Inside the Den: Nevada hires new football coach Jeff Choate

[Music] welcome back inside the den we got a good one for you today and as always I'm Jo by Chris Murray and we actually have Mike Stephenson on today um to talk a little Nevada football now if you've been living under a rock there's been some quite some changes around uh you know around the the world of uh Nevada um I don't know who wants to start kind give us a recap of uh you know uh Friday to to Sunday or or Monday rather um just kind of a crazy time for Nevada well yeah the short uh version of the story is that Ken Wilson got fired and Jeff choke got hired so the wolfback has a new head football coach it was about a 48 hour turnaround from the firing to the hiring obviously was a weird situation because Nevada kind of had to run out the clock on Ken Wilson's uh 10 year because I think they' more or less made the decision earlier in the week that they were going to move on but that buyout dropping from 1.5 million to 1 million on Friday they make the move Friday morning Stephanie ramp said that she did three um I guess like real interviews and uh you know talked to a few other candidates but it seemed like it was Jeff Cho from the very beginning and that's who it ended up being if we go back even further there was so much talk throughout the season on if a move was going to be made or not and we were speculating how many wins does Nevada need to get to how much progress needs to be shown to have Ken Wilson keep his job it turns out it felt like they were far from any of those bench marks that you had kind of put out there thinking that all right Ken might get a third year if this works out and obviously you had a chance to talk with him before we get into Jeff ch's introduction you had a chance to talk with Ken who was very open with you about just how he felt about it all and how there was a difference of opinion you really can't fault Stephanie R for wanting to hire her own guy uh but Ken Wilson also felt like year three may have been when his Wolfpack program saw a big jump but unfortunately there was ammunition for both sides to say you know if you're Ken Wilson I deserve three years like I inherited a terrible situation I you know took this job knowing it was going to be a difficult rebuild and he was probably promised somewhere along the line that you're going to be T given time to fix it and obviously there's an athletic director change shortly after he's hired so now you're working for a boss who didn't hire you doesn't have that skin in the game and if you're Stephanie RM you're saying two and 10 two and 10 almost literally no progress from Advanced metrics um you know I got to make a change here because I'm not going to be able to sell season tickets and keep this community engaged with this program and it's your most important program because of football's high-risk High reward nature even teams that don't put a lot of money into football they're spending 121 13 million a year on the product and they've got to turn a revenue in football or else all the other um Sports on campus are really going to struggle so yeah speaking with Ken I think he was more or less very positive given the situation um you know I know Nevada means a lot to him he just wishes that he had a little bit more time and um wasn't given that time and and we'll see if this move ends up being the right decision for Stephanie ramp but certainly everybody was really excited yesterday when Jeff Cho was announced there was a lot of energy in that room over there at macki Stadium yeah it speaks to the the pressing nature of college football to turn around programs faster than it used to be in the past especially with the the transfer portal and the nil era so um you see you know college football teams throughout throughout the country turn around in you know a year or two look at what uh New Mexico state did um going into Auburn and and beating an SEC team that's impressive obviously from a coach that just you know was there just a couple years years um so I think there's more precedent to like you know try to accelerate programs versus in the past where it's like we'll give you we'll give you your four years before we can really tell if this thing's turning around so yeah uh before we we talked about you know in our prior podcast that like you know the magic number was like four wins um but you know they stayed stayed at two so no progress and uh remp didn't hire him so she had to make a change and it just just adds up kind of felt like that and she was asked about that you know after introducing Jeff Cho and she said you know I wanted to give a full assessment to the program and again going back to Ken there was a difference in opinion of where she thought the program was going versus where he thought it was going and it does it does suck frankly because he's such a Nevada guy and he's always been so kind to us in the media and he's a hell of a football coach uh but it just didn't work out as the headman and it's unfortunate it didn't work out at a place where he you know quite literally B bleeds silver and blue I guess not literally but he might because he's been here for so dang long um but like you said he went out pretty graciously had a lot of positive things to say to you and so now we usher in the Jeff Cho era and I will say Ken outside of the product on the field gave him a lot of things to be excited about in terms of upgrades in facility and you know reestablishing some culture because it really felt like the guys really love to play for Ken and his staff yeah absolutely I think a lot of people were probably hurt but that's what's going to happen when you have a head coach who leaves I mean you're going to be buying into that vision and if you stuck with