Murray: Nevada basketball must strike now to become a national program

The Nevada basketball team has been in this position before. It couldn’t completely capitalize.

The year was 2004 and the Wolf Pack was coming off a Sweet 16 season. It strung together three more NCAA tournament berths and won two more games in the event. It captured four more WAC titles in a row. It sent seven players to the NBA. It became Nevada basketball’s golden era, but the Wolf Pack never truly became a national program, the second coming of Gonzaga. It eventually sank to the bottom of its conference.

This is Nevada’s second chance to right that wrong.

The Wolf Pack again is coming off a Sweet 16 run. It employs the best basketball coach the school has ever hired. It has the community behind it. It is being ranked as a top-10 team in “way too early” 2018 preseason Top 25 polls. If Nevada wants to continue this level of success, if it wants to evolve into a national program, if it wants to become the next Gonzaga or Wichita State or Xavier, it must invest.

More: What's next in the draft process for Jordan Caroline, the Martin twins?

More: Loyola rematch highlights Nevada basketball's 2018-19 schedule

More: Nevada will visit McDonald's All-American Jordan Brown on Thursday

That’s something it didn’t do 14 seasons ago as the program went from Sweet 16 to NCAA Tournament participant to CBI to watching the postseason from home. Nevada sustained its success for three more years after that 2004 run, but it wasn’t able to take the even-more-difficult vault to regular Top 25 team for the next decade.

There were myriad issues – early entries, rotating head coaches, recruiting misses – but Nevada did not invest enough in its crown jewel program after its first Sweet 16 run and the program eventually fell.

The lesson from that situation is clear. It takes an investment – it takes money – to sustain success and become a March mainstay where the expectation isn’t to make the NCAA Tournament but to routinely win games there.

“This was the dream” Nevada athletic director Doug Knuth said one day prior to the Wolf Pack’s Sweet 16 game last month against Loyola Chicago, another mid-major that faces the same situation as Nevada.

Knuth, less than 24 hours before the program’s biggest game ever, was already thinking about the future and about how to turn a second weekend at the NCAA Tournament into a regular occurrence.

“Now our challenge is, how do you sustain it?” Knuth said. “Everyone in the country talks about the same thing. It’s about getting to this level and trying to stay at this level and avoid the ups and downs of success and failure. Our challenge now is, 'How do we keep it going year after year after year?' That’s what we all want – as fans, as a community – we all want a basketball program that is in the Sweet 16 on a regular basis, the Elite Eight, maybe Final Four.”

It’s difficult to make that jump. Many more programs fail to sustain that success than take the leap to the next level. But there’s no secret what is required. Money. If Nevada wants to consistently be the Top 25 program national pundits are predicting it will be next season, it has to act like a Top 25 program.

Wolf Pack athletics, for a variety of reasons, isn’t in a great situation financially. It owes the university $5 million in previous budget shortfalls and still must pay back the bulk of a bond taken out to renovate Mackay Stadium in 2016. Compared to Mountain West counterparts, the Wolf Pack doesn’t get much money from its university or state – some MW schools get four times as much from those sources.

But, if Nevada basketball is going to become a national program and a branding and marketing tool not just for the university but the entire region, an investment must be made. From the university. From the department. From the fans.

More: Martin twins, Jordan Caroline see win-win situation in NBA draft decision

More: Nevada a consensus top 15 team in nation in 'way too early rankings'

More: 1,000 Words: Grading every Mountain West team's 2017-18 season

Just look at the MW numbers. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Nevada ranked fifth among 10 MW basketball programs in budget (Air Force’s numbers weren’t available). The Wolf Pack spent $3,396,777 on men’s basketball in 2016-17, the latest available statistics. Not only is that well below MW traditional powers like San Diego State ($5,924,498), UNLV ($5,888,664) and New Mexico ($4,130,599), it's also nearly half-a-million bucks below the conference average of $3,835,126.

What did coach Eric Musselman do with that budget? Nevada generated a profit of $2,256,782, the most in the MW by a wide distance (Boise State was second with a profit of $866,842). Put that profit to good use.

Nevada has made key investments over the last 12 months, lavishing Musselman with a contract that makes him the MW’s highest-paid coach at $1 million per year; finishing a practice facility that former coaches Trent Johnson and Mark Fox, both of whom left for Power 5 jobs, always wanted; and made improvements inside Lawlor Events Center, notably a new floor and scoreboard. But that must be the start of the investment, not the end.

Nevada won’t stay at the national level – and won’t be able to retain Musselman – without further investment. It certainly can’t stay below the MW average in basketball budget. The program needs to be flooded with money to continue to build and keep Musselman’s from Power 5 temptations.

