Carter not deterred by rough start
It reads like the perfect vacation itinerary: Ten beautiful days in Europe, with stops in Barcelona, France, the French Riviera, Florence and Rome.
And for David Carter, who is currently cashing in euros across the pond, the idea of a vacation probably is pretty welcoming right about now. Since assuming the head coaching reins at Nevada, Carter has rollercoastered through the most tumultuous ride of any of the new coaches in Division I.
In the span of two weeks, he's had to dismiss one player after he was charged with brandishing a gun, has been told by another player that he wanted to transfer, has given a recruit his release and has remained in a locked-horns battle with another recruit who also wants out of Reno.
But Carter isn't in Europe to lick his wounds. His Nevada team fortuitously was scheduled for an overseas trip before he even took the job. There will be sightseeing, yes, but there will also be basketball.
"It's been tough,'' Carter said. "It all sort of hit me pretty fast, from the incident to kids wanting out of their letters. This trip will be good to give me time to just hang out with the guys and get comfortable with them as their head coach.''
Carter is hardly a stranger. He's been at Nevada for 10 years, five as an assistant to Trent Johnson and five more alongside Mark Fox as the associate head coach. The players on the roster are players he helped recruit. But coaching changes are never easy and rarely uncomplicated, and though Carter merely slid over one chair when Fox stunningly was offered the Georgia job, the move caused plenty of tremors.
How's this for a welcome-to-your-new-job timeline?
• April 3: Nevada hires Carter.
• April 16: Recruit Mark McLaughlin asks for -- and is granted -- a release from his letter of intent. He will instead go to Baylor.
• April 23: Freshman Ahyaro Phillips is charged with carrying a handgun after confronting two football players outside of an on-campus student rec center. Reports later implicate starting point guard Armon Johnson, a former WAC Rookie of the Year, saying Phillips got the gun from Johnson's home. However, Johnson explains someone he knew as 'Luck' asked to him to hold the gun three weeks prior to the Phillips incident, and he was unaware it was gone. Carter convinces Johnson to turn the gun into police. Johnson isn't charged. Phillips, a bench player, is dismissed from the team.
• April 28: Sophomore Malik Cooke asks for a transfer so he can be closer to his family in North Carolina.
• May 1: Recruit Steven Bjornstad, a 6-foot-10 center, asks to be released from his national letter of intent. Athletic director Cary Groth refuses the request. Bjornstad will have to appeal to earn his release. In explaining why she agreed to McLaughlin's release but not Bjornstad's, Groth said generally she doesn't concede to any scholarship releases, but in McLaughlin's case, extenuating circumstances made it best for the Wolf Pack and McLaughlin. Reports claim McLaughlin could have had academic issues.
As for Bjornstad, she said he offered two reasons for his request -- the coaching change and the incident involving Phillips -- but she "didn't think those were good enough'' to grant the release.
What has been good has been her even-keeled coach's approach to the madness. A longtime assistant, this remains Carter's first stop as a head coach. He even joked he was looking forward to going to Europe to figure out his style of coaching -- would he pace the sidelines or kneel? Scream or seethe?
As he works out those logistical kinks, however, Carter already has proven himself skilled at far more difficult coaching tasks.
"I think it got to the point where every time I called, David was thinking, 'What's next?''' Groth said. "But you really learn a lot about a person when they're thrown into a situation like that. David has handled everything remarkably. At one point I asked him how he wanted to handle a particular situation, and when he told me what he wanted to do, it's exactly what I would have done.''
The roster fiasco -- and shoulder surgery to Ray Kraemer -- has left Carter with a depleted roster of seven available players for this European tour.
This trip, however, is about more than wins and losses.
"It all happened so fast -- Coach Carter is the assistant and then bam, he's the head coach,'' Carter said. "I don't know if they adjusted right away. I don't know if anyone could. This trip will help them.''
And when they return next week, they can take comfort in the fact help is on the way.
Nevada has signed four players for next season -- small forward Patrick Nyeko of London, power forward Marko Cukic of Serbia, who comes to Reno by way of the IMG Academy in Florida, guard Jerry Evans Jr. and power forward Devonte Elliott.
Carter also added Indiana transfer Malik Story to the fold last week. As a transfer, Story won't be eligible this season.
Under the sometimes tempestuous Fox, the Wolf Pack continued their string of success first enjoyed when Johnson was at the helm, rolling to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (2005-'07) and stretching the school's run of 20-win seasons to six.
Carter has no intention of stopping the gravy train, regardless of the upheaval leading up to the season.
"I know how this program has been run, and the expectations are no different,'' he said. "I'm not someone coming in here from a different school. I know how things are done here, and I know what this program is about. Since I've been here, our goal is to compete for a WAC championship. That hasn't changed, and it won't change.''
Dana O'Neil covers college basketball for ESPN.com and can be reached at espnoneil@live.com.
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