Background
Pete Padgett played for his father, Jim Padgett, the head coach at Nevada.
baseball player coach basketball player
Pete Padgett played for his father, Jim Padgett, the head coach at Nevada.
Padgett led the West Coast Athletic Conference in rebounding all four seasons and finished his career with 1,464 total, a sum good enough to place him in the top ten all-time in the National Collegiate Athletic Association"s modern era. Although rebounding was his specialty, Padgett finished his career with 1,642 points, which at the time was the third-highest in school history.
He is best known, however, for his playing career between 1972-1973 and 1975-1976 while on the Nevada Wolf Pack men"s basketball team Padgett was selected to the all-conference second team during his freshman year, then was subsequently picked as a first team all-conference member for his final three seasons. He also set a conference-record by accumulating 784 assists (in conference games only).
As a senior he was honored with the Doc Martie Award, given annually to the University of Nevada"s top male athlete.
Padgett was then chosen in the sixth round (88th overall) by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1976 National Basketball Association Draft, but he never played in the league. Padgett was a two-sport star who also played baseball.
After college, Padgett stayed at school for one additional year to earn his master"s degree in education administration. In 1977, he began his coaching career at Carson High School in Carson City, Nevada.
He served as an assistant coach from 1977 to 1980, and then took over head coaching duties in 1980.
Foreign the next 15 years he guided the school"s boys" basketball program before leaving to coach at Reno High School. Padgett spent five years at the school, and then prior to the 2000-2001 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I season he joined the staff at University of California Santa Barbara. However, his time as an assistant coach at the college level was short-lived, and he resigned after one year to return to Reno High School where he still coaches today.
In addition to serving as head coach, Padgett serves as the athletic director
Padgett was born in San Jose, California, where his father Jim Padgett, an Oklahoma City native, was teaching and coaching at the time. Jim Padgett previously served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, and later served as the head coach at Cal and Nevada.
David played basketball for Kansas and Louisville and is now director of basketball operations at Louisville.