Chris Murray

RGJ

Every Sunday, Reno Gazette-Journal sports columnist Chris Murray will count down a top-10 list. This week's list counts down the 10 best coaches in Wolf Pack athletics history.

1. Chris Ault (football): Going out on a limb here, right? Ault is in the College Football Hall of Fame. He took Nevada from Division II in 1976 to No. 11 in the nation in 2010. He won 233 games and 10 league titles. He reached 10 bowl games in 12 FBS seasons. He's the only coach to have a team lead the NCAA in passing and rushing. He created the widely-used Pistol offense. And there's this: In his final stop at Nevada, a nine-year stretch from 2004-2012, Ault recruited and developed 19 players who reached the NFL (a number that will hit 22 or 23 once Cody Fajardo, Brock Hekking, etc. reach the league). Amazing.

WEEK IN 1,000 WORDS:Will Ault be UNLV's next head coach?

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2. Trent Johnson (basketball): You could argue this is lunacy given the fact Johnson was 79-74 overall and 35-33 in conference in five years at Nevada, but he took a decades-long moribund program and got it to the Sweet 16 (and set up three more NCAA tournament appearances). He also hired assistant coaches Mark Fox and David Carter, who have both proven to be solid (or better) Division I-level head coaches.

3. Gary Powers (baseball): Some might call Powers a compiler whose 937 wins came because he coached 31 years, but he was more than that. He was Nevada baseball; the sport likely wouldn't exist on the campus if not for him. Powers took the team to four NCAA regionals (including a No. 6 national ranking in 1994), was a four-time conference coach of the year and helped 18 players to the big leagues.

4. Jian Li You (diving): A former Olympic diver, You is an even better coach, winning conference coach of the year four times, including twice in the Mountain West (the only Nevada coach so honored). She's coached the conference diver of the year five times and has been a key piece in all eight of Nevada's swimming and diving conference titles since 1996 (1996-2000 in Big West; 2007-09 in WAC).

5. Mark Fox (basketball): I've always been mixed on Fox's tenure. On one hand, he went 123-43, won four WAC regular-season titles in five years, reached three straight NCAA tournaments, was a two-time league coach of the year and recruited four NBA players in five seasons. On the other, he was handed an ascending program and left it on fragile ground, reached just two WAC Tournament title games, was 2-5 in the NCAA Tournament/CBI and was pretty fortunate Luke Babbitt and Armon Johnson grew up in Reno (although he had to land them). Like I said: mixed feelings, but you can't ignore a 123-43 record.

6. Jimmy Olivas (boxing): This one comes with a caveat because boxing was a club sport during most of Olivas' tenure, but he's in the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame so he counts in my book. During his nearly 40-year tenure, Olivas coached several national champions and set the foundation for Nevada boxing.

7. Glenn "Jake" Lawlor (basketball): Lawlor was a Winston Churchill-like character who coached golf, baseball, football, tennis and track and field at Nevada, but he was best known for basketball (the Wolf Pack's arena is named after him). His 204 wins remain a school record (75 more than second place).

8. Michelle Gardner (softball): Much like Trent Johnson, Gardner's record at Nevada isn't all that impressive: 187-176. But she started the program from scratch in 2003 and had it in an NCAA Regional by 2006 (one of two in her six-year stint). Nevada also was nationally ranked by the end of her tenure.

9. R.E. Courtright (football): In 1919, Courtright was hired as Nevada's AD and football, basketball, baseball and track coach. In his first year, the football team went 8-1-1, doubling its single-season win record. In his five seasons, Nevada went 26-13-7, outscoring opponents, 993-464, including a tie against Cal's 1923 "Wonder Team," which had won 50 straight. Courtright went on to coach golf at Michigan, where he coached two individual NCAA champs, with his 1943 team finished second in the nation.

10. Jack Cook (men's cross country; track): Neither of these programs exist anymore, but don't blame Cook, who guided his cross country teams to 10 conference titles and his track teams to six conference titles in 21 years. He coached 23 All-America athletes and was a six-time Big Sky coach of the year.

Next five: 11. Mike Martino (boxing); 12. Mike Anderson (swimming); 13. Devin Scruggs (volleyball); 14. Jerry Ballew (swimming); 15. Sonny Allen (basketball).