at #13. Nine Olympians have been associated with the program. Jian Li You has been with the university since 1996 and is one of the top diving coaches in the U.S., having been a member of the 1980 Chinese Olympic team and a coach for the U.S. Olympic Diving Team.

Women's tennis

:''See footnote''

Women's track and field

:''See footnote''

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). Nevada produced the beach volleyball team known as Team Gorgeous ( Michelle More and Suzanne Stonebarger).

National Championships

Individual

Team

* Between the time the NCAA dropped collegiate boxing (1960) and the formation of the NCBA (1976), Nevada belonged to the California Collegiate Boxing Conference.

Mascots

The Wolf Pack's mascots are

anthropomorphized Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

wolves named Alphie, Wolfie Jr and Luna. Alphie took over the duties of cheering from his uncle, Wolfie, in 1999. In 2007, Alphie was joined by his younger brother, Wolfie Jr. A girl mascot named Luna joined the team in 2013.

Sports no longer sponsored

* Men's Boxing - The NCAA stopped sponsoring collegiate boxing in 1960. The team continues to exist under the auspices of the

National Collegiate Boxing Association The National Collegiate Boxing Association (NCBA) is a non-profit college sports organization that organizes boxing fights for student athletes. The association falls under the auspices of USA Boxing. After 1960, the NCAA no longer sanctioned box ...

. * Men's and Women's Skiing - The ski team was founded in 1936. Its NCAA affiliation ended in 2009 due to budget cuts. * Men's and Women's Gymnastics * Men's Track & Field - Nevada's Track & Field team was disbanded in 1994. The Wolf Pack produced seventeen first-team All-Americans. * Rifle - The Nevada rifle team placed second in the 2004 NCAA Rifle team championship, losing to national champion Alaska Fairbanks. On December 15, 2018, the athletic department announced that the rifle team would be discontinued.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle={{CollegePrimaryStyle, Nevada Wolf Pack, color=white , list= {{Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball navbox {{Mountain West Conference navbox {{Nevada Sports 1896 establishments in Nevada Sports clubs established in 1896