the program for two years you probably believe in that Vision you want to carry it out and you know now these players have to assess whether Jeff Cho is right for them uh you know they they have released Nevada Athletics you know some behind the scenes footage of him talking to the team and he's just the kind of guy that is going to get you fired up like Jeff Cho is going to win a press conference he's going to get you enthusiastic he's going to get you really thinking in a positive mindset and being optimistic um I think a lot of these players are going to want to play for him even though it wasn't necessarily the coach they signed up to play for we'll continue to track the transfer portal Nevada's got about five guys in there as of art taping this right now here on a Tuesday but um you know if I were in those seats uh and that was a new coach who was walking in like just as a media member like you know he he did say a lot of really good things he really struck the right cord and all of you know the places he's been before have really talked about the relationship building and how good of a a person he is and how genuine and authentic he is so I think he's going to do a pretty good job of retaining the top talent On's roster but he's going to have to go get a lot more talent because certainly the the talent level on the roster back toback two in 10 seasons the proof in the pudding yes it was a younger team um but you know you didn't see a lot of growth throughout the year and I think that was probably what ended up you know leading to the decision to fire him but um you know I've even heard from fans who have seen some of the interview clips that we've put out and they're really pumped up and excited so I think they have a lot to sell just in terms of you know the initial impression that people have gotten about Jeff Cho yeah he can sell um but a little bit behind you know more about Cho and and who he is and where he comes from uh kind of a season college football guy um from the FBS through the FBS ranks obviously formerly coached at Montana State uh former Mike stomping grounds um kind of served as an assistant all over you know the west coast and and through Florida kind of said that to you guys at the interview yesterday saying that you know I've been through Spokane through like Gainesville you know like he's touched every single corner of of the nation in in college football and obviously he uh serves as a co-defensive coordinator and linebacker coach um I wouldn't say currently it's kind of like a weird state that it's in because he's going to go coaching the college football playoff but he serves at at Texas um under uh Steve sarkeesian um but that team is uh you number three in the country a great team um the linebackers that he's helped produce uh maybe somebody that you know people aren't familiar with uh overshown um from last year's draft uh he's a he's a Dallas Cowboy kind of got hurt in the preseason but a good linebacker um so just kind of looking at it from the surface you know um in terms of their their defense like if you look at their run defense they we're number 23 sorry 23 Total Defense in the country um so a good unit um there's only like three teams in the in the Big 12 that represent the top 50 um so you know if you think about conferences the Big 12 that's a lot of scoring that's a lot of potent offenses um to be ranked so high in number 23 um speaks to a great defensive front and a great defense overall um against the Run they uh limited players to 2.9 yards per carry um so a good run defense obviously uh a front four or front five is instrumental in that um but your linebackers are obviously gonna you know chip in and help um so just on the field seems like a good coach um obviously won the press conference um but we'll see how he assembles the staff going forward and that's huge the staff is huge obviously we feel like the defense will be in pretty good shape because he's a defensive minded guy and another linebacker I would bring up from when he was at Montana state is Troy Anderson who was actually a Montana product and he was a second round pick to the Atlanta falc and so he was able to help bolster his stock and he ended up being an all-time great Montana State Bobcat which I can Spotlight a little bit of his time in the treasure state he actually was hired right after I was leaving I started my career in Billings Montana I was there from 12 to 16 he was hired kind of right as I was finishing up my time there for the outgoing coach which was Rob Ash he was actually he is the all-time win coach in Montana State history he got 70 wins in nine years but in the nine times they played the Montana Grizzlies Montana state only won two of those nine games under Rob Ash and so that when you I know you were looking deeper at Rob Ash's tenure at Montana State on paper it was pretty dang good outside of that two- seven record in the brawl of the wild which I think illustrates how important that game is in the state of Montana I mean it's been going on for obviously decades and decades and when Jeff Cho came to town he played against the Grizzlies four times and it was four Montana State Bobcat wins and so from what I hear from my folks that are still back in Jeff Cho never has to buy a drink again in the town of Boseman because he is revered there for what he did and apparently they call him the Grizz Slayer and that is a good reputation to have if you're on the side of the Bobcats and so he left on his own accord which I think traditionally might sour some fans but from what I hear Jeff Cho is the man in Boseman and that again was his first head coaching opportunity and he definitely made the most of it especially in those last couple years when he got Montana State back to