Jim Hartigan, the head football coach at JSerra Catholic High School in Orange County, has been to spring practice at Florida, Oregon and Southern Cal. He’s been to Nebraska, Texas and UCLA.

“I’ve been all over the country,” Hartigan said. “You name a school and I’ve been there.”

This week, Hartigan was staked out on the sidelines of Wolf Pack Park to watch the Nevada football team’s spring sessions. He’s switching his team to the Pistol offense and being tutored by coach Chris Ault.

“We can go anywhere in the country to visit schools and the fact that we came here is a big compliment to Nevada,” Hartigan said. “And this isn’t my first time we’ve been here.”

And Hartigan isn’t alone.

Ault said between 45-50 groups of coaches have come to the Nevada’s spring practices this year. He’s hopeful it not only helps spread his brainchild Pistol offense but also that it pays dividends in recruiting.

“Texas inundated our first couple of weeks this year,” Ault said. “But we’ve had this kind of interest since we put the Pistol in (prior to the 2004 season). As I’ve said, the Pistol is what saved football here. It gave us our own identity. Even when we had bad losses, we still had interest in the offense. It’s put an identity on us. It helps us in a lot of ways. It really does.”

One of those ways is recruiting. With the Pistol offense growing across the nation, the Wolf Pack has been able to set up feeder programs in the high school ranks.

Hartigan said he’d be more willing to sell a player on going to Nevada because of how open the Wolf Pack has been in helping him set up the Pistol.

“If they’re going to give us their time to allow us to come here and learn, then we’re definitely going to give them a nod,” Hartigan said. “If players ask us about the program, we’re going to give them high grades. That’s because of Coach Ault and the program and the system and the success that they’ve had. We’re helping each other out. We’re trying to give them information on kids, and they’re trying to give us information on football.”


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