Gonzaga is the prime example. It is the model for every aspiring mid-major program and a team that literally helped save the college from potentially shuttering. The Bulldogs spent $8,874,752 on men’s basketball in 2016-17, with less than $2 million of that going to coach Mark Few’s base salary. Nevada can’t realistically get to that number, but it shows you the kind of money required to build what Wolf Pack fans truly want.

So, why does Nevada’s budget need to increase and where would that money go?

* Scheduling: Nevada spent about $200,000 on last year’s non-league schedule, a paltry figure half of what SDSU, UNLV and New Mexico spend (the MW recommends a minimum of $300,000). Why is it important? Scheduling homes games is expensive. For example, a contest with Idaho last year cost $85,000. The Wolf Pack has decided not to play Division II or NAIA schools (those only cost $4,000 per game). If Nevada wants to land appealing home games for fans – and high-RPI games for stronger tournament seeds, giving it a better chance to advance – the scheduling budget must double.

* Travel: Unless you’ve gone through a season of travel to get to MW locations, you have no idea how hard it is (I have for six seasons; it’s bad). The best mid-major schools charter flights. Not to every game, and typically just on the way back home. But Nevada must invest in more charters. It chartered three times last year. Chartering isn’t cheap. You’re looking at $40,000 to $50,000 one way. If Nevada could charter back from Wyoming, Utah State, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, Fresno State, Boise State and a couple of non-conference games, it’d be huge. It also would cut down on missed class time.

* Assistant pool: Nevada landed two quality coaches – Dave Rice and Johnny Jones – at discount prices the last two seasons because they were still getting money from their previous jobs. That won't happen every year. Nevada has one of the MW’s smallest assistant salary pools, which needs to change to be able to retain good assistants (Musselman has had a new set of three assistants in all three of his seasons as Nevada’s head coach). It’s hard to recruit quality high school prospects when you have constant turnover on your staff. Those relationships take two to three years to develop. Nevada needs a larger assistant pool.

* Finish the practice facility: The Wolf Pack’s new practice facility is a huge step forward, but it’s not complete. The project, which went over budget as is because of the crazy spike in construction prices over the last year, still lacks the locker room (the team changes in what is essentially a large closet with gigantic windows) and graphics that were part of the original plan. Why are graphics important? Nevada is getting access to higher-level recruits after it’s Sweet 16 run. It’d been nice to have graphics showing off how many players Nevada has sent to the NBA (seven since 2004) and others program achievements when they tour the facility.

* A Musselman extension: Musselman isn’t getting an extension this offseason, and since no quality jobs are open, the Wolf Pack should retain him for at least one more year, but there will be a time when a bigger school tries to lure him with a $2 million-plus salary. Given its situation, Nevada obviously has a salary ceiling, but could it get to $2 million, where Few sits? One of the reasons Few has been OK with accepting a lower salary than market value is because Gonzaga's infrastructure – the scheduling budget, charters, assistant pool – makes his job easier. Nevada can take the same approach to keep Musselman.

Now, it’s a lot easier to lay out where the Wolf Pack needs to spend money than to actually come up with that money. The state isn’t going to kick in more cash to the athletic department. The university is unlikely to do so. So, it’s up to the Wolf Pack’s top brass and ultimately the fans.

Nevada is renegotiating its apparel deal, and while those typically don’t offer large cash values – it’s usually an exchange for free gear – the Wolf Pack should aim to scratch out some pure money to help its program. It also should be doing whatever is necessary to sell naming rights to Lawlor Events Center to reinvest into the program. Fans also need to understand their role. Donating and sucking up whatever ticket increases that are sure to come next season is part of the way you fund a program taking the next step.

The Wolf Pack is in a better position to not only sustain its Sweet 16 success but grow even larger than it was in 2004. Its infrastructure is already improved. Its athletic department leadership is stronger. Its coach is one of the nation’s best. Being a March Cinderella, like Nevada was last month, is nice, but being a team that is nationally known and respected is even nicer.

“It’s all possible for us,” Knuth said a couple of weeks ago before that Sweet 16 game. “We have the right support, we have the right facilities now, we have the right coach and it’s all right there for us.”

Now, it’s time to continue investing.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at cmurray@rgj.com or follow him on Twitter @MurrayRGJ.

MOUNTAIN WEST BASKETBALL BUDGETS

The operating budgets of 10 of the 11 MW men’s basketball programs for the 2016-17 school year, the most recent available numbers. Air Force not available. Numbers per U.S. Department of Education.

School Expenses

1. SDSU $5,924,498

2. UNLV $5,888,664

3. Colorado St. $4,512,525

4. New Mexico $4,130,599

5. Nevada $3,396,777

6. Utah State $3,291,251

7. Fresno State $3,291,010

8. Wyoming $3,082,357

9. Boise State $2,821,386

10. SJSU $2,012,188

Average $3,835,126