the playoffs but more importantly beat the Grizz four times and I asked him about that at the presser I had to name drop the Grizz Slayer thing in front of everyone just because I thought it was great and he said yeah I noticed that you know there's a a fake cannon in the spot where the real thing's supposed to be he's like we need to get that out of there we need to have a blank space right there which I totally agree with to remind the players what needs to be there and he was quick to say yeah we don't wear we don't wear red a lot in this town and so uh he was briefed well also Nam drop the union and the little General in his opening statements so Nevada grit also Nevada grit snuck in which we were a little surprised dropping in yeah I mean having the head coaching experience I think is really big because you want to be able to say okay this guy's done it at a previous play so there's probably a better likelihood that he's going to be able to do it and replicate that success at our place now Montana State's a very good program you mentioned Rob Ash eight of the nine years under him above 500 Four playoff birs in the last six seasons leading in to coach Cho's tenure with Montana State so that's already one of the better FCS programs and certainly coach chot first two years under 500 and then really upgraded things thereafter an eight win season 11- win season their first FCS semi-final um since 1984 when they did it in 2019 his last year so he was able to build that thing up even to a little bit higher of a level than coach Ash had it and like you said he was able to win those rivalry games a different challenge here because not only you going from FCS to FBS he became a head coach at Montana State in 2006 think of everything that's changed since then in college football with the transfer portal with nil impacting how much players are getting in that player movement and then also the fact that he's inheriting a program back toback two intense seasons is not a plum Plum situation for him to step into and have a ton of success in year one CU even you look at Nevada's schedule next year they've got nine games against Bull teams from this year plus at Minnesota which is a big 10 team that was five- seven plus they're going to get either Oregon State or washingon state on the schedule with this new scheduling agreement so expecting a ton in year one might be outlandish but he does have a really good reputation recruiting and Player Development which is hugely important because Nevada is not going to get fourstar recruits and they're going to lose talented players to the transfer portal they need to develop players from the high school level and it seems like that's what he wants to do um but you know this is going to be a to me a bigger challenge than what he faced at Montana State I'm sure there were challenges there but that already is kind of a top 25 FCS program whereas Nevada is not it's a lower ranked Mountain West program that certainly has had success under coach alt that's one of the things that really attracted him to this job you've seen coaches be successful here whether it was alt or whether it was Jay norell but you're really building this thing up still from scratch yeah there are some talented players returning but this roster where it currently is is not even a bow Team so he's going to have to you know he's going to take a couple years and you look at the contract you know the buy out to fire him uh a lot more steep than it was with Ken Wilson so I think he will get that time regardless of who the athletic director is because financially he's got things in place where he's going to get four years because of those buyout numbers yeah I was waiting for him at the press conference to mention uh Biden kneecaps um he definitely reminds me of you know somebody put it on on social media Walmart brand Walmart uh Dan Campbell uh so that's a that's a that's a funny comparison but you know that's uh kind of speaks to like who he might be as a coach right a player coach a uh a person that galvanizes a team and and can and can push them that's the like one of the components of being a college football coach that that people don't like you know you could see stats you could see all these different things but you know to be a good coach or a head coach you have to like learn how to to Rally men or kids in this case rally the rally the students and you know just basically lead uh you know lead them and uh be the person that that Shephard's a good team um so like that's behind the scenes we don't really get to see that often because we have limited access with with Nevada um so we can't fairly say that Ken Wilson did or did not do that um but just based on the the video footage of him talking to the the players it seems like you know he's a born teacher um so that's that's a that's a plus in you know for him but um again it remains to be seeing how this this roster kind of you know fluctuates in these coming weeks because he is heading back to Texas on December 15th so he'll be here for 11 days we're recording on December 4th 11 more days just to you know kind of you get situated and analyze the coaching staff analyze the players that are here and make a pitch to at least the good ones uh to why they should stay right um so uh and he said to you guys that you know this first window of uh transfers they might miss out on but come spring that that's when they'll be really active um so we might have to wait till like you know April May before they relase I mean he's probably going to have like 11 days to get a staff in place before he goes and focuses on Texas's playoff spots and then you know that staff that he assembles will kind of lead this team in the recruiting you're talking about the um early signing