Joe Santoro: Wolf Pack’s portal of football misery

There seems to be no end in sight to the Nevada Wolf Pack football program's misery. Just when you thought it was safe to pay attention to the Pack football team after 2-10, 2-10 and 3-10 seasons the past three years, along comes the transfer portal and guts the program once again.

Pack players are jumping off the silver and blue sinking ship this offseason faster than you can say Chris Ault. The latest to officially leave in the last few weeks are, among others, quarterback Brendon Lewis (Memphis), linebacker Drue Watts (Memphis), offensive linemen Tyson Ruffins (Stanford), Isaiah World (Oregon) and Josh Timoteo (Oregon State). Also jumping into the warm and inviting transfer portal waters over the holidays have been, among others, wide receiver Cortez Braham, defensive lineman Henry Ikahihifo, defensive backs Michael Coats, Chad Brown, Tori Daffin, Keyshawn Cobb and K.K. Meier and running back Sean Dollars.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, losing players off a team that won just three games last year is nothing to be overly concerned about. The more that leave, the better, right? Well, not necessarily. A ton of experience and, yes, talent has left town in recent weeks. That means that second-year head coach Jeff Choate will, once again, have a never-ending task of teaching and molding a new roster. Don't forget the 25 wide-eyed and raw high school players Choate brought to the program in early December on signing day, innocent and impressionable young men that, if Choate actually plays them in 2025, can also jump into the portal next winter.

It never ends.

The Pack, of course, will supplement all of its losses with transfer portal prizes of its own. It's just a guess, but count on Choate having 11 players on the field on both offense and defense next year along with a sideline full of reserves. There are, don't forget, plenty of players to go around for everyone. But putting together a roster full of players is not the same as putting together a roster that can win on a consistent basis. That takes time. But time, unfortunately, is not what mid-major coaches have an abundance of anymore since the transfer portal resets their timeline every winter.

You can't teach, coddle, nurture and mold rosters anymore like in Chris Ault's day. Now all you can do is just throw 30 or 40 new players together every year and hope lightning strikes immediately.

The bottom line in this new and frustrating era of transfer portal football is that the Pack might be stuck spinning its wheels for quite some time as it tries to somehow get ahead of the transfer portal give-and-take curve.

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Losing Lewis and Watts, arguably the Pack's best players on offense and defense the last two years, is a bit disturbing and depressing. Why would they leave Nevada for the Memphis Tigers? Yes, the Tigers have been much more successful than the Pack recently, going 21-5 over the last two seasons. They closed out their 2024 season with an 11-2 record by beating West Virginia, 42-37, in the Frisco Bowl on Dec. 17.

It's difficult to imagine that winning a meaningless bowl game at the end of an 11-win season was enough incentive for Lewis and Watts to leave the school that believed in them when hardly anyone else would. Was it NIL money that turned their heads? Probably. Was it the American Athletic Conference? Doubtful. The AAC is just the east coast version of the Mountain West.

The AAC is filled with 14 nondescript and bland programs such as South Florida, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, East Carolina, Charlotte, Rice, Alabama-Birmingham, Tulane, Army and Navy, Temple and Rice. Nobody is staying up late or getting up early to watch any of those teams on television or their streaming devices. The AAC is just a conference, like the Mountain West, that is all over the map and is simply trying to stay alive.

Why, then, would Lewis and Watts leave Nevada, trading one bland conference for another? Well, it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that they did leave, further emphasizing the frustrating predicament the Wolf Pack is in now and will be in forever.

Choate has a tough job at Nevada. This isn't Ault in the 1970s, ‘80s, ‘90s and the first decade of the 2000s. College football is swallowing up struggling mid-major programs now that can't truly compete (or keep) top talent. So, in two or three more years, when Choate has a record of something like 18-30 at Nevada, think twice before you yell at him at Mackay Stadium or suggest on social media that the Pack starts looking for yet another coach.

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Lewis seems to have a clear path to a starting job at Memphis. Seth Henigan, the Tigers' starting quarterback the last three years, has exhausted his eligibility, leaving the quarterback job wide open. Henigan was special, passing for 14,266 yards and 104 touchdowns in four seasons, completing 1,147-of-1,791 passes. He also ran for 898 yards and 10 scores.

Replacing Henigan won't be as easy as replacing Nate Cox and Shane Illingworth, which was Lewis' task when he came to Nevada before the 2023 season. He has to step in and produce. And, yes, win.

Lewis' best season in college was this past year when he threw for 2,290 yards and 16 touchdowns and ran for 775 yards and eight touchdowns. He was solid. In short bursts he was electric. But that bursts almost never showed up with the game on the line. Henigan, Lewis will be reminded of, never passed for less than 3,322 yards (in 2021 as a freshman). And that 21-5 record the last two years was his doing.

Lewis, though, will be able to handle it. He's mature, confident, talented and a tough competitor. In his defense he was always running for his life and playing from behind at Nevada. Playing with a lead could release all of his explosiveness on a more consistent basis. When the Wolf Pack had a winning record, especially under Ault, many Pack quarterbacks played above their true skill levels because they just let the momentum of the program carry them.

