$3 for 3 months. Save 90%.
$3 for 3 months. Save 90%.

Murray's Sunday List: Top 10 Wolf Pack basketball coaches ever

Chris Murray

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 men's basketball coaches in Wolf Pack history (because that position is open and AD Doug Knuth is looking for a coach who could land on this list one day).

1. Trent Johnson (1999-2004): I rank Johnson as the No. 2 coach in Wolf Pack history (behind only football coach Chris Ault). He was only 79-74 at Nevada but inherited a bad Big West program and turned it into a winner in the WAC. He guided Nevada to its only Sweet 16, hired a great staff and set the Wolf Pack up for nearly a decade of dominance. He was very good at Stanford, reaching three NCAA tournaments (and a Sweet 16) in four years, but hasn't been as successful at LSU and TCU, with a below-.500 record and one NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years at those schools.

2. Mark Fox (2005-09): Fox inherited a great situation and averaged 25 wins per season, won four conference titles and reached three NCAA tournaments in five years at Nevada. He was the best recruiter in Wolf Pack history and never saw a ceiling for the school, going after big names like David Padgett, Luke Babbitt and Klay Thompson, among others. He also found under-the-radar guys like Nick Fazekas, Ramon Sessions and JaVale McGee. He simply has an eye for talent. Fox didn't leave Nevada in the best situation, although he did leave two NBA players, but has done an admirable job at Georgia.

3. Sonny Allen (1980-87): Ault did a lot of great things at Nevada, but one of the worst things he ever did was fire Allen when Ault was the AD. Allen, who had success everywhere he went, led Nevada to its first conference title in its Division I era (he won the Big Sky in 1983 and 1985) and guided Nevada to its first two NCAA Tournament appearances (in 1984 and 1985). He was 114-89 in seven seasons.

4. Jake Lawlor (1942-43, 1944-1959): Nevada's arena is named after him, so he had to be pretty good. Lawlor was the team's coach for 15 seasons and won a record 204 games. The hard-driving coach won a pair of conference titles and posted a 28-win season in 1945-46, the second most in a single season in Pack history. A year later, his team pulled off a huge upset of St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

5. Jim Carey (1976-80): Carey inherited Edgar Jones and added Michael "Fly" Gray and Johnny High to form an elite Wolf Pack team. He led Nevada to its first winning season in its D-I era and was the first coach to guide the Wolf Pack to the NIT. Carey's 58.6 winning percentage (he was 65-46 in four years) ranks second during Nevada's D-I history behind Fox. He won more than 700 games at the high school, JC and D-I level.

6. J.E. "Doc" Martie (1923-29; 1930-39): Martie won four conference championships (each in the Far Western Conference). His 129 wins rank second behind only Lawlor. He was a member of the third class inducted into the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame and the school's top male senior student-athletes gets the "Martie" award, which is named after him. Martie was the school's most successful coach in any sport in the pre-Lawlor days.

7. David Carter (2009-15): The Carter Era was a disappointment for most fans, but he is one of four Wolf Pack coaches to win an outright conference title in the D-I era and he led Nevada to two of its five NIT appearances, including a 28-win season that ranks second for most victories in a season. Carter also recruited Deonte Burton, a top-five player in program history, to campus. He finished with a winning record (by one game) but was ultimately felled by Nevada's move to the Mountain West.

8. Jim Padgett (1972-76): Padgett's win-loss record wasn't good (43-61 in four seasons), but he helped Nevada make the difficult transition to D-I. Padgett, who coached Cal prior to Nevada, eventually retired to pursue business interests (college coaching jobs didn't pay very well back then). Also of note: Padgett successfully recruited Edgar Jones, the only player in Wolf Pack hoops history to get his number retired.

9. Pat Foster (1993-99): Foster came to Nevada with big credentials: a 276-122 record (69.3 winning percentage) at Lamar and Houston, where he reached five NCAA tournaments and seven NITs in 13 seasons. But he was just 90-81 in six years at Nevada, with one co-conference championship and one NIT. Foster was a good coach, but even he admits he didn't fulfill what was possible at Nevada.

10. Jack Spencer (1959-72): One glance at Spencer's record (123-199) doesn't look good. But he built a history of winning before Nevada moved to D-I in 1969. In his three seasons with the Wolf Pack at the D-I level, Spencer went 10-64 before resigning, which would have happened to any coach making that jump. Spencer won three conference titles (second in program history behind Fox) and his 1965-66 team, which won 16 straight games, is one of the best in school history.

— Chris Murray/RGJ