Wolf Pack fires David Carter after third straight losing year

LAS VEGAS – Wolf Pack basketball coach David Carter flew with his team to Las Vegas this week for the Mountain West Tournament knowing his fate had already been decided.

Win or lose, this was his last season at Nevada.

The team's sixth-year head coach, who had been a part of the program since 1999, was told following Nevada's season finale at San Diego State on Saturday that he wouldn't be retained after the year.

Still, he kept that a secret from his team. He didn't want them to be rattled by the news.

"I didn't want to tell them because there would have been too many emotions and nerves," Carter said Wednesday night. "They would have been breaking down. To be honest with you, I didn't want them to try and rally for me. I wanted them to play for the right reasons, play for Nevada, not play for me."

The Wolf Pack did play, not particularly well, falling to rival UNLV, 67-46, and Carter walked off the sidelines as Nevada's head coach one final time. A press release announcing his firing was released about two hours after the game. Carter finished his head-coaching career 98-97, going 50-48 in conference play (spending three seasons each in the MW and the Western Athletic Conference).

"This was not an easy decision and it did not come without a great deal of careful thought," Wolf Pack athletic director Doug Knuth said in a release. "David Carter is a model coach, mentor and teacher. He believes and supports everything we believe in collegiate athletics. We are grateful for his dedication and commitment to Wolf Pack athletics over the last 16 years, and we wish him and his family well.

"Unfortunately, the program is missing the consistency and level of performance we all expect and it is time for a new direction under a new head coach."

Carter came to Nevada in 1999 as one of Trent Johnson's three assistants when Johnson took over the program. He was a key part of the Wolf Pack's success in the 2000s, serving under Johnson and then as Mark Fox's top assistant when Nevada reached four straight NCAA tournaments from 2003-07.

Carter inherited the program after Fox left for Georgia in 2009 and took Nevada to the NIT in his first season. After a complete rebuild in 2010-11, Nevada again reached the NIT in 2011-12 when Carter won his lone conference title, the WAC championship, and reached the quarterfinals of the NIT, a program best. Nevada won 28 games that season, tied for its second most ever, but has declined since then.

That Wolf Pack's fall has coincided with the program's move to the more competitive MW.

Strapped with budget issues and behind in the facilities race, Nevada finished last in the MW in 2012-13, moved up to third last season, but fell back down toward the bottom this year, when the team had two losing streaks of seven-plus games for the first time ever in a single season. The nine wins were the fewest since Nevada went 9-20 in 1999-2000. This year marked Nevada's third straight losing campaign.

"I appreciate all the relationships I've had with all of the young men I've recruited in my 16 years there," said Carter, adding that he'll still consider Reno home even after he leaves. "I don't regret anything. I enjoyed my time there. I love the community, I love the people who have embraced my family. I have no regrets. It's a great city. It's not like I'm going to leave tomorrow. It's a great place."

According to Carter's contract, a five-year extension he signed after the 28-win season, the Wolf Pack owes the coach $300,000 (his base salary) in each of the next two seasons. Carter was the third-longest tenured coach on Nevada's campus, behind rifle coach Fred Harvey and diving coach Jian Li You.

Knuth said in the release he won't have any further comment until a new coach is hired.

With two years left on his contract, Carter said he didn't feel like his job was on the line as he entered the season. But after Nevada got off to a slow start this season, it became apparent he was on the hot seat. After Nevada lost its top three scorers – Deonte Burton and Jerry Evans Jr. to graduation and Cole Huff to a transfer – last summer, the Wolf Pack was thin on experience, which was evident all season.

"I knew it'd be a struggle," Carter said of the season. "So, am I happy with this decision? No, because I really thought next year's team, under my guidance, was going to be very good. It should be good. If history is right, when you return your top five scorers, basically your whole team, you're going to be good. You learn a lot from losing. We've been through this before. We had the same thing when Deonte was a freshman. We won 28 games the next year. This team has a chance to be very good next year."

Barring any transfers, the Wolf Pack will return 10 of its 12 scholarship players, including all five starters, all-conference big man AJ West and its top five scorers. Given the lack of head-coaching positions on the West Coast, the Nevada job should be highly sought after despite the budgetary and facility issues.

But the firing of Carter marks the end of an era at Nevada. Carter was the last link to Johnson, the man who turned the Wolf Pack around. Carter was on the staff of six conference title teams, four NCAA tournament teams and three NIT teams. After the loss to UNLV, Carter addressed his team.

"The biggest thing I told them was that I hope I taught them a lot and that they learned a lot from this program," Carter said. "I told them to do the right thing and be very mature about this process and, most importantly, get your degree. That's what matters. I told them this is a sad moment, but at the same time, it's going to be a different chapter in their lives."