periods December 20th so certainly you want like 10 to 15 players in there he did say like you said that they're not really going to go after after a bunch of guys in the early portion of the transfer portal they'll get through spring camp they'll assess the roster have a better feeling for where the strengths and weaknesses are and then go a little bit more after the transfers in the spring period you see some changes after Spring ball so he's certainly going to have his plate you know loaded up I know there's been some you know chatter w why isn't his loyalty to Nevada now like he's playing for a national championship got to go back like I mean these are kids that you recruited to go win a National Championship so to leave them when they're two games away from that goal I think would be you know not speak well to to him I mean Ken Wilson did the same thing he played it out through Oregon and I think people you know were pretty on with that but how how they saw the Ken Wilson era go maybe they changed their mindset but also if you go and you do win a National Championship think of what that can mean in recruiting like you can go into households and say I want a national championship at Texas that's the caliber of coaching you're going to get if you come to Nevada so well it's not ideal I think he's 100% making the right decision to see it through with the Longhorns and hopefully they do do go out there and win a National Championship and um he gets to celebrate that but uh you know being able to balance that and build uh a team here at Nevada at the same time that's going to be 24hour days yeah I think actually folks who are sour that he's going back I think they have it backwards I think that shows as you pointed out more of his loyalty like imagine a coach doing that to Nevada you know investing so much time into the wolf pack and then just bouncing and not finishing the job so to speak I think it speaks a lot about his character that he's actually going to stick with Texas finish out what he started there and then start his new chapter with the wolf pack you said it he's got some time to figure things out I have a thread with Coulter Nanz who covers Big Sky Sports he's based out of Montana he actually still talks to coach Cho a few years after coach Cho left which I think also says a lot about Jeff Cho and the way he likes to build relationships he did say regarding the staff that he speculates that Jeff Cho might try to dip into some of the guys that are at boisey state where he of course has a decent amount of history with the Broncos be curious to see if any guys jump within the Mountain West and come from boisey State down to Nevada keep an eye on that he also said one piece of advice I'll give you about Cho if you ever get sideways with him just call him or go see him and let him rip your head off one of his best traits is that he does not hold grudges if he knows you can take a brow beating so that's a word of advice looking forward to some brow beatings I mean I kind of like that you're not always going to have like 100% the best relationship with the people you cover they're going to be some ups and downs but for me I always do like a a phone call from that coach or that player to you know hash through those things rather than have you know a secondary person make that call on someone's behalf because you're not really getting to the bottom of things and uh you know Stephanie R said he can run hot sometimes and you know he's obviously a very um passionate guy and sometimes I'm sure those emotions will will get the better of him and um you know there might be some fun conversations but he does seem like a really genuine guy he seems like a really down-to-earth guy certainly you know from Humble small Roots uh he's from a small town in Idaho um you know was a high school coach and athletic director for six years before he even got to the college rank so I mean he kind of came from nothing not to you know speak ill of of the city that he's from but um you know he didn't come from a big town he hasn't had anything handed to him so I think he's you know used to working really hard for what he gets and and now he's got this opportunity as an FBS head coach that's what everybody wants to do that's why he left Montana state to go to Texas he wanted to be an FBS head coach and it'll be very interesting from the motivation factor this's a guy who was a runner up for Boise State in 2021 when they hired Andy Avalos he was a runner up again in this cycle when they maintained their interim coach Spencer Danielson so um Nevada Boise State already a huge rivalry coach Cho was at Boise State for six years as an assistant coach and you know he's going to want to beat those Broncos because that's a job he wanted and they didn't believe enough in him to give him that job and I know he expressed um you know his love for this opportunity and how thankful he was to get this job so you know Nevada is scheduled to play Boise State next year and I think that's going to be a really fun game get your popcorn ready one thing I will add before we go back to you Jared is you asked him about what he learned being a head coach at Montana State and Steph said he can run hot but he did say I've realized not everything is a big thing right some things I can learn to let go or maybe not get so fired up about so it sounds like he's got a lot of experience obviously with leading the Bobcats but more perspective out of that and how to run uh an organization if you will I think that's actually how he put it and I think he's excited to really grab the Wolfpack by the horns if you will uh no no pun intended with the Texas reference there but and really just kind of create his own um his own culture with Nevada and I know expressed