Brian Sandoval excited to help chart the path for Nevada Wolf Pack and NCAA athletics

University of Nevada president Brian Sandoval doesn’t want Wolf Pack athletics to be mediocre and has put some money where his mouth is, investing in the school’s athletic department like none of his predecessors.

While the on-field returns thus far have been uneven — “a mixed bag,” Sandoval said — the president’s desire to fund Wolf Pack athletics like a real Division I department has been a welcomed development by Nevada’s coaches and athletes.

“We want to win and athletics is really important to this community, it’s important to this university and it’s important nationally in terms of exposure,” Sandoval said. “But at the same time, one of the things I recognized very quickly were our women’s facilities were not where they needed to be. And in fact, I was a little embarrassed about where that was. So, we’ve made a massive investment in the women’s locker rooms, facilities, nutrition and looking everywhere else with some of the other sports, we needed to do more as well. What we discovered is that we were in the bottom third of the Mountain West in terms of of funding, so I made a commitment that we would get at least to the median in the Mountain West.”

Sandoval boosted that university support shortly after being hired as the school’s president in September 2020, shifting around $10 million per year from Marigold Mine deposits to athletics, which now sits close to the average in public-money support among Mountain West schools. Sandoval admits that move was not fully embraced by everybody on campus, but winning in athletics remains an important goal of his while the university’s leader.

“There’s always a little bit of tension because if you’re giving money to athletics, some will say you could be giving this to academics,” Sandoval said. “But we’re a D-I school and we need to compete, and at the end of the day you have to have the proper resources and facilities to attract the top student-athletes to come to your campus as well as coaches. Somebody told me a while ago coaches want to be where they feel like they can win. And if they’re not able to bring in athletes because another campus is able to provide better facilities (that’s difficult). Academically, I think no one can defeat us. But when it comes to facilities and such, we needed to do better.”

Sandoval said a winning athletic department enhances the student experience and adds to the campus’ esprit de corps. He said the school owes it to the community to put winning teams on the field given what Wolf Pack athletics means to people in Northern Nevada. While previous school presidents Marc Johnson and Milt Glick have had a rather hands-off approach to athletics, Sandoval has taken a more proactive approach.

That has included being involved in discussions to pave the way for the construction of a new $435 million arena at Grand Sierra Resort that will be the new home of Nevada men’s basketball in 2027, that being built without a penny of university money. The Wolf Pack also broke ground this summer on a $28 million indoor practice facility that has been sought since the late 1990s. It will largely be funded by a new $3.50-per-credit student fee.

“Those projects have really had a massive seismic effect on the image and reputation of our university,” said Sandoval, adding of the indoor facility, “It’s kind of been the white whale that’s been through different iterations. It’s been on the boards since the ’90s, maybe earlier. The students are the ones that stepped forward to fund this, and there’s some private fundraising, but this is going to be as nice as anything you’ll find on any college campus. When we’ve traveled, I’ve been to Minnesota and Iowa and it’s nice, but this facility will be an equal or better to those. We’ll stack this Fieldhouse up against any university. I think it’ll be amazing for recruiting, but it’ll also be amazing for our regular student body.”

Despite this investment, on-field results have lagged with most of Nevada’s fall sports, led by football, sitting near the bottom of the MW on an annual basis. The Wolf Pack has seen recent success in spring sports with baseball and softball winning conference titles last season, snapping a three-year MW title drought. Women’s tennis also finished second in the MW, with men’s basketball falling off from the Eric Musselman years of 2016-19 but still generally being a winning program.

With an additional investment, both in budget and facilities, there’s a belief on-field results should improve.

“There’s been a mixed bag,” Sandoval said. “Certainly everybody wants to win. I love our coaches. It’s been a tough four years in football. You really can’t get away from that. But really proud of what our softball team did, what our baseball team did and I know the tennis teams have really improved. We know the areas where we can do better. Like I said, for the women’s student athletes there was a time where they were changing in their cars. That’s unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. I started a thing called the Alpha Fund (for nutritional services). There was a time when some of the men’s athletic teams were getting full meals and the women were getting three protein shakes a week. We’ve corrected that. This is something really important to me. I just do not wanna see a disparity between the athletic programs.”

Sandoval admitted Nevada doesn’t have an unlimited budget so things have to be improved “piece by piece” in a strategic way. That would be aided by the Wolf Pack making more money in its revenue sports, specifically football, which is 10-38 since 2022. Sandoval said be believes Jeff Choate, in his second year at Nevada, is the “right coach” to turn the program around.

While Sandoval remains focused on Nevada athletics, he’s also playing a part on setting the course for the NCAA at large. In April, he was appointed to a four-year term on the Division I Board of Directors, which is comprised of 15 people who serve on the NCAA’s highest-ranked panel. The NCAA has undergone historic changes over the last few years, including the legalization of paying players, unlimited transfers and nationwide conference realignment, which will hit the MW next season when five schools leave for the Pac-12.

Sandoval said his job on that board is to represent mid-major conferences like the MW. Despite a loaded schedule, Sandoval said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to join the panel.

“I love college sports and going to Wolf Pack games and when you have an opportunity to be in the room for all of the decisions, it’s kind of an offer you can’t refuse, ” Sandoval said. “Yes, it keeps me extremely busy, but it’s an honor and privilege to be a part of that conversation.”

You can watch our full interview with Brian Sandoval below.