Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we’re giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports.
* FAR BE IT from me to give other people more work, but I’d like to assign Nevada softball coach Victoria Hayward the role of “Wolf Pack Scheduling Czar.” I’m sure Hayward is plenty busy running her program. But she’s also proven to be a good multi-tasker as an active professional athlete and full-time college coach over the years. Now that she’s retired from playing, Hayward might have some more free time. And given the schedule she just put together for Nevada softball, I’d like her to handle the schedules for the rest of the Wolf Pack teams, too.
* NEVADA SOFTBALL released its schedule last week and will play 12 games against nine Power 4 teams and face 10 opponents who played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including two — UCLA and Oregon — who played in the Women’s College World Series. The Wolf Pack also has games against LSU, Arizona State, Arizona, NC State, Cal, Illinois and Indiana. Throw in 25 Mountain West games — the conference was sixth out of 31 Division I conferences in RPI last season and added Top 25 Grand Canyon this offseason — and Nevada should face a top-30 national strength of schedule in 2026…