that his wife Janet's also really excited to be a part of that too and um The Cho family on and route to the biggest little city pretty cool yeah uh and experiences is you know the ultimate teacher um you know we we saw with K he served as a career assistant and then first- time head coach right um but for at least with Cho he he's done it before and then he went to a upand cominging Texas program not program but like a resurgent program um under sarkeesian so like you know he can learn from that but he also understands like hey I've been in his shoes before I I know what he's thinking and if I do this again this is how I'll do it so you know it can't it won't be exactly the same as his time in Montana State um because he faces these challenges but a big thing that you know like you know we talked about before with the struggles of this Nevada football team in 2023 was their lack of identity both you know on offense and and sometimes on defense uh but mainly on offense you're like what are they going to do you know like I don't I can't put my like you know thumb on the pulse um but he laid it out right away we had a clip that went uh like semi viral um hundreds of thousands of views um but you know he he uh he said he's like here's what we're gonna do he's like we're gonna run the damn ball you know we're gonna have great defense uh elite special teams but then he he did go on to admit you know it's like it depends on the Personnel ultimately um but you know it fired some uh Nevada fans up and made them run want he run through a wall um but at least you know he's outlined a form of identity and that is a positive moving forward now can they do it with this current offensive line we'll see how they can rebuild it um that was a weak point last year um but you know it remains to be seen they're going to run the dam ball run the dam ball he did say it starts with the Union which another buzz word he had to get in right I mean they ran the ball 65% of the time in Montana State so proof is in the pudding there they want to run the ball they want to establish the Run they want to play great defense he was a special teams coordinator at a number of his stops including at Boise State at Washington at Florida so this is a guy who knows his special teams very well he's used to interacting with the whole team it's not just you know special teams you're working with offense and defense and bringing them together so uh you know there are major questions about the offense and we got some questions you know why didn't they go and hire an offensive coach if that was the problem like you just go get the both best coach possible and you hope that he can fill out the offensive staff so it'll be very interesting to see who the offensive coordinator is I know people have thrown around Nick Ric's name people Wolfpack fans seem to not be able to quit coach rovic but I mean it doesn't make a lot of sense to do an air raid offensive coordinator with a run oriented offense so um you know this is going to be a run first team they are going to try and run the ball 65% of the time you've seen successful teams do that in the Mountain West that's what San Diego State did as they won three Mountain West championships that's the template over there at Wyoming which has been a very successful program I think they've made a bull or been Bull edgeable Six of the last seven years so um that's the the formula you're probably going to see is like a Sand Diego State Wyoming kind of team it's very different than Jay norell uh maybe not quite as exciting offens ly but the whole goal is to win games and um I don't think he'll Veer too far away from what he did at Montana State you buried the lead of those first two years at Montana State one of his top athletes was the quarterback top rushers by the name of Chris Murray yes no relation starting yeah starting quarterback and top rusher Chris Murray yeah three of his four years uh there the top rusher was a quarterback yeah so I mean you look at Brandon Lewis and AJ Bianco those are your two kind of returning quarterbacks we'll see if they do return but they've got some you know athleticism both those guys can can run the ball so there's probably a system fit there um but you're going to see a pretty massive roster turnover probably by the end of of this spring camp there might be like five to 10 guys left from the J Norville era which is pretty crazy you're talking about basically two years in a spring camp and your roster's been completely flipped around so um you know we'll see exactly what the roster looks like but I think there's going to be a lot of work put into that there has to be it's there's just not a good enough roster right now even though there are some good young players and specifically the offensive line like the offensive line Nevada's not been Elite since 2012 when Chris Alt resigned there's been some good players obviously you got a Joel bonio you've got an Austin Corbett but a dominant Elite offensive line with multiple All Conference onor that was the standard under Chris Alt basically his entire tenure at Nevada we've not seen that the last decade and you've had about 10 different offensive line coaches since 2009 so that constant turnover also not good but um can he build up that offensive line is a big question yeah can Jeff bring some stability the third Jeff as you discovered to lead the wolf pack top of the name Power Rankings if you will in the FBS era you've got three Jeffs and two Chris's you got a Jay a Ken and a Brian but you got Jeff tisdell uh Jeff Horton and now Jeff Cho so the third Jeff we'll see how he does um another uh point I want to point out is uh you know Jay naturally he also uh coached at Texas prior to uh you know coming to Nevada um but in doing