Nevada players shocked, excited with coaching change

RENO -- Armon Johnson admitted he was a little stunned.

"At first I thought people were just joking with me," the Nevada Wolf Pack point guard said of his reaction Thursday night to the news that head coach Mark Fox was leaving Nevada to become the head coach at Georgia. "I didn't really believe it."

"I was pretty shocked, like everyone else," forward Luke Babbitt said.

It didn't take long, though, for the stunned and shocked expressions to be replaced by wide smiles and happy faces.

"This is an exciting day for us," said Johnson, minutes after David Carter was introduced as the Wolf Pack's new head coach Friday at Legacy Hall. "This is all so new to all of us. It's still a little crazy right now. But we're all very comfortable with Coach Carter."

"At first we were all surprised," Babbitt said, recapping the rollercoaster of emotions all of the Pack players experienced in a 24-hour period. "Nobody saw this coming. But now we're all excited."

Carter called himself "a players' coach" at Friday's press conference and said to expect the Wolf Pack to play a more up-tempo pace on offense. That brought even more smiles to Johnson and Babbitt.

"Everybody likes to play that way," Babbitt said. "But the most important thing is winning."

Nobody wants to speed up the Pack offense more than Johnson.

"Oh, yeah, that's going to be fun," said Johnson, who averaged 15.5 points a game as a sophomore this season. "That is very exciting."

Carter said his up-tempo philosophy on offense stems from his days as a point guard at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles under legendary head coach Willie West.

"That part of me, the press and the running, that comes from Coach West and Crenshaw," said Carter, who won two state championships (1983, 1985) at Crenshaw. "He was a coach I really respected. He taught me how to play that way."

Carter also led St. Mary's to the 1989 NCAA Tournament as an up-tempo point guard under coach Lynn Nance. Nance, through the Wolf Pack media relations department, said he saw Carter as a future coach.

"I would call a timeout and before I could say anything in the huddle David would be saying that we needed to do this or that and it would be exactly what I was going to say to our team," Nance said. "He was already thinking like a coach early on."

"It was when I was a sophomore in college that I first really thought about becoming a coach," Carter said. "A lot of that comes from Coach Nance. He had a big influence on me."

Carter also credited Fox and former Wolf Pack head coach Trent Johnson for being the biggest influences in shaping him as a coach.

"There's nobody more prepared or more deserving of this honor than David Carter," Fox said through the Wolf Pack athletic department. "No one understands better than David how this program was built and how our success was attained."

"Carter is great," Trent Johnson said on Thursday, also through the Nevada athletic department. "He has been more than ready to be a head coach and will continue to move that program forward."

Both Babbitt and Armon Johnson said they were grateful the Wolf Pack athletic department didn't hesitate to name Carter the head coach.

"It was nice not having to wait around to see who would be the coach," Johnson said. "Things aren't going to change that much. That's a good thing."

"We understand Coach Fox leaving," said Babbitt, who averaged 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds as a freshman this year. "This is a business and he had to make the right decision for him and his family. That's college basketball. I respect that. But, on the other hand, we're all excited Coach Carter is getting this opportunity. He's earned it."

Babbitt said he never thought about leaving the Wolf Pack program after hearing that Fox left.

"No, not at all," he said. "I love Nevada. I love the fans. My parents are close and can watch me play. I never even thought about (leaving). I'm just excited to get back to work."