New AD Discusses Pack’s Present, Future
Chad Hartley, GAZETTE-JOURNAL
6/5/2004

Cary Groth shattered the mold of what used to be in the athletic director’s office at the University of Nevada.

Since the 1920s, only four men held the AD post just off Virginia Street. Each one essentially trained his successor, starting with Doc Martie to Jake Lawlor to Dick Trachok to Chris Ault.

Now comes Groth, an outsider from Northern Illinois, to take over the reins of Wolf Pack athletics. She began her post in April and came to the school in what is arguably the most wonderful, yet most pivotal, time in its athletic history.

The basketball team became national darlings by upsetting Michigan State and then Gonzaga to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Ault, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, is again in the saddle on the gridiron.

Yet questions about Nevada’s future swirl as the Wolf Pack tries to ride out the wave of ever-changing conference affiliations and the uncertain future of the Western Athletic Conference.

Groth recently sat down with the Reno Gazette-Journal to discuss the current state and the future of Wolf Pack athletics. The 40-minute interview came on the heels of basketball coach Trent Johnson leaving for Stanford and Groth’s first major hire — the promotion of Mark Fox to fill Johnson’s post.

Groth was candid and energetic and seemed excited about facing the challenges that lie ahead for the Wolf Pack athletic department.

You have been on the job for nearly two months now, what have you learned about this position and this department that you didn’t know coming in?

Probably the one thing that I have learned more than anything is the high quality of the people who are here in the department. They do an outstanding job in their positions and they are good people. That is not always true when you move to a job like I have. Typically you may have an issue or two to deal with. We don’t have that here. It is not a situation where I have to come in here and make any drastic changes. We have changed job descriptions and streamlined positions, but in a small way. Overall, it’s been good and we are able to move forward quicker.

What are some of your more immediate priorities?

One of the first priorities is to get a new prospect management program for development established. It is really a comprehensive program that (assistant athletic director for development) Rory Hickok and I and his staff are working on. It’s really developing and maintaining a good donor relationship system and identifying new donors and new supporters. For us to survive and move forward with Wolf Pack athletics, we have to have the resources available for our coaches and staff.

We are also going to kick off a new campaign for a new academic space. We need to make sure our student-athletes have adequate space to study in and the right tools, like computers and laptops, accessible to them. We need to increase the graduation rate because we are not in a good place with our graduation rate.

How important was the recent hiring of Mark Fox to take over for Trent Johnson as men’s basketball coach in the sense that it was your first major hire at Nevada?

It was pretty big. Ironically, my first big hire at Northern (Illinois) was the football coach, Joe Novak. You just can’t make a mistake in those sports, in those hires. I had some experience because I hired men’s basketball at Northern recently. So you kind of know what’s out there. But it was a little different for me because I am not that familiar with West Coast ties. But you just pick up the phone and talk to some of your colleagues and get the answers you need. We

were very lucky, very fortunate, to have someone of Mark’s capabilities and qualities here on staff who can provide the smooth transition and continuity with the program.

During searches, I don’t read the papers. I don’t watch television or listen to the radio. I don’t do that so I am not biased in any way. But on Memorial Day (after the decision was made), I read all the papers and all the stories in support of Mark Fox and it really secured the decision to me.

The Western Athletic Conference is reshuffling again with the loss of Rice, SMU, Tulsa and UTEP after this coming season. New Mexico State, Utah State and Idaho will then join the league, which may still be looking for additional members. How would you describe the current stability of the WAC and the long-term future of the league?

I worry about the stability of the WAC. I read a lot about the WAC before I took that job and that was one of my concerns. Coming from the Mid-American Conference, which has great stability, I knew it was a concern and I knew it would quickly become one of my priorities. I’ve said this over and over again, and I’ll say it again because it is worth repeating: I think it is so important that our athletics program and institution is positioned in a manner where we have the opportunity to participate in the best league possible for our institution. If that is the WAC, then it is the WAC. If it is some other league, then we need to be in a place where we can make that decision. It is very important that when you are concerned about your league affiliation, that you have strength in your football and men’s basketball programs. At this point, we have men’s basketball off the ground. Our football program and even our women’s basketball program need to become stronger. And they will.

Does Nevada need to be in a different conference if the school is to be a viable long-term Division I-A member?