so he he went back and and I believe he recruited some players out of Texas uh yeah you got a couple of guys could choke like you know like kind of pull from that like that area I mean Austin is a a big Hub of uh really good high school athletes um but you know that's kind of expands he talked about wanting to recruit in Northern California and that California area um but you don't almost have to think like maybe he established some relationships um maybe not not quite with the four or five star guys but like with the kind of lower level guys in in the Texas region that he could recruit pitch um that's definitely a benefit um potentially having that um but to shift gears for a second um Stephanie R did say at the uh the the presser that uh they are building an indoor Fieldhouse ah it's been said before those words have before well no I mean I yes yeah okay I mean it's it's going to happen eventually right I think we uh Shannon may have put out a tweet and I think someone said yeah 1995 facilities called like that that was like 25 years ago you should have had that I mean there was some progress being made under the coach Wilson Staff they were raising the money to get that done and it was getting some Headway um I think she was saying it more like declaratively like we're going to get this done not we have the money and we're doing it now and here let let me explain when you know groundbreaking and all that I think it was more you know uh abstract that we're going to get this done for him but I I'm sure they told him in the recruiting pitch like we'll get you an indoor facility within the next three or four years you know how many times I've heard that in the 22 years I've covered this this area a lot I think one I think one will be done in the next five years but I don't think it's like uh you know here's the plan and we're going to go do it right now well I believe one was built in Boseman during Cho's tenure I think you asked him about it and he said that was a big thing obviously super cold weather CL does that say you have an FCS program doing it Nevada has not been able to do oh I mean I've been in their facility Montana State's facilities are better than Nevada's facilities is super nice and that's what it gets back to the investment in Nevada football because they've invested in men's basketball and you've seen success we got the contract for Jeff Cho uh he's making the most effort for a Nevada football coach right around 1.15 million over uh the next five years per year but that's still 10th out of 12 Mountain West head coaches the assistant salary pool which is always bottom two or three in the Mountain West Stephanie R said not going to be a big bump he kind of knows what he's working with if you want a big increase you need to sell more season tickets you need to get more donations certainly the facilities have improved but they're not at the top of the mountain West so um you know he's got to get this community behind uh you know and the interesting thing is he's coached three games at Macky stadium and they're all sellouts because it was all Nevada Boise State games so he kind of thinks that's what Nevada football is that's true but like we've seen the games without Boise State uh it's not usually full so his whole charge is to get NADA football to that level because he's seen it happen but to be able to build the facilities and to you know have the assistant pool you know Mackey needs 15,000 season ticket holders not the seven you know 7,500 they have now and the only way you do that is by winning games that's why people have invested in men's basketball because they've seen the success and they want it sustained so you have to build a winner before you get those donations and that financial support so um you know he's got two or three years to do that and will there'll be an indoor facility I guess she said it's gonna happen so I'll take her word I'll take her word for it she seemed pretty confident well thanks guys for joining uh me and inside the den um obviously we'll be tracking The Cho era um throughout about the years to come um but it'll be exciting to see obviously spring Spring football kind of around the corner you know it's may seem far out but is coming quick um but you know any final thoughts part parts are leaving uh I mean I think the general uh thought is don't be too excited year one let let things play out a little bit and yeah I'm excited to see you know it sounds like spring is when they'll really ramp things up in terms of hitting the transfer portal and bringing people in so I mean the next few weeks will be fascinating as far as the staff goes and then you know slowly but surely a roster will be built we'll uh we'll see who sticks around in terms of coaches and players and who comes in but yeah either way it's a new era of Nevada football and it started out pretty uh pretty splendidly if you will with Coach Cho just really owning that press conference yeah my final thought is Florida State got screwed Bama shouldn't have been in the top four so I don't know where you're at Chris Al but come on man no I'm kidding uh coach all who knows I know he's not allowed to publicly talk about college football selection committee since he's on it but I was very disappointed that Florida State went undefeated through the ACC scheduled two SEC schools and non-conference away from home one a preseason top five team in LSU also Florida and uh did not get a college football playoff birth so not related to Nevada but I want to get that off my chest just justice justice for uh Florida State hopefully I don't know but uh thank you again for joining us inside the den we'll be back next time probably talking about Nevada basketball since uh the season's over but we'll see you next time h