Watts should also be able to help Memphis. The Tigers were extremely offensive-minded this past season, winning games along the lines of 52-44 (North Texas), 33-28 (Charlotte), 53-18 (UAB), 34-24 (Tulane) and 42-37 (West Virginia). They also whipped North Alabama (40-0), Troy (38-17) and beat Rice (27-20).

Watts' never truly blossomed at Nevada in his three seasons, putting up seasons of 57, 60 and 65 tackles in 34 games. Like Lewis, he was solid and not spectacular. He had just two interceptions and recovered just four fumbles. Also like Lewis he did flash now and then but there always seemed to be the potential for more from the undersized (6-foot, 215 pounds) linebacker. He, too, could blossom at Memphis.

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The Wolf Pack quarterback competition this spring and summer will likely be between Chubba Purdy and A.J. Bianco. Both have shown the ability to be productive at the division I level. But the Pack might also toss freshman Carter Jones into the picture just to make things interesting.

Jones, a 6-4, 190-pounder from Lancaster, Texas, passed for 42 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards the last three years in high school in front of crowds that were likely bigger than some he'll see in the Mountain West next fall. It was a bit surprising and maybe a bit foolish that Jones was the only quarterback Choate added on signing day in early December. As Ault always knew, you never have enough quarterbacks on the roster. Purdy, after all, will be gone after this fall and Bianco, well, he might not be able to take the step from backup to starter.

Jones, though, is intriguing. He also said something on signing day that was refreshing. He said (according to nevadawolfpack.com), "Playing in the fourth quarter, it's where you see who is really great and if your teammates and coaches can close out games."

It was as if Jones actually watched Pack games last fall. Closing out games, after all, was something Lewis, his teammates and his coaching staff, just could never figure out.

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The Wolf Pack men's basketball team is facing an extremely important week. It's a week that could vault the Pack to the top of the Mountain West or leave it chasing the leaders for the rest of the regular season.

The Pack, now 8-5 overall and 0-2 in the Mountain West after a promising 4-0 and 6-1 start, might be at a crossroads. It's still early (18 more league games are ahead) but digging an even deeper hole right now could prove fatal to the Pack's Mountain West title chances over the next two months. The Pack must now play Utah State on Tuesday at home and New Mexico on Friday in Albuquerque, two of the best teams in the conference. Utah State is 12-1 overall and 2-0 in league play while New Mexico is 10-3, 2-0.

If the Pack doesn't clean things up, well, coach Steve Alford will be looking at a free-falling 8-7 Pack team that is 0-4 in league play and riding a four-game losing streak. That doesn't necessarily mean the season will be over. But keep in mind that college teams are a fragile commodity, especially in the me-first portal era, and 0-4 starts in league play tend to make them lose their team-first focus.

A record of 8-7, 0-4 could mean the Pack will be on a long and bumpy path to having to win the Mountain West tournament to get to the NCAA Tournament. The Mountain West placed six teams in the NCAA tournament last year and could do the same this year. That wasn't the thought process when the Pack was 4-0 and 6-1.

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Did UNLV make the right choice by hiring Dan Mullen to replace Barry Odom as the Rebels head football coach? Well, it was a safe choice. It was a choice that was easy to sell to its rejuvenated fan base. And that is about all you can hope for when you take all of four days, like UNLV did, to hire a new coach.

Mullen, the former Florida and Mississippi State head coach, hasn't coached since he was fired at Florida is 2021. The last three years he's been a talking head at ESPN. Why would Mullen, a former SEC Coach, jump at the chance to coach in the wilting and fading Mountain West?

The Rebels, it seems, simply hired a resume.

Why didn't the Rebels name offensive coordinator Brennan Marion as head coach. It was Marion who was the brains behind the Barry Odom phenomenon. Marion, a former assistant at Texas (with Choate in 2022), Pittsburgh and Hawaii, brought his dynamic Go-Go offense to the Rebels with Odom in 2023 and helped transform the program.

It wasn't easy but Marion made it work. He had to go through four quarterbacks in his two seasons and won with all of them. Doug Brumfield, Jayden Maiava, Matthew Sluka and Hajj-Malik Williams all stepped in, performed well and won games under Marion's tutelage. Brumfield got hurt, Maiava transferred to USC and Sluka quit in the middle of the 2024 season over NIL money. Marion, though, never flinched.

Odom reaped the benefits and was rewarded with the Purdue Boilermakers' top job in the Big Ten. Marion had to settle for taking over the Sacramento State Hornets in the Big Sky.

Marion is just 37 years old. He's been coaching since he was 24 in 2011. He's been a college coach since 2015. He was more than ready and qualified to run the Rebels program. Why wouldn't UNLV want to continue the Odom era even after Odom left?

If Mountain West teams are smart, none of them will take him on in the next few years. Wait, too late. Marion and the Hornets and his Go-Go offense will take on the Wolf Pack Sept. 6 at Mackay Stadium. The Pack gave up 45 and 38 points to Marion's offense the last two years in losses to the Rebels.

Pack misery never ends.