Jim Mastro back where he's meant to be as Nevada football's running backs coach

When Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal accepted Miami's job in December 2021, Jim Mastro had an offer to join him on South Beach.

Nevada's running backs coach from 2000-10, Mastro had successful stints at UCLA, Washington State and Oregon after leaving the Wolf Pack and Miami seemed like the next step. Until it wasn't.

"The hardest phone call I ever made in my life was to have to call Mario and tell him I wasn't coming to Miami," Mastro said. "That was hard. But other things were more important at the time."

Mastro turned down the chance to try and reignite Hurricanes football to return to Nevada, but not as a coach. Off-the-field family priorities meant he couldn't dedicate 24/7/365 to football, a requirement for an FBS assistant. Instead, Mastro took an office job at Nevada under then-coach Ken Wilson and was retained when Jeff Choate was hired to fill Wilson's spot.

After serving four years in a more administrative role, Mastro, now in his mid-50s, was approached by Choate.

"It was, 'Hey, Jim, you know, you really ought to be coaching ball,'" Choate said of the conversation that paved the way for Mastro's return to the sideline.

Truth is, Mastro didn't need much convincing.

"People thought I got out of coaching because I was burnt out," Mastro said. "I was at the top of my game."

Mastro will serve as Nevada's running backs coach in 2025, returning to a role he held from 2000-10, first under Chris Tormey and later under Chris Ault, with whom Mastro helped invent the Pistol offense as part of Ault's staff in 2005. That helped Mastro get his foot in the door in the Pac-12 where he coached for three schools over 11 seasons. But his heart remained in Reno.

"All the success I had in my career was because of being here, and I'll never forget that," Mastro said. "If I have a chance to give back in a small way, I was going to. There's nowhere else I'd rather do this than here. And there's no where else I'm going to go but here. It was a good opportunity to get a role I like and enjoy and working for a head coach that I respect. And that's the biggest thing. We kind of think the same way, which I like."

Mastro and Choate battled against one another in the Nevada-Boise State games in the late 2000s with Choate then the Broncos' special teams coordinator. They were on the Washington State staff together for a season in 2012, too. Choate said Mastro returning to the field has been a big plus for Nevada's offense, which is in the middle of spring camp, which wraps up next week.

"He's a hugely impactful member of our staff in a variety of ways," Choate said. "His connections to the community and what he can do from an external relations standpoint, we're not losing that. But we're gaining a guy who has so much experience, especially at that position and at this place, and he understands what it takes to be successful here. He's a fantastic coach, and I think the players are really responding to him well. I think he's enjoying himself more. Anecdotally watching him, he's got a smile on his face and that competitive spirit is coming out more. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing."

Mastro's task is to help return Nevada's run game to its former standard. During his first 11 seasons at Nevada, the Wolf Pack had 12 1,000-yard rushers. That included Chance Kretschmer leading the nation in rushing in 2001, B.J. Mitchell winning WAC offensive player of the year in 2005 and Nevada becoming the only team in FBS history with three 1,000-yard rushers in the same season, that happening in 2009.

Since then, Nevada's run game has been a shell of its former self, not producing a 1,000-yard back since 2016, a drought of eight seasons.

"I didn't know that (stat), but that's the goal," Mastro said of producing a 1,000-yard back. "As you know from back in the day, my big stat is yards per carry. But if your yards per carry is where it's supposed to be, it's going to go hand in hand."

Despite Nevada losing its top-two rushers — Savion Red and Patrick Garwo III — and returning just 186 yards from its running backs, Mastro has been pleased with the quality of player he inherited at the position.

"It's a blank slate, which I like," Mastro said. "All of them bring something a little bit different. They're all hungry. They're all talented. That's been fun to kind of bring them in and start over. We're just starting over. It's just kind of a different way of teaching. But they're a dynamic group. They like each other. And I'm really, really excited about this group moving forward."

Caleb Ramseur, the Wolf Pack's top returning rusher with 110 yards last season, said Mastro's confidence in Nevada's backs has given that group extra belief.

"With Coach Mastro, a new confidence has been instilled in the group," Ramseur said. "If he believes in us and he had those type of guys and he's coached good running backs that went on to the next level, I think that's huge with the confidence level in us believing in ourselves on a deeper level as a group."

Mastro also is impacting Nevada's offensive staff, which will be led by first-time coordinator David Gilbertson, who played for Washington State as a quarterback when Mastro was on the Cougars' staff before serving as his right-hand man for four years at Oregon. Gilbertson was promoted by Choate to offensive coordinator this offseason and said Mastro is one his mentors in the business.

"We've coach together for a long time, won a lot of games together," Mastro said. "We speak the same language, and we've been through that grind of a season together for years. He's a tremendous resource and mind in terms of offensive football. Also the way he coaches the running backs, he's just the best I've been around. At all his stops, he's just always had running backs that produced. He coaches them. He's tough on them. He demands a lot out of them. But they respect the heck out of him because his coaching pedigree is the real deal."

Added offensive line coach Brian Armstrong: "I learn something from Coach Mastro every day about O-line play, quite honestly, and the Pistol offense and things like that. I picked his brain a lot last year. But having him in the offensive staff room is awesome."

As for Mastro himself, he admits he's happy to be back on the sideline, saying "that administration stuff is for the birds."

"It's good to be back," Mastro said. "It's kind of all I'm good at in life."

You can watch interviews with Jim Mastro and other members of the Wolf Pack below.