It is awfully tough to go across the time zones that we do, going from Louisiana to Hawaii. It is a hardship on our student-athletes and our coaches. At Northern, we were in the Mid-American Conference, a bus league. In the WAC, we are in a flight league. It is hard and I think that has a strong influence on our student-athletes’ academics.

One thing that I think is also important when you talk about league affiliation is our non-conference scheduling. There needs to be a plan of attack. We had one at Northern, we’ll have one here. It is very healthy to play Pac-10 teams. That is a great relationship that has been developed. But we also have to take Nevada out of the West and bring other schools into the West. We will play Big Ten teams. We are negotiating with Big Ten teams right now for football. We will have a scheduling philosophy for football and men’s and women’s basketball that will allow us to tell the story of Nevada further east. That is what helps your RPI, it’s knocking off Big Ten schools. There is a lot of luck involved, too.

In recent years, there hasn’t been a stable Wolf Pack presence on local television. Recent contracts with local stations have included the broadcasting of home games for both football and basketball. Are there efforts being made to enhance the school’s presence on local television?

In a word, yes. We are going to kick off our Wolf Pack Sports Network soon. Our radio, TV and Web site will all have the branding of “Wolf Pack Sports Network.” We will have a TV package going into this fall that will produce and air a certain number of football game and men’s basketball games. We are hoping to increase that package down the line to include baseball, women’s basketball, volleyball and some of our other programs. In addition to that, we are hopeful that we are going to kick off a new weekly show that will feature our football coach during football season, our men’s and women’s basketball coach during their seasons and also feature our other sports programs. It will be a 30-minute show. We are really excited about the possibilities and very close to announcing (the TV package).

You had a record of success at Northern Illinois, another mid-major school. What are some of the challenges and qualities that are unique to heading a mid-major athletic program?

The first challenge is getting people to quit saying “mid-major.”

You are more in the trenches, more hands on, at this level. You have more of the fiscal issues. You don’t have people knocking on the door to give you sponsorships. You don’t have a TV contract or radio contract that pays you a rights fee. Typically, you have a leaner staff.

One of the biggest challenges is it is difficult to retain people. Typically, they are picked up by bigger institutions when they have success, as we saw last week (with Johnson going to Stanford). I really felt that Northern Illinois was a feeder program for the University of Wisconsin. You look at their staff at Wisconsin and they have 11 of our former staff members from Northern there. It got to the point where I have a voice mail from (a Wisconsin official), I don’t want to call them back.

Is there any sort of awkwardness in being Chris Ault’s boss considering Ault spent the last 17-plus years in this office?

At first, it was something that made me pause and think about it. To date, it has not been awkward at all. I think we are going to make a great team. He certainly has been the pulse of Wolf Pack athletics for a long time and I see him as a great resource and ally. I have pledged support to him and he has to me.

He has a tough job ahead of him, much tougher than being athletic director. He’s going to have to focus all of his efforts to coaching football. And I need to focus some of my efforts to making sure he is successful as football coach.

Is there any way to understate the importance of acquiring the Bishop Manogue property and what that will do for the facilities here?

It is absolutely huge. It is not only some of our Olympic sport programs, but that project, the coordination between the state and the University of Nevada is very valuable to Wolf Pack athletics. Unfortunately, we cannot keep any of the buildings on that campus because of asbestos. We will build a softball facility and a track around the soccer facility. And it will give us additional property to develop a facilities master plan so that we can identify all of our needs, short-term and long-term. But right now, we have land and that is a very valuable commodity, particularly when you look at how fast this institution is growing.

It is projects like Manogue and projects like Varsity Village (the $6 million expansion and renovation of Cashell Fieldhouse) that made this job very enticing to me. It is progress and very visible progress and it shows everybody that we are moving forward.

Are you happy here?

Very happy. The transition has been incredibly smooth. I think that is because I came in at such a positive time. Once I got involved in the search process, it was a two-week process for me. Once I got the call from the search firm, I interviewed, I interviewed again and I got the job. The transition has been so smooth because of the people. Everyone has made it very easy. And then the situation with the Sweet 16 where you get to participate before you are even hired in such a memorable occasion. So everybody is happy and in a good place. I am not coming in after a somber season. The only thing that hasn’t worked out well is I haven’t sold my house back home yet. But everybody has been wonderful. There are always going to be naysayers. But if we can minimize those naysayers, we’ll be in great shape. We just have to show positive improvement.